Celebrate Asia!

Last night I attended a reception for Celebrate Asia! - a benefit to raise awareness of the classical arts within the Seattle Asian Community. It was a preview of what the general public will be seeing tomorrow evening at Benaroya Hall.

Beautiful grand pianos backdropped the stage of the 1st floor historic Sherman Oaks Pianos downtown Seattle location where the reception took place. The first thing I did was to meet with Naomi Minegishi, the main organizer and thanked her for the invitation and organizing Celebrate Asia. As people gathered we were ushered to sit in our chairs and enjoy the music violinist, Chuanyun Li, and Master player of the Morin Khuur, Bo Li, played.

As they were playing, I sensed the warmth and love of classical music from everyone. At the end of the evening, I felt enriched by the experience and what I learned is that music is food-for-the-soul and Seattle is rich in music and Asian cultures. Go see it tomorrow if you can. I hear it's almost sold out :)




Figure 1. Carolyn Kuan (Conductor) and me.

Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle
President

Additional Links:

• Northwest Asian Weekly interviews Carolyn Kuan: http://www.nwasianweekly.com/2010/01/qa-with-carolyn-kuan-an-esteemed-seattle-symphony-conductor/#more-6209
• Celebrate Asia!
• http://www.celebrateasia.org/
• O'Asian Kitchen
• http://oasiankitchen.com/
• Benaroya Hall
• http://www.seattlesymphony.org/benaroya/about/