My lovely wife Amy and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary a week ago today. Our celebration was basically kicked off the night before when we went to the Granger High School Auditorium in West Valley City, Utah, as Amy and her fellow members of the West Valley Symphony of Utah performed "Symphonic Dances" in concert, under the direction of music director and conductor Donny Gilbert.
Amy Miller performs with the West Valley Symphony of Utah. (Photo by John G. Miller)
After many years of performing at the Granger auditorium, this was the last time for the West Valley Symphony to set foot in the facility before it's taken down to make way for a new auditorium, and a lot of memories will go along with it for the all-volunteer orchestra of nearly 70 musicians.
It's a group of musicians that does it purely for the love of the music.
Among the selections played at the concert were Russell Bennett's "Cakewalk, Leroy Anderson's "Blue Tango, Ravel's "Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte," and Tchaikovsky's "Pas De Deux" from "The Nutcracker."
Among the highlights for the evening were Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2," "Danzon No. 2" by Arturo Marquez, and the finale of "Berceuse and Finale" from Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite."
My wife can sing. I think she can sing very well. She's a classically trained soprano, but she can sing in a variety of styles -- country, pop, jazz, gospel, classical.
Amy Kathleen Miller (Photo By John G. Miller)
Yeah, she's my wife so I could be called just a touch biased. The truth is, when I force myself to listen to her as objectively as possible -- trying to mentally block out the fact that she's my wife -- I'm still impressed by her singing.
The truth is, when Amy goes into her jazzy mood and sings a tune like "Fever," she makes me melt. She's a rural gal too, loves to ride horses. That gives her a bit of feeling for country music too. She can do any kind of music she chooses to do. She's versatile.
All she needs is the exposure. Again, that's a part of what this blog is all about: trying to give musicians with talent the exposure they need and deserve.
As for Amy, I'll let you listen to her yourself with a raw video of her singing Ennio Morricone's "Jill's Theme" from the classic Western film "Once Upon a Time in the West," as performed by the West Valley Symphony of Utah in early June, conducted by Donny Gilbert.
