I enjoy this opera as well.

I learned to enjoy all the operas written by Vincenzo Bellini because of serving a mission in Sicily. Bellini is from Catania, Sicily, Italy and is 2nd in popularity there to only the Pope. He's considered a master of the Bel Canto opera. (I'm not sure what that means in the musical sense, but it's Italian for "beautiful singing".)

As for composers, my favorite symphony is Dvorak's New World Symphony.

I pretty much love anything that Franz Liszt has written, especially Liebesträume No. 3, Hungarian March to the Assault and, of course, Hungairan Rhapsody #2, which we all know and love from Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Grieg has a lot good stuff too. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" rocks. He also looks a lot like Mark Twain, so he has that going for him.

Our oldest daughter plays the viola. It cost me a rather significant amount of money to pay for her lessons - mostly because her teacher plays in the Utah Symphony but gives us a break because she is a neighbor of my in-laws - but I feel it's money well spent because she really enjoys it and has enough talent that her teacher recognizes, as the girl had to audition in order to be a student.

As for family entertainment, the Utah Symphony has what is called "Casual Thursdays" where you can show up in shorts and a tee shirt if you want and catch a performance. Lots of families take advantage of this. It's nice to not have some stuffed shirt (blouse really, as it's usuall some blue-haired older woman) who believes kids should not be there - just because the baby projectile vomited all over her backside. But that's a story for another post.

Hey, if you daughter has any talent in the viola, you might be able to make your money back, playing in a string quartet in weddings and so forth. A good viola player is very hard to find.

On the other hand, I guess you live in Utah. Maybe Mormons are too cheap to pay for a string quartet at their wedding. :)

I take offense at this. The performers I like are way more pretentious than Arthur Rubenstein.

Add me to the list of Vivaldi fans. I also like Beethoven (4, 5, and 9 especially), Mahler's fifth (great to write to), Mendelssohn, Bach, Mozart.

I have some recordings of the "dark" stuff, like Carmina Burana and Bizet, but I haven't listened to them in a long time. Maybe I'll break them out today. It's cold and the leaves are swirling off the trees.

I have to echo Farrah here.

Good viola players are IMPOSSIBLE to come by. Most are converted violinists.

If she keeps it up, she'll have a nice college scholarship and immediate job offers.

Yay for the young violist!!!

LOL! I know I am. ;)

My father-in-law paid for a string quartet at our reception. Of course, ours is the only reception at which I ever remember a quartet being there.

That's my understanding as well. As long as she enjoys it, I'm all for her playing as long as she wants. And it never hurts that there is a good chance for me not having to pay for school.

It takes a lot of work to be as cheap as I am. :)

Geeze, this thread reminds me of just another intellectual pursuit I don't have time to pursue.

Vivaldi is very nice; easy to listen to and typically wonderful baroque melodies. But to me he seems like the appetizer before the main course. We listen ot the four seasons and a few other vivaldi works at home a lot becasue the kids like many of the themes. But he never quite rises to the level of challenge and interest, for me, that Bach's best work does.

This is all subjective, of course, as Vivaldi's work has held well over time, so no one can go wrong listening to him.