Trio Focoso at the Laguna Art Museum

            I went to this event back on April 9, but am now just posting my response to it because I thought I already had. My bad on that!

            I frequent the Laguna Art Museum, which is a rather quaint museum practically on Laguna Beach itself. I know this isn’t on campus, but it isn’t too far and had a profound experience on me. Anyways, you can walk from the beach to the museum, although probably not soaking wet. I usually go when they change up their exhibits, and I highly recommend that everyone does so as well. It’s cheaper for college students if you get a yearly pass. I don’t normally frequent the events at the museum, but one of my close friends is a flute player and brought an event to my attention. The group Trio Focoso is a musical group composed of Shannon, Hanna, and Claudio. They performed at the art museum with Hanna on piano, Shannon on the flute, and Claudio on the saxophone. I’m not a huge fan of classical music, but they sounded amazing. I’m used to watching dozens of people in an orchestra perform rather than just three people. The fact that they sounded so complete was just phenomenal.

            The trio performed in the middle of an exhibit, which I found to be the most interesting part of it all. The music was loud, echoing and practically bouncing off the walls. I paid attention to the performers, but I couldn’t help letting my mind wander to the paintings behind them. One of them was a very abstract, colorful rendition of something I couldn’t even point out. I think it corresponded well to the music every time the tempo sped up. There was another set of more modern photographs, one depicting a body with a head replaced by a cross and a number above it. I might be reading too far into it, but having this modern painting with the more classically abstract one paralleled the performance. The performances are all in their mid-twenties at most and yet they were playing some of the most beautiful classical music I’ve heard live. I think having the music immersed with the art was such a great idea.

            I also thought a lot about my art, aka my writing. I used to play the violin for years, but eventually school took over and I gave up on it. Although I used to be really bothered by the fact that I gave it up, I realize I replaced one outlet with another. I still listen to a lot of music, but instead of playing an instrument to de-stress, I write. I write and I write and I blog and I rant, kind of like I’m doing now. Writing is an art form for me because it’s not easy. It takes work, but it’s also a type of release. I also thought about using music as an inspiration for a story. I don’t usually listen to music when I write because I find it distracting, but music does tell a story in itself. Overall, I found this to be a pleasant experience that I will not forget anytime soon.