Spring Concerts

NU Orchestra Concert (April 2017)

For the past three years, the highlight of the spring season has been the end of year choir concert.  This year, we had an additional treat - the first ever concert by the NU orchestra.  The NU orchestra is a combination of folk instruments and traditional instruments and they play a combination of classic Kazakh music and songs from music and television.  Their biggest hit is playing the theme song form the BBC drama "Sherlock" and the theme song from game of thrones.

Traditional flutes

Traditional Kazakh song with guest singer from musical university.

The group formed from students sitting around in the evenings playing together and now they have an adviser who is a leading ethno-musicologist who helps them learn how to play some traditional instruments that have not been used for a long time (like a little oblong flute).

This year I have one of the girls on the basketball team who is also in the orchestra.  She plays the dombra, a two-stringed instrument (see it here).  She asked me if Yulia and I would like to come to the inaugeral concert.  Of course we couldn't turn down such an invitation, so we went.  We were lucky to be given VIP seats next to the university president and other "real VIPs" and to have a great seat in the new student theater that opened this spring in the student dormitory complex.

Game of Thrones Theme Song (Blindfolded)

The concert was fantastic.  They played very well, and the music itself was lively.  They had a few student hosts, one of whom is my student, and they were genuinely funny and very charming.

Orchestra playing blindfolded to demonstrate proficiency

The highlight of the concert was a traditional battle of dombras when four of the boys spent about 8 minutes doing various things to show that they were the best players.  It was very cool.

Sherlock Theme

Traditional Kazakh Song

We also attended the spring choir concert (the next day) and our whole family was given the VIP treatment.  The girls' participation with the choir has made us a VIP family with the choir.  The concert this year was one of their best.  They had good group numbers and fun individual numbers.  The students went a bit overboard with the dramatic story that they tried to tell to put the whole concert together, but it was a lot of fun. Leaving the concerts we had the feeling that when we do decide to leave NU and Kazakhstan, it will be a very hard day.  For as many small (and sometimes large) frustrations that crop up, we genuinely love the students and the interactions that we have with them.  They are great kids.

NU Choir

NU choir voted Nika to receive their Best Soloist of the Year Award for her performance in their Winter Concert