A large crowd gathered to hear Cellist Yvonne Caruthers during one of Drury Lane Books’ recent Full Moon Celebrations. Listeners were invited to sing along during the program.
On July 1, a group of around a hundred people sat outside Drury Lane Books for a full moon performance. The full moon missed its entrance but everything else was wonderful as Yvonne Caruthers played her cello against the backdrop of a smooth Lake Superior.
She is a fabulous cellist so it was great to hear her play. But what impressed me most was the way she involved the audience. She told us the Readers Digest Condensed Version of Wagner’s Ring Cycle with the rather bizarre story intermingled with the musical themes on cello.
Then she played a couple of Finnish pieces and also reminded us that it was the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. She played some songs popular at that time and invited us to sing along to Stephen Foster’s Way Down Upon the Swanee River, Beautiful Dreamer, and others.
We sang a very sad song that was wildly popular at the time and Eating Goober Peas.
Yvonne played a medley of patriotic songs with the group singing along, and then the official songs of the Armed Forces, inviting people to stand if they are family members had served in them. It was very moving to see people standing proudly for the Army,
Navy, Air Force, etc. She finished with Tchaikovsky’s
1812 Overture with the group supplying the cannon noises.
We all applauded her. It was a wonderful evening— educational, funny, moving, with everyone participating as well as listening. We looked around the gathering with joy. We didn’t even miss the moon much. It was a wonderful evening!
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