US pianist Eric Lu wins top prize at Leeds competition

The 19th Leeds piano competition was won on Saturday night by Eric Lu, a 20-year-old from Boston in the United States, whose sparkling and supremely confident performance of Beethoven's fourth piano concerto secured him the top place, and also the Hallé orchestra prize.

The rebooted competition, held every three years, was co-founded 55 years old ago by Dame Fanny Waterman, and rapidly established itself as one of the world's foremost piano events, launching the careers of musicians including Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Mitsuko Uchida and András Schiff.

In recent years, however, fewer finalists have gone on to make their mark as international soloists and, as the event felt increasingly old-fashioned, it was felt that a new approach was needed.

The 95-year-old Waterman stepped down from her role as chairman and artistic director in 2015, and the competition's new directors, pianist Paul Lewis and Adam Gatehouse, announced an ambitious reboot that touched on every aspect of the competition. “We want to redefine what a music competition can give to young performers as well as audiences,” said Lewis, who also stressed that the competition needed to nurture its winners in the long term to help them develop lasting careers.

Twenty-four finalists aged between 20 and 29 were chosen from first rounds held in April in Berlin, New York and Singapore. The second round, in Leeds in early September, whittled that number down to 10, from which five finalists were selected, who each performed a concerto with the Hallé orchestra and conductor Edward Gardner in concerts in Leeds town hall on Friday and Saturday night.

Pepper spray, Christmas come to Gibsons film set

Wildfire smoke wasn't the only disturbance to mar production. While shooting on the government wharf the evening of Aug. 21, a man who Hayden said "appeared to be assaulted and doused in pepper spray" crawled onto set. The crew's first-aid team attended to the victim, dousing him in milk to wash out the spray.
RCMP Const. Karen Whitby later confirmed that the altercation occurred in Gibsons Harbour, and arose from a dispute over the ownership of a 27-foot Catalina sailboat named The Salty Dream. The victim was physically assaulted and sprayed with bear spray and the accused was arrested later that evening at 9 p.m. and charged with assault with a weapon.
"We did our best to ease his suffering until the RCMP and ambulance could arrive," said Hayden of the victim. He said the incident held up the shooting "a little bit," but that "there's never any doubt, when there's someone in trouble we need to help when we can."
The team spent a week in Gibsons as part of its two-week shooting schedule, shooting on and underneath the government wharf, at the marina and at a house near the Langdale Ferry Terminal.
"We were looking around on the Mainland and couldn't find anything that had this kind of beauty and scope," said Hayden. He said the production team finally landed on Gibsons because of its history in show business. "It's a film-friendly town," he said.
Wendy Gilbertson, director of parks and cultural services with the Town of Gibsons, said the Town was contacted in June about the project. She said the filming provided a boost to the local economy, with the sizable crew making purchases at local businesses such as hardware stores and restaurants. "They hire extras, they've hired security and traffic control," Gilbertson said. The team required a number of permits to get permission to shoot, including a $500 application.

Wine & Beer Festival in New Boston Saturday

One area woman's experience with lupus inspired her to seek ways to help others here who may be afflicted with the autoimmune disease.
                                                 

To that end, Sandy Tutt organized the Put on Purple for Lupus Wine & Beer Festival at Oak Grove Golf Club on Saturday in New Boston with a wine and beer garden running from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., a two-man scramble golf tournament starting at 8:30 a.m., an artisan market starting at 9 a.m. and a car and truck show starting at 10 a.m.

The wine garden has a $10 entry, which gives festival-goers a glass and a tote bag. Tastings are $1 with glasses of wine for $5. Bottles of wine will be sold, too, by the 10 Texas wineries participating. Texas wineries include Red Road Vineyard and Winery, Enoch's Stomp Winery and Vineyard, O'Farrell Country Vineyards, White Fox Vineyards, Homestead Winery and others.

Among the more than 30 vendors will be sellers of crafts, homemade jewelry, massage therapy, custom cookware and more. "The vendors are free to the public to come out and shop," Tutt said. "We also have two food trucks that are going to be there."

Unique vendors include Bleau Dog Vintage Decor & Boutique, The Quirky Quilting Bee Shop, Bon Temps Art, D & R Gourmet Blends, Rose of Sharon Acres, Pink Ride, ELV Shots, The Mess Sergeant's's Custom Cookware and Wood Working and more.

As for food vendors, they'll supply the barbecue and crawfish eats. For the truck and car show, it's a $10 entry fee but free for the public to see. The public will also serve as judge. A silent auction, door prizes and children's activities are also part of this inaugural event.

Proceeds will got to the Dallas chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America. Tutt's goal is to help people in this area and raise awareness about lupus. She's seen a lack of lupus support groups and medical care here, so she wants to change this via the foundation's help.

Tutt was diagnosed with lupus five years ago. At the time, she had no idea what it was. "The more research I did, I realized there was nothing in Texarkana," she recalled.

Tutt traveled to see doctors and eventually contacted the Lupus Foundation of America. Her experience with their fundraising walk the past three years inspired her to start this wine and beer festival. This is the third year for the golf tournament portion.

She's devoted the past year to organizing this family-friendly festival and looks forward to seeing people there.

Technology enriches Chinese lunar New Year customs

Gifting red envelopes stuffed with cash to relatives and friends, visiting temple fairs and making traditional dishes are customs during the Chinese Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival.
                                                   

These old customs have a new face in the digital age, according to a report issued this week by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Robotic devices have replaced food and new clothes to become popular gifts during the festival.

The sales of steam mops, dish-washers, robot window cleaners and cooking robots on Alibaba's online platform Tmall increased by 320 percent, 188 percent, 169 percent and 145 percent year on year, respectively, during the seven-day festival holiday that ended Wednesday, the report said.

The dining tables of the Chinese have also changed. In addition to the traditional dishes of fish, rice cakes and dumplings, families are using online market places to buy exotic delicacies from all over the world.

The sales of imported fresh food on Tmall surged by around 300 percent during the festival year on year. Chilean king crabs, Boston lobsters, and fish from New Zealand are the most popular, according to the report.

The online availability of temple fair tickets revived this traditional custom. In Beijing, a total of 300,000 temple fairs tickets were sold online between Feb. 8-10.

Digital red envelopes also took the place of traditional paper ones. More than 250 million users of Alipay across the world collected five "fu" -- literally meaning happiness -- characters in the holiday.

Users from over 1,700 cities outside China participated in the Chinese "fu"-scanning game, which allows users grabbing a digital red packet after collecting five "fu" characters.

Duan Baolin, vice chairman with China Folklore Society, said that the customs, new or old, all represent the culture of Spring Festival. "Carrying on the old and innovating the new are both necessary to integrate the culture of the Spring Festival into our life," said Duan.

The report is based on data of Alibaba's 10-plus online platforms including Tmall, Taobao and Alipay.

Several Celtic Imbolc Customs & Traditions for the Feast of Brighid

Imbolc, pronounced IM-olg or IM-olk, evolved into St. Brighid’s day, and is considered the first day of spring. St Brighid’s feast is a February 1st continuation of Imbolc pagan traditions. It is one of the four fire festivals celebrated by the ancient Celts. It probably occurred on what we consider Feb 11th, due to the shift to the gregorian calendar. But the Fire festivals are celebrated always on the kalends of the month sharing the same Irish name as the festival.
                                                 

If you want to join in any of these practices in Texas this Feb, join us for the Imbolc Retreat.

Imbolc and St. Brighid’s Day

It’s many names are Lá Fhéile Bríde, Laa’l Breeshey, Gwyl Mair Dechrau’r Gwanwyn, Goel Kantolyon, Gouel Varia ar Gouloú, Imbolc, Ogronia(Kondratiev 147) and Oímealg(146). Alexei tells us that the Giamos half of the year has its midpoint at Imbolc, and the waning of the winter begins. The name Imbolc comes from words meaning milk or lactation, and Old Celtic Oui-melko, or “Ewe’s milk”. It was a time of returning fertility, and so is associated with the Irish goddess of birth and childbirth.

Brighid as saint has well known lore about her life, however, the goddess she represents goes back to feats of the Irish mythological cycle. She connects to British and continental versions of herself: Brigandu, Brigantia, and the Romans observed her as a guise of Minerva. Her name means “high” or “exalted” one(148). Briga and bri and brig are names for high places, but also imply that they are imparting a fortitude and strength. Alexei calls it an upwelling of ‘force’. In our folk magics, the closest thing some recons have to energy are Bri and Bua. These are ‘power’ and ‘swelling’. Bri is inherent to a thing, while bua is imparted by action, say the ill energy of a battle being put into the ground itself, on top of the plains natural bri.

1. Make Brighid’s Crosses

Making St. Brighid’s crosses was very widespread and popular. They are made on the eve of the feast day. The native name for them are cros Bríde or bogha Bríde. They were hung in homes, cowsheds and stables. Little crosses were called Crosóg.

The diamond lozenge cross was the most common. These were made of rushes or straw. You can put twigs across the legs of the cross, making crosses at the ends of the legs. You can make more elaborate ones by increasing the number of lozenges or forming a wooden lattice about the cross by weaving the intersections(Danaher 16).

2. Make a Brídgeóg

Groups of young folks would go door to door almost like mummers, carrying a symbol of Brighid. While sometimes the cross, other times it was the Brídeóg, or effigy representing Bridhid, that was taken around. These groups were led by a ‘captain’ or lead by a “Bridget”. Young girls would be chosen for this role in their groups, and girls who were named after the saint were especially chosen. This probably incentivised the naming of girls after the Saint among parents.

3. Make a Crown of Rushes

The effigy was carried to neighbors houses and were welcomed in as they announced they were bringing the Saint’s blessing into the home. They would hand out crosses they had made as well(25). The representative of Bridget, if a young woman, would wear a crown of rushes(Brighid’s Crown) and carry a woven shield, and a veil made from the strongest grasses near wetlands.

Annual event celebrates the folk roots of Christmas

In many cultural traditions, the longest night of the year is a cause for celebration with music and dance.
                                             

Cape Ann has a tradition of its own, which started with Rose Sheehan four years ago when she wanted to bring the tales and songs from faraway lands to her new city of Gloucester.

A former resident of Greenfield, Sheehan planted a seed for a holiday tradition that has been going for more than 30 years in the western part of the state.

Her experiment here with “Welcome Yule! A Midwinter Celebration” found an eager audience, and she is now bringing her fourth annual event to the Gloucester Meetinghouse on Saturday, Dec. 23 at 7:30 p.m. This is a free event where families and all are welcome, she said.

She explained that “yule” is the name for the pre-Christian winter solstice festivals celebrated throughout northern Europe.

Sheehan, founder of Folk Life Studio, said this program “Welcome Yule!” highlights symbols and festivities associated with those older festivals, including wassailing, holly and ivy, yule logs, candles as well as some Christmas lore that blends the old customs with the newer festival.

Songs include “The Wren Boys’ Song,” “Green Grow the Rushes, O,” “Rise Up Jock” and “The Wexford Lullaby.” This year’s featured story will be the “Legend of La Befana,” a tale of Italy’s beloved bringer of gifts on the eve of the Epiphany.

A yule log procession, in which the audience is invited to touch the log with a holly leaf and make a wish for the new year, takes place, along with songs that invite the audience to sing along.

Martin Del Vecchio of Gloucester and his family have attended these events in years past and look forward to each new iteration.

Del Vecchio said he enjoys the lively and communal nature of the event.

The performers also feel the camaraderie that is apparent in this production.

Sheehan has seen a growing interest in this winter production.

“But the challenge is trying to build a core company of adults who want to participate and have time to rehearse,” she said. “However, I will continue to work to create these kinds of productions that help people feel connected.”

Thanksgiving: An American Tradition

The American holiday of Thanksgiving is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in November. The holiday is during autumn -- the main season for harvesting crops. Thanksgiving is an autumn harvest festival like those found in many cultures around the world.
                                               

On this day, most Americans gather with friends and family. Many take time to think about what they are thankful for, cook up a storm, and eat.

The turkey is cooked in an oven for many hours, often with a mix of celery, bread, onions and spices inside the bird. This mix becomes stuffing -- another star of the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Anna Matteo here at Learning English says the smell of turkey and stuffing roasting together is the quintessential smell of Thanksgiving. “Quintessential” means the perfect example of something.

Thanksgiving Travel

Some Americans must travel long distances to be with their families. In fact, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the entire year. This is usually when people return home from family gatherings.

Not everyone can make the return home each Thanksgiving. So, young people living in cities away from their hometowns sometimes celebrate “Friendsgiving” -- a Thanksgiving meal with their friends instead of their family. They gather at someone’s apartment or house and have a “potluck.” This is a meal where everyone who is invited brings food to share with others.

Beyond the Table

Thanksgiving is a big day for television, games and other entertainment.

One tradition is the television broadcast of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It takes place each year in New York City. Workers of the Macy’s store on Herald Square organized the first parade in 1924. Many of the workers were immigrants and wanted to hold a big parade like the ones in Europe. So, they dressed in costumes and borrowed some animals from the zoo. They also carried small balloons that floated just overhead.