Sunday, October 25, 2009

Rubbing shoulders with movie stars!


Last week we played a benefit concert for Young Concert Artists, the wonderful organization that helped us launch our touring career when we were first starting out. The benefit was very graciously hosted by Luciana and Robert Duvall at their beautiful property in Virginia.

We played works by Mendelssohn, Paul Schoenfield, and Astor Piazzola - a Tango to honor Luciana who's from Argentina and is an expert at dancing the tango.

The concert took place in their "barn", a totally gorgeous building that certainly never housed any livestock (or not since a major renovation):















And we stayed overnight in their awesome guest house:


Talking with the Duvalls over lunch (we got to sit at their table!) we discovered that they met in Buenos Aires where they went tango dancing together at a local dance venue and later starred together in the movie, Assassination Tango. Robert's favorite restaurant in Vancouver is Kirin Mandarin where Donna had her wedding banquet! We also discovered that his food of choice is a good burger and that he has a great sense of humor. Luciana is very thoughtful and generous and threw a gorgeous party, overseeing all the decorations and arrangements herself. It was great to meet them and to celebrate YCA with such famous hosts!