I'd like to think this has nothing to do with my new vintage dress and the possibility that I might even *gasp* do something nice with my hair. Well, it's really because I'm going to Saint Louis and visiting Robert Hayden, which is apparently a special enough occasion to merit this! I'm honored and flattered and a bunch of other stuff... and I wanted to share. From the St. Louis Symphony's Concert Schedule:

RADU LUPU
February 1, Friday, 8:00 pm

Hans Vonk, conductor
Radu Lupu, piano

Barber Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Beethoven Symphony No. 2 in D major
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor

"His talent is the kind of which legends are made," says Gramophone of Radu Lupu. "Listening to Lupu's performance of Brahms," observes The Boston Herald, "you wonder why no one else ever finds the gracefulness and balance that Lupu discovers. Lupu revealed the heart of the music." Hear him reveal it in Brahms' youthful, impassioned First Piano Concerto. Plus, Hans Vonk conducts Beethoven's Second Symphony.

Can you believe it? I barely can. (: