English Blog

A Movie “20 Feet from Stardom” 7/8/13 July 8, 2013

This movie tells us about an untold true story of the backup singers behind some of the greatest musical legends of the 21st century. So they are top backup singers. Yes, their lives are mostly behind the scene, but there are many many more singers who would like to be in their positions. Bruce Springsteen, […]

A Movie “Frances Ha” 6/22/13 June 22, 2013

It is a real “Must See” movie. The director is Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig is on the main character “Frances”. It is all about Frances, it means Greta Gerwig’s amazing acting. I understand now Baumbach and Gerwig are a couple, and they co-produced this movie. They wanted to film this movie in their familiar […]

Salisburg Steak and Japanese Dark Sauce 5/31/13 May 31, 2013

The life is always very interesting. One day, I cooked Japanese style round shaped Hamburg Steak, which is much similar to American Meat Loaf. First day, I prepared sauce de demi-glace to put it on. Second day, for the left overs I prepared mushroom Ankake (Japanese thick dark sauce with Shiitake and other mushrooms) to put […]

A Movie “Mud” 5/31/13 May 31, 2013

It is an amazing movie. True! This film is an adventure drama, like Tom Sawyer, with two 14-year boys, Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and his friend, Neckbone (Janob Lofland), who have their secret hide-away place in a small island in Mississippi, and one day find the interesting man named Mud (Matthew McConaughey) living in their secret […]

Beethoven: Choral Fantasy with Chorale Bel Canto on Sat. June 1 in Pasadena, CA 5/31/13 May 31, 2013

I will be performing Choral Fantasy with Chorale Bel Canto at First United Methodist Church of Pasadena on Sat. June 1 at 4pm , www.choralebelcanto.org and  www.fumcpasadena.org. It is very interesting and coincident that I am playing both Piano Concerto no. 4 and Choral Fantasy by Beethoven in the same season. I wrote the special reason […]

Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro – Dudamel and LA Phil Production 5/20/13 May 20, 2013

I went to “Don Giovanni”, the first of Mozart-De Ponte trilogy, last year, and went to see the dress rehearsal of “The Marriage of Figaro”, the second of trilogy, last Wednesday. This trilogy production by Dudamel/LA Phil have been set in Disney Hall, and inviting different cast and staff for each time. The last of the trilogy […]

Duo Recital at FUMCPasadena on Sat.May 11 at 2pm 5/8/13 May 8, 2013

My husband and cellist, David Garrett, and I have been performing our annual recitals at First United Methodist Church of Pasadena for the last several years. We called ourselves as The Belrose Duo. Mainly, we like to perform duo repertoire, but also we like to help the music program at FUMC. A free-will offering at the […]

A Movie “From Up on Poppy Hill” 5/2/13 May 2, 2013

I have not seen Hayao Miyazaki’s animation movies for a while, and was very excited to see it. Yes, it was much more than I expected. I am still feeling home sick, and nostalgie. The movie is set in Yokohama, a port town, in 1963, when Japan was growing, and the people looked forward for […]

A Movie “To The Wonder” 4/21/13 April 21, 2013

When I saw the names in the cast (Javier Bardem and Ben Affleck) of “To The Wonder” I thought I can’t miss this movie. Well.. I was wrong. It has lots of beautiful scenes, but I don’t think it is a movie. I felt as if I was watching many segments of Calvin Klein’s commercials. […]

András Schiff “Bach Project No. 2” French Suites and French Overture 4/21/13 April 21, 2013

I still clearly remember Sir. Schiff’s epic concerts on Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier Books. 1 and 2 from the last October. This time, he came back to Disney Hall with Bach’s 6 French Suites and French Overture. He performed all 6 suites as a set in a first half. How can he keep that deep focus on the […]