Every city has it’s street art but not every city has its street art on every street like I’ve seen in Montevideo.

Latin America has a rich culture of street art. It’s not illegal and is not considered graffiti like it is in some other countries (U.S.) Most of the art is ripe with cultural and political meaning although the meanings aren’t as obvious to me, an outsider to the city. The emotional meaning, as for all art-forms, speaks for itself. One theme I see in four pictures here are trees and roots connecting people. I love the character/culture street-art contributes to a city and wish there was more of it in American cities.

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Monday, we attended an incredible performance of La Filarmonica at the splendid Teatro Solis. The program was: Alexander Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, Tchaikovsky’s Variation on a Rococo Theme Op.33 with Stanimir Todorov playing the violoncello solo, and, my favorite, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite Op. 35. Tickets were 150 Uruguayan pesos, a jaw-dropping $6.00. There was a lively social scene in the lobby with both the audience and the performers who showed up about twenty minutes before the show. When it was time, everyone filed into the concert hall. In Teatro Solis, one must allow an usher to show you to your seat. The ensemble played with a type of freedom and abandon that reminded me of feelings I felt were more potent when I was younger. In this style, the performance lacked the tight-jaws some associate with classical music. The dynamics were constantly in very noticeable flux and not a single audience member dozed, not even the sleepiest. The instruments blended together so well that I believe La Filarmonica of Montevideo rehearses together more than the Seattle Symphony!