Oklahoma Mozart Festival Grand Finale Concert

Bobby and I had a wonderful time last night at the Oklahoma Mozart Festival. Amici New York, the orchestra made up of gifted musicians from New York that traveled to Oklahoma to share their time and talent with us, and mezzo-soprano Fredrica Von Strade performed beautifully. After the concert, Bobby and I had an opportunity to speak with many of the performers and organizers of the event about their music, about my roles and mission as Mrs. Oklahoma, and about the need for more classical music and arts exposure in general in Oklahoma.

The concert was fantastic, and surprisingly they performed much more than Mozart. Several of the final songs performed were from musical theatre: "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "Hello, Young Lovers" and "Send in the Clowns". Fredrica was not only a gifted singer, but she was also a gifted actress. She certainly really got into each role for each piece she sang. In one aria, her character had had too much to drink, and it was hilarious!

Back in my Miss America days, my platform issue was "Promoting the Arts in the lives of children," and I also attended a performing arts high school, Blake High School, in Tampa, Florida as a vocal music major. This experience was a wonderful one for me, taking me back to the days when art was my first passion and sharing it with youth was my goal. To this day, I still believe in the therapeutic benefits of the arts. The arts allow for self-expression and communication that is not often possible with the spoken or written word. Often we don't even know how we feel until the art brings it out of us. I met an art therapist who works with children at schools in the Tulsa area, and she spoke about how successful her art therapy had been in helping children. Just listening to the music moves me and inspires me, and it is my hope that more people are exposed to it -- it just may be that young person's ideal form of communication and self-expression. We will certainly be back next year and we'll bring our friends. I'm very grateful to Scott at the Oklahoma Mozart Festival for providing tickets for Bobby and me, and for all of the 250+ volunteers that made the Oklahoma Mozart festival possible.