unprofessional!

I checked out an Erie Canal Bicentennial event primarily because I wanted to see the drone show, but made sure to arrive on time for the Albany Symphony Orchestra because I've generally enjoyed their concerts. They were generally off their game this time, and a new composition made me ACTUALLY ANGRY. It was supposed to be celebrating Waterford, and if it had been written by a high school student I may have thought, "that's nice that they got to have that learning experience, and they tried." But they brought in a composer from California (couldn't they at least find someone regional?) who put together something called "The Ballad of Mr. Peebles" which came across as low effort and condescending. The piece didn't sound polished at any point or hold together as a whole, and included spoken lines about bald eagles resurgence post-DDT which felt like something an elementary school teacher whipped up during lunch. Whoever was responsible for commissioning this should have had the 'nads to say "no" up preview and not subject the musicians and the audience to it. (I tried to find a video of it to try to get you to share my pain, but luckily for the internet, it's not up.)

(I was curious about the drone show because I love fireworks and would love it even better if we could replace them with something that isn't so bad for wildlife and the environment. I enjoyed it but this one was styled as a chill, trippy thing, rather than something that brings on the awe and excitement that fireworks can. It seems like technically that could be done though, and I hope that becomes more common.)