Last evening, we went to the Centre Congregational Church to see a flute and piano recital. It was the first time we’d ever actually been inside the church sanctuary, which turns out to be more beautiful from the outside than in.

The artists work Nicolas Duchamp on the flute and Barbara McKenzie playing piano. Both are serious professional musicians, but M. Duchamp is the better-known of the two. He plays and teaches in New York and Paris and all over the world all the time, holds principal soloist designations with half a dozen companies, and records frequently. Obviously, it’s a wonderful thing to be able to make a living doing what you love, but looking at his several websites reminds me how complex it is to be a freelancer… a cautionary note for some of my friends who sometimes consider going out on their own as consultants.

The un-air-conditioned church was dreadfully hot, but the music was serenely enveloping, with Poulenc, Debussy, and Franck on the program. We surreptitiously enjoyed a multimedia experience, by running a tiny slideshow of our pictures from the recent France trip on the iPhone during the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.