In front of me: a sea of glass, impenetrable, double doors rattling only slightly at the push of my trembling hands. At my back: the bitter cold, frigid gusts of wind sweeping my hair around my face and cutting right through to the bone.
On my mind: the wasted efforts of a fifteen-minute, scurrying, face-engulfed-by-scarf and shoulders-hunched-up-to-ears trek to the Lorton Performance Center. Inside the LPC: complete silence.
I dramatize, but in all seriousness, disappointment met me at the LPC this Friday night. Expecting an enjoyable evening of free harp music, I showed up at 7:30 p.m. and was instead taken aback by eight pairs of locked double doors, a silent performance center, and no people in sight.
Half motivated by my desire to see the concert and half by the prospect of avoiding frostbite, I jogged around to the side of the building and managed to slip in through the stairwell. I found that even the doors to the Meinig Recital Hall, where the concert was supposed to be held, were securely locked. The lobby was still lit by the warm light of the chandeliers, completely deserted but for the echoes of my own footsteps.
Sighing heavily, I resigned myself to my chilly fate and headed back out into the cold.
Upon further investigation, I discovered that the event had been completely removed from the LPC’s events schedule on the TU website, with no indication of whether it had been officially cancelled or not, as if it had never existed.
I’m definitely disappointed that the concert was seemingly abandoned with no explanation. Having little familiarity with the harp, I was excited to listen to some beautiful music and experience something new.
I can only hope that the LPC will be clearer about their scheduling in the future. In the meantime, I’ll be keeping a hopeful eye out for a rescheduled harp concert- and I think I’ll hitch a ride in a nice warm shuttle next time.
