Monday, July 8, 2013

"To think that I've lived here all of my life, and never seen such things!"

    And so one week has come to pass. Other places, I'd normally be tired, ready to go home, and feeling a bit guilty for not appreciating what I have before me. Here, I'm just sad that on tour, we won't have as much rehearsal time. There aren't many music programs where you look at your watch for the first time during a 3 hour rehearsal and you want more time.
    Yesterday was our day off, and though I felt a bit lost not playing after such an intensive playing schedule, I welcomed the rest. We went into the City, and my conscious effort to recall the day is a testament to how busy and exciting it was. In the morning, I went to the Met (the museum, as with this audience, "The Met" is somewhat ambiguous!) while some other groups went to Central Park, Times Square, or Ground Zero. (Note: the title of this post comes from the number "NYC" in Annie, though I have in fact been to New York before. Also, let's just say that my musical abilities have come far since my 7th grade role as Miss Hannigan!) One of the curators laughed when I asked where we could find Russian art; we wanted to brief ourselves before our tour, but he chuckled and said, "No specific thing". What a shame, and we didn't end up seeing any in our all-too-short tour of the European Sculptures and Paintings. Tonight, though, we will have a lecture on the Cultural History of St. Petersburg and Moscow, and I have the Billington book Papa gave me. In the museum, we also went through the new "Punk" exhibit and, of course, the musical instruments. I think the entire orchestra was in there..."geeking out" doesn't begin to explain the scene.
    We then bussed to Lincoln Center to hear the New York Phil in Avery Fisher Hall. It was their summer series, and brought me back to my lazy Tanglewood afternoons on the lawn. Though inside and with much more conductor-audience interaction from the delightfully witty and welcoming Maestro Bramwell Tovey (who did not hesitate to celebrate from the podium Andy Murray's drought-ending win at Wimbledon), the summer concert atmosphere was alive and well in the hall, with a diverse audience. John Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Offenbach's Ballet of the Snowflakes from The Trip to the Moon, Josef Strauss' Spharenklange or Music of the Spheres, and Holst's The Planets comprised this Sunday afternoon journey to the heavens. After the concert we had the honor to meet with and have a brief Q&A with 3 members of the orchestra, and then we were off again. While we were leaving, it struck me how just within Lincoln Center, there were three world class orchestras- the Ballet, the Met, and the Philharmonic- all facing the same plaza and gushing fountain. That, and the passage on my SAT Reading section claiming classical music is dying confirmed my beliefs: the SAT really is full of it.
    We spent our evening on a cruise around Manhattan, and a spontaneous dance party in the dorm.
    Today was our last full rehearsal with Maestro Ross. I know all of us will miss his creative solfege syllables for the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto solo part, and his energetic rehearsals on the whole :(
    Tomorrow, Maestro Valery Gergiev meets the National Youth Orchestra of the USA.

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