Blog

Sep 20, 2010

We arrived in Sao Paulo on the evening of September 19, approximately 20 hours after the end of our Pasadena concert!  We had an interesting flight with a moment of free fall
when we hit a surprise pocket of low pressure while passing over thunder storms in the Amazon.  Everyone in our group was fine, just a little rattled and covered in food and drink.  So this will be a story to tell for some years.

September 20 - The next day we dug right into rehearsal and our first tour concert on Monday night.  The Sala Sao Paulo acoustics are absolutely amazing and the orchestra sounded fantastic.  The hall was about 60% full.  It's a beautiful building architecturally, as it was originally the main train station built in 1906.  The new concert hall is cleverly built inside the old structure so that you can still see the Greek-like columns and other interesting attributes of the older building. Part of the building is still a working train station.  It is sound proofed quite nicely so that you don't hear the trains inside and instead just the beautiful performance.  The Sala Sao Paulo staff have been fantastic; they met us at the airport, have provided a very professional and charming driver/guide
for Martin and the soloists.  And they even commandeered an ambulance to bring the harpsichord to the concert hall!

September 21 - The orchestra is doing well and settling in, finally feeling more rested after the long flight and busy first day.  We had another 3 hour rehearsal today to work on pieces for the upcoming instrumental programs with Ilia - Four Seasons, Bach  Double Concerto, Bach Suite in e-minor, and some additional pieces for Suzie and Daniel.  Both singers were very popular last night at the concert, capturing bravos from the crowd.

Even though the hotel we are staying in is great, the food is awful on site,  so tonight
the entire tour party (22 people) are going to a Brazilian Churascaria for all you can eat grilled meat - even the vegetarians are going!  It will be another fun bonding and filling experience!