Catch Up

In my efforts to remember what I have done in the last 6 months it has dawned on me what a busy boy I have been.

I left you in Zurich, towards the end of the EUYO tour. This then went to Kazakhstan where we played in two cities, the new capital Astana (only ten years old and nothing more than a building site the size of a medium sized city) and the old capital Almaty (beside the mountains that form the border of Kazakhstan and China. The culture of this country was so different than anything I have ever seen and the girls were incredibly beautiful, combining the best features of China, Mongolia and Russia. Borat could not be any further from the truth.

After the tour most of my efforts were concentrated on preparing my final recital and passing my degree. I am now the proud owner of a degree from a respected music college and my name is now eight letters longer (See updated name above) . Not quite in league with our father but working on it as I will shortly be starting my Masters, also in the GSMD.

This summer I was a traveling musician (or minstral) My dulcet tones were heard in Bantry House, Devon, Cornwall, London, Dublin, several Italian towns, all over Surrey and various other interesting places. I also feature in two new Irish/Pop crossover DVDs, for Celtic man and (real originality here!) Celtic woman. If you see either of these bands on tv in the near future there is a reasonably good chance of also seeing me.


That pretty much brings us up to date. An update on the various animals is still to follow.

Long Absence

It has been a rather long time since anything has been written on my blog. I will update you briefly on the rest of the tour (now 6 months late) and give a quick synopsis of my many and varied activities since. The progress of the animals (tarantulas and housemates) must also be commented on before normal service can be resumed. Watch this space......

Italy

Zurich behind us I found myself in Genoa, although not really in it. The hotel chosen for us was a good half hour travelling from the centre. The management and arrangements were passed on to another group for these two concerts in Italy. Genoa is quite a rough place but quite pretty and full of life. After well over an hour searching the town centre on palm sunday we found a place to eat a pizza.

The next afternoon was a little more successful, with me and the pianist visiting the aquarium, the largest in Europe. The concert that evening was in the most impressive theatre. The stage and area above stretched upwards by about 14 storeys and downwards about 5 below our feet. And a really big hall.

The next evening we played in Bologna, which is a pleasant place but most were too tired to explore, my memory of the hall and the concert are quite sketchy, I think that it may have something to do with the 5 O Clock start the next morning to reach Bologna Airport for a flight shortly after 8 to Kazakhstan

Our Parents art in Zurich

After another mammoth bus journey I found myself, for the first time, in Switzerland. We have reahed the stage in a tour where people often have to ask "hang on... what country are we in" and I start getting strange looks for talking German in an Italian shop ect.

I was distinctinctly looking forward to arriving in Zurich as it was planned that kid sister would be visiting. The meeting happened without incident until kid sister said to me "I am really sorry" and I saw our parents grinning at me from across the hotel foyer. This was a pleasant surprise indeed, but not the first time the parents have snuck up on me on a tour. In 2005 they appeared in Berlin at the end of a 10 hour train journey and gave me the a little shock.

Our Parents buying me dinner:

Kid Sis and Brand New Classical Buff:

Kid sis was accompanied by a friend from college and it would turn out to be her first classical concert, I hope a rather good introduction to the genre? We went for a nice italian meal near their hotel in the old town before I had to run and change for the show. They then (eventually) worked out how the tram worked and joined me briefly in my hotel for a drink before saying goodbye. A unexpected and fleeting visit, but one that gave me much joy, I thank all four of you for visiting, and I hope you enjoyed your time, even though I was probably phased out from too much travelling.


After one night in a brand new (2 weeks old) and really pleasant hotel we left for Italy again, and less than 24 hours after crossing the border we said goodbye to Switzerland.

Travels in Foreign Lands

This is the view from a Mc Donalds somewhere in Austria on the way to Bolzano
"Would you like some amazing view with your cheeseburger, sir?"

First of all, apologies for the lateness of this post, also check earlier posts for photos.

Having left Garmisch-Partenkirchen our first port of call was a familiar place, Bolzano in the Italian Alps, A city which has been changing hands between Germany and Italy for hundreds of years. Therefore they haven't really decided which culture and language to use. It is nevertheless a pretty, energetic and friendly place.

View along the river in Bolzano:

This section of a tour is always hectic, often travelling and performing on the same day, which means that there are some citys on this tour which there is not much to say about. In Bolzano we did have a little time to convene with some old friends in our rival orchestra; the Gustov Mahler Youth Orchestra who were resident in Bolzano before setting off on their own tour.

Another highlight was being taken, with the flutes and other Irish people for dinner with Sir James. Expensive Italian food, fine wine and lots of anecdotal stories were on the menu.

One concert and ten hour bus journey and we found ourselves in Wiesbaden, Germany. Here we had our first 5 Star hotel of the tour as well as the nicest hall of the tour. I finally managed to get a hair cut, but achieved very little else. For the entire travelling part of the tour, the only effective survival method for all but the craziest (lithuanian) people is the afternoon nap, so I had one of them instead of exploring this pretty, but quite industrial city.

Final update before tour.....

Grüß Gott......

Last nights concert went very well and if you turned on the news at the right time you would have seen the Berlin group playing at the big conference treaty signing thingy. Tonight we perform Don Juan, the Rosenkavalier Suite, Ravels' Rapshodie Espagnol and The Nielson Flute Concerto (quite a sweet concert concert for the horns, as those of you in the know might realise)

After a week and a half I still never cease to be taken away by the beauty of Garmisch.... Although the mountains remain the same shape, they rarely look the same for more than a day. After 5 days of snow I am now wearing a T-shirt, even as the snow still melts on the side of the road. The sky is now so clear you feel like you could reach out and touch mountains over 10 miles away. Two days ago I was making snow angels on a balcony after a sauna.....

Tomorrow morning we leave this town, I am looking forward to reconviening with kid sis in Zurich in a few days, now I must go pick up my washing and have a nap, tonight is a big show and tomorrow will be a long day, I believe we are taking a bus through the Alps and into Italy, our destination tomorrow is another beautiful town called Bolzano. A place which already holds memories from previous trips, which reminds me that I should buy some shorts before we leave.

By the way, that little piece of German at the top is the typical Bavarian greeting, literally meaning "Hello God" or "Hello, God!" im not quite sure....

Ice hockey, diving boards and chamber music.

Since the last update there has been a lot of snow, snow ball conditions have been very good and the piste for arse sledding has been exceptional. It has also been quite cold outside so some time has been spent investigating some of the indoor activities available in the town. As an old Winter Olympics city there are many resourses for those sort of activities. Swimming has been a regular on the menu and ice skating (and ice gnomb racing) kept me very busy on thursday evening and the memories are being kept fresh by two nice blisters today.

On Friday the local ice hockey team were playing in the Play-Offs for the 2007 German League. That was an amazing event, really good atmosphere and I hadn't realised what a quick and exciting game ice hockey is. What I noticed was how much interplay there was between the announcer and the fans. whenever he said anything the spectaters would reply in perfect unison. Whenever Garmisch scored (they won 7-0) a giant flag would appear at the bottom of the fans stand and would be spread out by the fans until it covered the entire stand, quite an impressive sight in a big stadium.

Yesterday about a third of the orchestra headed for Berlin and we were left here preparing a chamber programme for tonight (Sunday). Tomorrow is the full concert and then on Tuesday morning we head to Italy.