I'm home again finally!
This is my final post about Vienna. Whee! I'm so tired right now, jet lag is killing me.
The last entry isn't the last day I spent in Vienna, but I was so busy getting all my stuff ready to come home that I didn't really journal, especially since nothing especially extraordinary happened.
Anyways, I am so happy to be home!
Photo album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016214&l=eb88e&id=59203348
Photo album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016219&l=a02d9&id=59203348
Photo album 3: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016419&l=a798e&id=59203348
Photo album 4: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016640&l=8f1d6&id=59203348
Photo album 5: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016854&l=3517b&id=59203348
Photo album 6: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016963&l=86e87&id=59203348
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
12:04 am/00.04 Friday, Jan 26, 2007
Yet another instance of carrying over to the next day! Oh, but what a day it was.
This morning, we went to rehearse at the Konzerthaus. Let me just say that I have never played in a place so nice in my entire life. It was absolutely beautiful. The stage was spacious (a nice change from previous concerts!), the ceiling ornamented by huge chandeliers, and the walls covered in scrolling gold patterns. What made it even greater, was that this was a professional concert hall, where so many fabulous famous orchestras have performed - right there on the stage where we were sitting! While we were rehearsing, a few of us, startled by the amazing sounds reverberating throughout the concert hall, began to giggle with excitement. That excitement built up gradually all day. The afternoon was free, so I did some last minute gift shopping and got a lot of my packing done. All of the cellists also helped transport the crates to the Konzerthaus, since we were to pack up our instruments for shipment immediately following the concert.
We had a total of six people give senior talks today. It was extremely overwhelming, because the senior talks are extremely sad, amusing, and inspirational at the same time. Six all in one day is a lot to handle! It sure got us ready for our concert though - or at least, as ready as we were going to be, which wasn’t ready at all.
I don’t think I would ever have been fully prepared for what I experienced.
Almost every seat in the Konzerthaus was occupied. As soon as I walked up on stage, I was beset by such an astounding feeling, as I looked out into the hall and saw a huge audience beneath the sparkling chandeliers, clapping, smiling, cheering. I was so caught up in the atmosphere that the concert flew by. Everything was perfect - not technically perfect, since others and I did make plenty of mistakes, but musically perfect. Tonight, we made magic. I got that amazing almost “out-of-body” experience, where everything just clicks. I feel light-headed, distant, and yet minutely aware of every single little thing. There were so many parts in the music where a wave of chills washed over me and I shivered with goosebumps.
The concert did not seem long at all, despite the fact that we were performing over two hours worth of music. Before I knew it, we were playing the last movement of the Berlioz. That last page completely took hold of me. The entire piece just unravels frantically in one thrilling phrase after another, as fiery, bright, and random as fourth of July fireworks. My heart went racing, and beat so hard that my cello shook where it rested against my chest. We hit the last triumphant chord, and when I heard it echo throughout the Konzerthaus, all my breath promptly left me in one great gasp.
People in Vienna do not give standing ovations - they just don’t stop clapping! We got six curtain calls! After the third one, we replayed the second half of the Gerschwin as an encore because the audience just would not stop clapping. It was incredible. After around the second curtain call, the exhilaration caught up with me, and I burst out into giddy laughter that I could no longer trap inside. Eventually, we had to get up and leave the stage because we couldn’t keep on sitting, standing, sitting, standing while the audience kept on clapping and clapping.
As soon as we got downstairs to the (extremely nice) orchestra dressing rooms, the cellists quick gathered their things and went down to package up our cellos back into the big wooden crates to be shipped home. It’ll be nice to no longer have to worry about carting around a fragile instrument, but I’m still going to fret about my baby! Because we took so long packing, the cellists were a little late to our late group dinner at Dubrovnik, but it didn’t really matter. Everyone was just so ecstatic because of the amazing concert. President Torgerson and the alumni group were also eating dinner with us, and several of them came and told us our wonderful our performance was. I think the music sent every single member of the orchestra on a high. We were so silly and crazy at dinner. Our pianist went over to the piano near the front of the restaurant and started playing music. After he was done, we convinced Dr. Baldwin to play the piano as well, performing his amazing rendition of the Mario video game theme song.
This was certainly a night that I will never forget. Now here I am, back at Hotel Kummer for the last evening. It is completely unreal. I can’t believe the trip is almost over.
Hotel Atrium - Munich, Germany
10:50 am/22.50 Friday, Jan 26, 2007
Wow, I have changed the heading of my entry for the first time in weeks, for I am no longer in Vienna! As of this very moment, I am sitting in Hotel Atrium in Munich, Germany. Tragically, the hotel is not owned by a German company - it is a Best Western! Oh well, it is clean at least. I do miss the Hotel Kummer though already.
We rode the bus nearly three-fourths of the day, beginning at nine in the morning and arriving in Munich around 16.00, stopping only briefly at a rest stop called Landzeit for lunch where I had my first giant pretzel of the day and Gretchen and I split a huge chocolate cream cake. Once we arrived at Hotel Atrium, we unpacked and moved into our rooms. Unfortunately, by the time we were able to stop and take a look at our surroundings, it was dark, so I haven’t really gotten a good look at Munich yet. We’re taking a city tour by bus tomorrow morning though, which should be very informative. Alas, Eurika is no longer with us.
We ate dinner at a local restaurant (unscheduled - the tour company gave us a free dinner as compensation for all of our transportation issues), and then most of the orchestra gathered together for the walk to the Hofbräuhaus, a pub-like establishment that is almost a recreation of traditional beer halls for tourists. Supposedly, if you try to order less than a liter of beer, the waiters will laugh at you. No wonder people were looking at me funny for sitting there with a bottle of water! It was fun though, because all of the cellists sat together and toasted the beginning of the Berlioz, which had gone remarkably well last night at the concert. It also presented many quality photo opportunities.
It was a fairly calm place, but I left just as a few people were starting to get a tad bit tipsy. I walked home with Gretchen and Jon Shrader, both of whom had consumed one of the huge mugs of beer, making them not quite drunk, but not quite at peak performance either. Amusingly enough, they were much more positive about the route back to the hotel than I - the sober one - was. I’m glad I was with them, or I would have gotten lost!
The last entry isn't the last day I spent in Vienna, but I was so busy getting all my stuff ready to come home that I didn't really journal, especially since nothing especially extraordinary happened.
Anyways, I am so happy to be home!
Photo album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016214&l=eb88e&id=59203348
Photo album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016219&l=a02d9&id=59203348
Photo album 3: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016419&l=a798e&id=59203348
Photo album 4: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016640&l=8f1d6&id=59203348
Photo album 5: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016854&l=3517b&id=59203348
Photo album 6: http://luther.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016963&l=86e87&id=59203348
Hotel Kummer - Vienna, Austria
12:04 am/00.04 Friday, Jan 26, 2007
Yet another instance of carrying over to the next day! Oh, but what a day it was.
This morning, we went to rehearse at the Konzerthaus. Let me just say that I have never played in a place so nice in my entire life. It was absolutely beautiful. The stage was spacious (a nice change from previous concerts!), the ceiling ornamented by huge chandeliers, and the walls covered in scrolling gold patterns. What made it even greater, was that this was a professional concert hall, where so many fabulous famous orchestras have performed - right there on the stage where we were sitting! While we were rehearsing, a few of us, startled by the amazing sounds reverberating throughout the concert hall, began to giggle with excitement. That excitement built up gradually all day. The afternoon was free, so I did some last minute gift shopping and got a lot of my packing done. All of the cellists also helped transport the crates to the Konzerthaus, since we were to pack up our instruments for shipment immediately following the concert.
We had a total of six people give senior talks today. It was extremely overwhelming, because the senior talks are extremely sad, amusing, and inspirational at the same time. Six all in one day is a lot to handle! It sure got us ready for our concert though - or at least, as ready as we were going to be, which wasn’t ready at all.
I don’t think I would ever have been fully prepared for what I experienced.
Almost every seat in the Konzerthaus was occupied. As soon as I walked up on stage, I was beset by such an astounding feeling, as I looked out into the hall and saw a huge audience beneath the sparkling chandeliers, clapping, smiling, cheering. I was so caught up in the atmosphere that the concert flew by. Everything was perfect - not technically perfect, since others and I did make plenty of mistakes, but musically perfect. Tonight, we made magic. I got that amazing almost “out-of-body” experience, where everything just clicks. I feel light-headed, distant, and yet minutely aware of every single little thing. There were so many parts in the music where a wave of chills washed over me and I shivered with goosebumps.
The concert did not seem long at all, despite the fact that we were performing over two hours worth of music. Before I knew it, we were playing the last movement of the Berlioz. That last page completely took hold of me. The entire piece just unravels frantically in one thrilling phrase after another, as fiery, bright, and random as fourth of July fireworks. My heart went racing, and beat so hard that my cello shook where it rested against my chest. We hit the last triumphant chord, and when I heard it echo throughout the Konzerthaus, all my breath promptly left me in one great gasp.
People in Vienna do not give standing ovations - they just don’t stop clapping! We got six curtain calls! After the third one, we replayed the second half of the Gerschwin as an encore because the audience just would not stop clapping. It was incredible. After around the second curtain call, the exhilaration caught up with me, and I burst out into giddy laughter that I could no longer trap inside. Eventually, we had to get up and leave the stage because we couldn’t keep on sitting, standing, sitting, standing while the audience kept on clapping and clapping.
As soon as we got downstairs to the (extremely nice) orchestra dressing rooms, the cellists quick gathered their things and went down to package up our cellos back into the big wooden crates to be shipped home. It’ll be nice to no longer have to worry about carting around a fragile instrument, but I’m still going to fret about my baby! Because we took so long packing, the cellists were a little late to our late group dinner at Dubrovnik, but it didn’t really matter. Everyone was just so ecstatic because of the amazing concert. President Torgerson and the alumni group were also eating dinner with us, and several of them came and told us our wonderful our performance was. I think the music sent every single member of the orchestra on a high. We were so silly and crazy at dinner. Our pianist went over to the piano near the front of the restaurant and started playing music. After he was done, we convinced Dr. Baldwin to play the piano as well, performing his amazing rendition of the Mario video game theme song.
This was certainly a night that I will never forget. Now here I am, back at Hotel Kummer for the last evening. It is completely unreal. I can’t believe the trip is almost over.
Hotel Atrium - Munich, Germany
10:50 am/22.50 Friday, Jan 26, 2007
Wow, I have changed the heading of my entry for the first time in weeks, for I am no longer in Vienna! As of this very moment, I am sitting in Hotel Atrium in Munich, Germany. Tragically, the hotel is not owned by a German company - it is a Best Western! Oh well, it is clean at least. I do miss the Hotel Kummer though already.
We rode the bus nearly three-fourths of the day, beginning at nine in the morning and arriving in Munich around 16.00, stopping only briefly at a rest stop called Landzeit for lunch where I had my first giant pretzel of the day and Gretchen and I split a huge chocolate cream cake. Once we arrived at Hotel Atrium, we unpacked and moved into our rooms. Unfortunately, by the time we were able to stop and take a look at our surroundings, it was dark, so I haven’t really gotten a good look at Munich yet. We’re taking a city tour by bus tomorrow morning though, which should be very informative. Alas, Eurika is no longer with us.
We ate dinner at a local restaurant (unscheduled - the tour company gave us a free dinner as compensation for all of our transportation issues), and then most of the orchestra gathered together for the walk to the Hofbräuhaus, a pub-like establishment that is almost a recreation of traditional beer halls for tourists. Supposedly, if you try to order less than a liter of beer, the waiters will laugh at you. No wonder people were looking at me funny for sitting there with a bottle of water! It was fun though, because all of the cellists sat together and toasted the beginning of the Berlioz, which had gone remarkably well last night at the concert. It also presented many quality photo opportunities.
It was a fairly calm place, but I left just as a few people were starting to get a tad bit tipsy. I walked home with Gretchen and Jon Shrader, both of whom had consumed one of the huge mugs of beer, making them not quite drunk, but not quite at peak performance either. Amusingly enough, they were much more positive about the route back to the hotel than I - the sober one - was. I’m glad I was with them, or I would have gotten lost!