A day late and a dollar (or four) short

What an exciting past two days of the IDRS conference! I'll start with yesterday's events.

I got up bright and early to go to Francois Leleux's masterclass at 9am. He rose to the occasion yet again. We often wonder if a great performer is any good as a teacher. Leleux had all the tools, and he knew exactly what to ask of his students in the class (he pinpointed several problems immediately, always in a kind way), but he lacked some ability to explain how to fix those problems. I did write a page of notes, however, and I will use a couple of his analogies in my own teaching. I particularly appreciated his empathy towards the class participants. For example: to demonstrate a nuanced phrase with flexibility and rubato in its ornaments and deliverance, he played the big solo from Scheherazade. (Jaws dropped to the floor.) Afterwards, he turned to the girl (high school-aged maybe), and said, "do you know that piece?" She said, "umm, no," (which I think takes guts to admit!), and everyone in the audience laughed. Leleux admonished the audience and told us we, too, had all not known this piece at some point. He turned back to the girl and said, "it's ok not to know something," then turning towards the audience said, "it's not ok to laugh about it." That was awesome.

I ran into Peter after the masterclass, and he said he was in awe of Leleux and that last night’s Strauss was some of the finest oboe playing he’d ever heard. That says a lot, coming from Peter Cooper. Peter and I caught up a little, walking towards the exhibits building. He was playing on Thursday night, so it would be hard to get a lesson in on that day. We’d try on Friday. I then continued to the exhibits and spent about 3 hours trying English horn bocals (on my new Cheryl Wefler (Cascade Oboe Reeds) reed—highly recommend them if you’re looking for good reeds btw). After talking with Thomas Hiniker about my English horn, I decided not to buy a bocal right now, as the instrument itself needs fixing. He lives in Rochester, Minnesota, so I may drive up in the beginning of August and have him fix it. I talked to the makers of my English horn, the Bulgheroni family from Italy, and if Hiniker can’t fix it, they said to send it to them and they’ll fix it. I wonder how much that would cost me. Well, I love my instrument, but it may be time for a new one. Maybe at the next conference. I tried the Marigaux EH, as well as Rigoutat, Lorée and Howarth. Marigaux has the sweetness of my Bulgheroni and the projecting power of the Lorée. I also liked the Howarth horn, but it’s about $1500 more than the Marigaux. We’ll see.

It’s hard to buy an instrument at these conferences, as there are a hundred other oboists and bassoonists in the same room trying instruments. The exhibits are amazing! I have one day left in this conference, and I have yet to reach the second floor of vendors. The large room reminds me of a casino in Las Vegas: they’re void of natural light, you’re sucked in by all the flashy lights and toys to try and buy, and before you know it, you’ve spent all your time and money. I bought three CDs—two of Christian Schmitt and one of Emily Pailthorpe (the Poulenc sonata, trio, sextet). Actually, I still owe the Howarth people money for Emily’s CD. They didn’t have a five dollar bill to give me change, so I’m to come back before Saturday. Vendors here are so trusting! I’ve walked off with CDs, EH bocals, and nobody asked for any sort of good faith retainer or form of i.d. Little did they know…heheheh… Anyway, for the CD money, I thought a good solution would be for me to buy ONE spool of reed thread for $4.50, then I’d have exact cash for the folks at Howarth. Hmm…ONE spool? Can we ever stop at one? I got a beautiful pink (I’m pretty sure I don’t have that colour…) and a very cool golden orange-yellow. Dave asked why I needed so much thread. It’s not about NEED, it’s how we accessorize! Of course, now I’m $4.00 short for the CD. I’ll have to busk outside the exhibit room. I’ll take orchestral oboe excerpt requests.

Yes, I did go to some performances on Thursday. In the afternoon I heard Sandro Caldini, Martin Schuring and Pietro Corna play some reed trios, then there was an amazing recital by Pauline Oostenjijk and Christian Schmitt. Schmitt played two premieres, a solo oboe work and a work “for Christian Schmitt and live computer.” What was even more impressive than his staggering technique and ability to play modern music was the piece in between these two works. Sandwiched between the Paulet and the Schilingi was Bach’s Sonata, BWV 1020. Schmitt was able to transform himself into a Classical oboist, playing with nuance and precision, which shows two things: 1) Schmitt can adapt to any style with great flexibility. 2) Modern works and standard works are not that different from each other. Yes, our approaches to two seemingly opposite languages must differ, but beyond the notes and extended techniques, modern works should be given the same amount of tender care we give to Bach. I could go on and on…

Last night’s evening concert was a little disappointing compared to the other concerts this week. I know Peter was disappointed with his own playing of the Mozart Quintet in C minor, K. 406; this piece is actually an arrangement (by Mozart) of the Wind Serenade in C minor—arranged for viola quintet. Peter then played the first violin part on oboe. I thought it was a pretty good rendition, but he could have picked a much better piece. He’s such a beautiful player, and that still came across to all of us, but the overall effect wasn’t one of great interest, vitality or passion. Anyone that knows Peter knows that he’s anything but bland in his playing style or interpretation of any piece. The other unfortunate part of his performance was that he got water in his key(s), I think the G key, but maybe B-flat, near the beginning of the first movement. What a pain! He struggled with that throughout the entire movement and took his time to fix the problem before the second movement began. He looked up at one point and said to the audience (mind you, this is in a large concert hall!), “has this not happened to anyone here during a big concert?” Sympathetic laughs and claps.

Michel Bettez and Barrick Stees also played in that concert (not together), as did Ariana Ghez and Frank Rosenwein (playing Rathbun’s 3 Diversions for 2 Oboes) and Merrill Greenberg, playing Carlo Yvon’s beautiful Sonata in F minor. He was sharp the entire time. I know he was struggling with pitch (much different than in Israel!!), but the audience struggled along with him. It really affected my appreciation of his performance. Ghez and Rosenwein were great on Rathbun’s piece, but it seemed to lack passion. Overall, the concert was not the best.

This evening's concert, however, was fabulous. It was end-heavy in wonderful-ness, with the last four performances being some of the best playing of the conference. I will write about that tomorrow because...

The big news from us today is that we were in a car accident this afternoon. Not serious, but we were rear-ended at a stop light. Not much damage to our car (and none to his car), but there was something not quite right with the other driver. We thought he might be on drugs or drunk, so we called the police. It turns out this man is really old, has Alzheimer's disease, and when the police called his family, they said he'd been missing since 1pm (it was 6pm when the police arrived on the scene), and he lived 60 miles away. The old man didn't know he was in Muncie. So, it could've been a lot worse for all parties. He's ok, we're ok. Very very tired though, and a bit of a headache for me. I'm sure it's not from the accident, just from the stress of it all. It's been an amazing conference, but after all this traveling, I'm really looking forward to getting home. More on today...tomorrow!

Beers with bassoonists

Yet again, I'll start with this evening's highlight: Francois Leleux. Three words: Strauss by memory. He didn't even break a sweat. He knew that piece as though he'd grown up speaking it as a language. I first heard Leleux at the ’98 conference in Tempe, or in Madison ’99. I immediately went out and bought his CD after his performance. (And by “went out”, I mean that I went to the exhibit building.) He has since been one of my favourite oboists, with a glorious ringing French sound and impeccable technique. Earlier today I was acutely aware of him as I was trying a Baroque oboe for the first time. He was having a conversation with someone next to the window near the table, and I conveniently examined the craftsmanship of the instrument I was holding, rather than playing it (badly) in front of one of the world’s best oboists. The maker of the Baroque oboes was playing a scale to show me some fingerings, and as Leleux passed by, he said, “sounds great!” kind of sarcastically. Anyway, back to the concert. He was flawless. One single note didn’t speak (that’s a good average), and it was because of water. I can’t imagine a more sympathetic audience! The Strauss, for those of you who don’t know (and that had better not include any oboists!), is, as John Mack once said, “like swimming between two islands in shark-infested waters.” For it to seem completely effortless is a feat unto itself. Leleux went ahead and played in some of the orchestral tutties!! I’d never heard of such a thing in the Strauss!! Gorgeous tone too. Standing ovation for M. Leleux.

I wonder how many of these musicians are superstars in their everyday life. I’m sure Peter Cooper doesn’t walk into his grocery store to points, stares and whispers (…of the past…ok, that was a joke. Kudos to those who got it.) It must be a real trip for these world-class oboists to go to a convention and be treated like movie stars.

Linda Strommen played a Bach Sinfonia (Cantata 12, “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen”) to open the concert. She dedicated it to John Mack, who passed away on Sunday. As his passing was so recent, nothing formal had been planned. There was a tribute recital/discussion of sorts on the first day for Wayne Rapier, James Caldwell and Earnest Harrison, but Mack wasn’t added to that. I believe Nancy Ambrose King mentioned there would be a tribute to him during one of the general meetings.

This afternoon I heard Gordon Hunt play York Bowen’s Sonata for Oboe and Piano. That recital was packed, as was Stéphane Lévesque and Emily Pailthorpe’s recital in the morning. I’d never heard of the Bowen piece; it sounded like an English version of the Koechlin Sonata to me. Gordon Hunt was, of course, amazing. The Lévesque-Pailthorpe recital was another impressive act. They played Henri Brod’s “Duo from Donizetti’s ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’” for oboe, bassoon and piano. Again, I’d never heard the piece before. I’d love to play it. Lévesque then played a piece by John Hedges, then Pailthorpe played the Poulenc Sonata. She had quite a few problems during the performance. That being said, I much prefer performers squawk on notes when they’re really going for them, such as the many emotional squawks available to us in the Poulenc. Pailthorpe had some response issues, a few unfortunate wrong notes, and the aforementioned squawks, but it was still a great performance. It does make me want to listen to my past recital CDs and re-evaluate. I’m so harsh on myself, but here are some amazing players that have bad days too. And guess what? I still want to buy their CDs. I particularly recommend Emily Pailthorpe’s “Though Lovers Be Lost.” Stunning playing.

The recital concluded with Zelenka No. 5. Pailthorpe and Lévesque were joined by Martin Schuring on second oboe (what a difference in sound to Pailthorpe!) and Mark Romatz on contrabassoon. I thought it worked quite well on contra (instead of cello for the continuo part). I saw Jennifer Wohlenhaus at tonight’s concert (and Sue Odem—both Des Moines Symphony players) and suggested using contra instead of cello for her recital in September. We’re thinking of doing the Zelenka then. I should say, she’s thinking of doing the Zelenka then. I’m excited to play with her again.

I collected Sleeping Beauty (a.k.a. Dave) after that recital, and we went for lunch at a bar and grill near campus. I sat next to none other than Stéphane Lévesque at the bar (Emily Pailthorpe to his right), and we chatted (again: superstar for a week…must get used to lunches being interrupted) about visas (“huh?!” you say), Banff, Montreal Symphony and their performances. I may have also mentioned my blog, so, hello to Stéphane and Emily if you’re reading this. Thanks for the pitcher.

I went to the exhibits three times today. Bought some tube cane, said hi to Cheryl Wefler at Cascade Oboe Reeds http://www.cascadeoboereeds.com/, bought her new reed book (hot off the press, a must-have for oboe teachers and students) and ordered an English horn reed from her as well. I’m playing Pines of Rome with CRSO this September, and with studying, traveling and August guests (Laura—yeah! and Ian—yeah!), Cheryl’s wonder reed will put me at ease a bit. I also ran into Peter Cooper; I had not seen him since leaving Colorado four years ago! He’s playing in tomorrow night’s concert, and we’re trying to find time for a lesson sometime before he leaves on Friday night. He’s helping at the Marigaux booth all day on Friday. Speaking of Marigaux, did you know (“you” being any oboists reading this) that Marigaux has a new kind of oboe with alternate head joints?! Wooden/resin alternate head joints replace the upper joint of the instrument, so there is one long middle joint instead. Very interesting. I’m looking forward to talking to Peter about it.

Un-convention-al things:

We started watching “Lost” on DVD last night. OK, we are now hooked. What a scary show though! We’re very happy to have the laptop with us in this dorm room. They must take their studying seriously here at Ball State U.

We got interrupted in our “Lost” viewing last night. At about midnight, the fire alarm went off in our room, and in the rest of the building. We all poked our heads outside our doors, then shuffled down the hall and outside. It was an hour before we were allowed back inside. Grumble, grumble. This happened at the last conference I’d attended in Madison. Back then I saw the winner of the Fernand Gillet Competition in his pajamas. No famous oboists in their pj’s last night. Just me. ;)

We have ants in our room. Itsy bitsy ones in the corner of the room. Dave went to have us moved. The only place they could find was in another building (hassle), on a male floor (cooties), with no private bathroom (not happening). We’re living with the ants. Bubbles (honest! That’s HIS name…) came to spray them down, and now the room smells faintly of vomit. From the spray, not from Bubbles.

And for something of a less-than-tasteful nature:

Big cow article

And now, it’s time for “Lost” before bed. Goodnight! Wow—long post!

Convention-al Blog

Live from the IDRS Conference, this is Jillian Camwell reporting. I’m here to give you an up-to-date play-by-play of the who’s who and the what’s what.

I currently have the Poulenc Trio in my head, as that was the final piece of tonight’s concert, played by Emily Pailthorpe (oboe), Stéphane Lévesque (bassoon) and Robert Palmer (piano). It was absolutely fantastic! This is a piece that EVERYONE knows and plays, and when you perform it, you really need to bring something different to keep it from falling into the “same old” trap. Pailthorpe, Lévesque and Palmer shone throughout the entire performance. They communicated with a sparkle of the eye, and as an audience member, you couldn’t look away! Pailthorpe was gorgeous in her light pink evening gown. The first movement was faster than I’d ever heard it performed. It bordered on too fast, but they held on, providing that extra bit of adrenaline to the audience. I grasped the edge of my seat and didn’t let go until the second movement. I don’t think the smile left my face for their entire performance. The second movement, filled with poignant melodies and wide intervallic leaps that tug at the heartstrings, gave me goosebumps. We were off to races again for the third movement, where the trio played on the comic nature of the rondo and its quirky themes. The performance wasn’t without its faults, but all three performers made up for it in panache and flare. It was great to sit up close and see all their facial expressions, especially Pailthorpe with her now-furrowed brow, now-flirty smile, now-mischievous eyes. Pailthorpe and Lévesque matched well in timbre and volume, but Pailthorpe outshone in character. I would love for her to record this work! (*One day later, an edit: she has recorded this piece, but not with Lévesque. I just bought the cd today!)

I didn’t really mean this to turn into a review. I won’t do that for all the performances (I wouldn’t have time!), but that one certainly deserved it.

The rest of the concert was wonderful. Robert Williams, principal bassoonist with the Detroit Symphony, played Three Recital Pieces, op. 10 by Julius Weissenborn. Very romantic (19th century); I adored Williams’ sound. Next was the Quartet for English horn and strings by Jean Francaix, played by English hornist Grover Schiltz, former EH with the Chicago Symphony. He played with them in the 1950s, and he’s an enormous influence on generations of oboists and EH players. He must be in his late 70’s, which made the performance all the more amazing. This was followed by Pauline Oostenrijk playing Nico Hermans’ Serenade for oboe and strings (oboe quartet). I wasn’t a huge fan of the piece, but I was mesmerized by Oostenrijk’s playing. Her sound (definitely European in its flexibility, throaty sound and singing vibrato) was unique and stunning.

Earlier this afternoon I went to hear James Ryon, principal oboist of the Baton Rouge Symphony. He played a duet for oboe and cello (cellist Regina Mushabac), which is now on my list of pieces to play. It sounded difficult but very accessible (tonal), melodic (me likey), and rich (especially for a duo). The duo was then joined by a pianist to play Nikola Resanovic’s Trio for Oboe, Cello and Piano. I was very impressed with the piece itself. It was very interesting compositionally. The parts were intricate, and it sounded like it would be pretty difficult.

The final performance was of audience members entering the hall when they should have waited for the piece to conclude. Every hall had ushers, so it’s really their fault that they’re letting people in. Still, when someone walks in and walks halfway to the stage and tries to scooch in past three other people, everyone else in the hall has license to hate that person. I was 30 seconds late for Ryon’s performance, the usher let me in with another woman (in fact, he was just closing the door), and I slid in to an aisle seat silently. I still felt the glares of people around me. All was forgotten when halfway-to-the-stage-woman walked in and clumped down, and I was given license to glare along with everyone else.

Conferences like these make me realize that I don’t know as much repertoire as I thought I did. Granted, there are many premieres, so nobody knows those pieces, but there are other pieces which have apparently been around for a while. I haven’t had this conversation yet, but I guarantee it’ll happen by the end of the conference:

Me: Wow! That was a great piece. I’ve never heard it before.
Person (not Dave) sitting next to me: Really? You’ve never heard it? I just played it on my Junior recital.
Me: [Hang head in shame.]

We both got snazzy tote-backpacks at registration. Is it a tote? Is it a backpack? It’s fabulous! And one more reason to love this conference. (I’ll post a picture.)

Phew! I tired myself out there with all my giddiness. Goodnight!

Bloggin' in Muncie, IN

I'm a little giddy right now. I wonder how long it will take for Dave to get sick of my enthusiasm. We drove to Bloomington (actually, Normal) Illinois yesterday (leaving at 3:30pm, we didn't think we'd make it all the way to Muncie), and continued on to Muncie, Indiana this morning. We made it to the conference registration just fine, with a few grumbles of getting lost along the way...what else is new? It's Jill and Dave here. The reason why I'm giddy is because I'm surrounded by hundreds of oboists and bassoonists. This is a little different than the saxophone conference. First of all, we are far less cool. We are proud to be double reed geeks, and in our own way, we are even cooler because of it. Secondly, there is a higher ratio of women to men here than in Slovenia. Maybe more women play oboe or bassoon than saxophone, or maybe it's simply the sex symbol status of the oboe over the saxophone. Think Don Juan. Thirdly, because there are two different instrument families represented here (even though we're technically in the larger "double reed" family, and there are more sub-groups like contra bassoon and English horn), you have much more variety in your concert/recital choices. The last time I went to an IDRS convention, I'd say I went to about 70% oboe recitals and 30% bassoon. At the saxophone congress, it was all saxophone. Duh... What I mean is that soprano sax, alto, tenor, baritone and the periphal sopranino and bass saxophones, are all...saxophones. Maybe someone outside of the oboe/bassoon world would argue that oboe and bassoon are essentially "double reeds" and thus similar in the way the saxophones relate to each other in their family, but they're simply wrong. This all just means that when you're sick of oboe recitals (as if that would even be possible!!), you can go to a bassoon recital next door. When you're sick of hearing sax (not that it happened...well, maybe on crazy alto-tethered-to-a-dancer day), you don't just want to go next-door to another saxophonist.

The exhibits are also amazing here. Much bigger than at the World Saxophone Congress. They take up two floors in one building, and I'm salivating at the idea of hand-selecting my own cane tomorrow morning before it gets picked over by cane-hungry oboists by the end of the week.

Welcome to my world. I'm going to enter geek mode now. The blogs that follow will center around the performances and shop-talk of the conference, so those of you who are already tuning me out may want to check back in after next Sunday.

Happy oboe-ing!

Home at last

After a very long travel day (13 hours including stops), we are finally back in Indianola. Dave has a rehearsal at noon tomorrow and a concert at 2pm. Me? I will be staying in my pajamas for as much of the day as possible. Laundry calls, unfortunately, and I may have to leave the house to get food at some point, but I vow to spend the majority of the day 1) on the couch, 2) in bed (sleep is good), and 3) on our deck. We were going to leave for Indiana (IDRS convention) on Monday, but we may wait and leave early Tuesday morning instead.

Dave was doing a search of blogs and found one about Jeremy's recital! And here's a link to an article on the University of Manitoba's website about the show.

The show went really well, especially on the second night. Dave's concerto was definitely one of the highlights. There was a bit of an incident last night though. At the end of his cadenza in the third movement, there was a miscommunication between Dave and Jeremy, resulting in THE LONGEST CADENZA EVER. From where I was sitting, I couldn't tell anything was wrong, and I actually thought Dave was messing with Jeremy and purposely extending his solo. It turns out that Dave kept looking at Jeremy, expecting him to prep the orchestra for their entrance, and it never happened. Luckily, Dave is an excellent improvisor. He said he was about one lick away from saying something to Jer. It all turned out fine in the end, but that cadenza was probably about 5 minutes long. Crazy.

Bed, sweet bed, is calling. Maybe I'll have another wild baby dream. Last night I had a baby boy, and Dave was driving us home from the hospital. He looked normal at first, then he started to look like Stewie from Family Guy. Creepy. At least he didn't turn into a transformer like the other night. (No, not pregnant, just have babies on the brain!) :)

Venturing deeper into the world wide web

After much convincing, I'm setting up a website! Mostly promotional for future playing and teaching gigs, it will have downloads for students, MP3s of my playing, and more! I'll keep you posted!

I may also have you guys vote on which template you like better. I have it narrowed down to two. Stay tuned!

Bounty hunters...in Jesus' name

We're watching an interesting (actually, quite) show on A&E called "Dog The Bounty Hunter." Now, there's nothing wrong with saying a little prayer, even on a reality show, and I really shouldn't laugh, but these tough guys and gals (bleeped words, leather, chains, etc.) saying "Sweet Jesus, help us capture this bounty in your name..." I just couldn't help but laugh. Right now they're going to a crack house. Good times.

Tonight's dress rehearsal for Jeremy's recital went pretty well. I think Jer is pretty stressed out about it. He's out for drinks right now, but we'll be his cheering section when he gets back.

They're doing some scenes from "Three Penny Opera", and there's this one singer/actor playing Mack the Knife that is either playing the role "Jamaican and Gay" (think about it...Mack the Knife), or he can't quite shed either inflection in his voice. Quite an interesting choice of character portrayal! ;)

Twiddling my thumbs, while I should be twiddling my fingers

I wish I had my oboe with me this week. I'm having a lesson with Peter at IDRS next week, and I will not have played in over three weeks. Eek! I could have left it in Minneapolis while we were in Europe. It would definitely have given me something to do in Winnipeg. What was I thinking??

Ravel's Brain

I just watched a short film about the death of Maurice Ravel. The music was haunting and perfectly appropriate for each scene. It was kind of set up like a documentary/biography, interviewing his (very old now) friends, but it was mainly an art film (it was on Bravo after all), and there were scenes of a neurosurgeon's monologue/aria, contemplating Ravel's condition and upcoming surgery. The film was very interesting, and I got chills from the music. Very sad ending to his life.

Life of a Bachelor

We're staying with our good friend Jeremy, who is living the bachelor life in the Winnipeg fast-lane. I must say, I was very impressed with the cleaniless of his apartment! He made a point of telling me that he'd even cleaned the bathroom because I'd be there. I was particularly touched to see a vase of carnations on the coffee table! He had even gone grocery shopping before our arrival, so he had fresh milk, eggs, veggies, bagels and fruit. Now how many bachelors do you know that still go all out for their houseguests? Thanks, Jer!

I cooked dinner for us tonight, as Jeremy and Dave were getting ready for their rehearsal. I can't wait to get home to my own kitchen. It's always weird cooking in someone else's house, but especially when this person is a bachelor. Jeremy has most things, but it was still mainly a guessing game. I've never been good at improvising; I'm more of a recipe kind of gal. Jeremy had some individual chicken breasts in his freezer, so we thawed three of them and I rifled through his cupboards to see what I could do. I came up with a makeshift chicken parmesan, except instead of breadcrumbs, I used organic bulghur. He had no tomato sauce or tomatoes, but he did have Lipton Sidekicks fettucine alfredo, so that was the sauce. It was actually pretty good. The bulghur made the crust a little crunchier than normal, but it was fine. I do prefer the tomato sauce made from scratch. Yummy.

I checked out a mall today, and it suddenly hit me that I'm in Canada again! I love the extra Canadian stores like Smart Set and Jacob. We Canadians also have the same stores as American malls, except Victoria's Secret (we have La Senza) and Bath and Body Works (no substition, but we do have Body Shop). We also have Laura Secord's chocolates....oh my, I have four words that make me salivate: french mint chocolate bar. Melt-in-your-mouth Canadian goodness.

I also felt oddly at home in the mall today--for some reason I don't always feel comfortable in American malls. Here, everyone's polite and, well, Canadian. The prices are good too, until you remember that the Canadian dollar is actually doing quite well right now. And the tax in Manitoba is huge. 6% GST (government sales tax) AND 7% PST (provincial sales tax). Eek!

Well, my air mattress is calling. We're watching the Seinfeld box set, having a couple beers and some Taco Bell. Ah, a bachelor's life. :)

The last week in a nutshell

Venice was wonderful! Coming from Slovenia, everything seemed ridiculously expensive (whereas coming from the U.S., everything would only have seemed “very” expensive), and the tourists were bountiful, but we fought our way through the throngs to have a great time. The city is like its own little world, unlike any other city I’ve visited in Europe. The streets are mostly narrow, and what seems like an alley at first glance might very well be the street your hotel is on. Actually, that is what happened when we first arrived in Venice. That made our experiences (getting lost trying to find hotels in Europe) 2 for 2. Throw 200 people on a bridge, add two (or 20) trying to get across with suitcases, up the temperature to 40 degrees Celcius, throw on long pants and tee shirts, and you have an idea of our comfort level on Day 1.

We only had three full days in Venice, but we tried our best to squeeze in as many sights as possible. My photo link (still to be created, likely in August once I’m finally home) will have descriptions of what we saw.

Has the Amazing Race ever been in Venice? Dave and I were thinking what a great city it would be for that. We attempted three walking tours described (and even pictured!) in our guide book, and got lost each time. It’s a great city to get lost in, as long as you can work your way backwards; it’s very much like a labyrinth. One direction actually read: “cross the square diagonally, then zigzag left, right and left again until you get to [name] street.” Hmm. Not good for the directionally-challenged like Dave and myself.

On our last day, we got to the airport three hours early for our flight, because we’ve had bad luck in the past. Had we arrived two hours early, we would’ve missed out on a great experience, followed by one not-so-great drag. We found the long line-up for our Delta flight, and almost immediately, a supervisor (who looked like the Italian version of our friend Mark Kaczmarzyk) came to the end of the line and asked if anyone would be willing to take an earlier flight to New York JFK instead of Atlanta. We said sure, so he checked the availability of flights from JFK to Minneapolis. Sure enough, we’d be able to arrive in MN earlier than the Atlanta connection. Dave asked if they’d upgrade us to first class for our troubles, and Italian Mark said no, it was fully booked. He whisked us through the priority lane of security (a bonus on its own!), and the flight started boarding pretty much right away. The best part is that Italian Mark came through for us and bumped us up to first class after all. He gave me a little wink as he passed me the boarding passes. I’d like to think that New York Mark would do the same. :)

The flight to New York was fabulous. I’d been moved to first class once before, but it was on a much shorter flight on a much smaller airplane. My favourite thing about this flight was the seat itself. You could adjust it six or seven different ways, including a “sleep” position. Press that baby and you’ll never go back to coach. I couldn’t tell if our flight attendant liked us or not. I got the distinct impression we were “upgrades” rather than full-fledged regular first-class passengers in her eyes. Dave thought I was reading too much into that. Maybe it was how she tossed the hot towel in our laps after wiping her own face with it first. Or how she took a sip of our wine before passing it over to us. Call me crazy.

The madness began when we got to NYC. We had a three hour connection, and long story short, we were sprinting to our gate and our luggage didn’t make it with us to Minneapolis. Grr. I find it funny that in six months, I’ve arrived at a destination without my bags THREE TIMES. Funnier still, it had never happened to me before.

I thought I’d be reporting in this blog that we had to go to Winnipeg today without our luggage and return to Indianola via Minneapolis to collect it on our way home. Luckily that didn’t happen. We’ve been staying with Blake (McGee)’s parents DeAnn and Michael. Our friend Laura (see link called “Laura” (coincidence?) to the right) picked us up from the airport and drove us to the McGee/Lazovich household on Friday night. We were up on Saturday morning at 6am, and a bit later on we went downtown with Laura to check out the “Macy’s 24 Hours of Music” going on at Orchestra Hall. Of course, the only stuff happening at 10:30am was geared towards families. We saw members of the Minnesota Orchestra do a children’s concert of the Bremen Town Musicians (composer Edie Hill), which was fun. At least for Laura and I. Well, at least for me, as I can’t really speak for Laura. I can speak for Dave though, and I’m pretty sure he’ll avoid any more kiddy concerts until we actually have our own kiddies to bring. He wouldn’t do any of the animal sounds, the snapping, the head patting, or any of the other things Laura, I, and the 200 2-5 year olds around us were gladly doing! I guess Mr. “I almost have a doctorate” is above all that?!! ;)

We hung out with Laura for a couple more hours then went back to DeAnn and Michael’s. Still no word on the luggage, which was making us nervous. Blake came back from teaching at a nearby music camp, and Katrina was arriving later that evening. DeAnn took Blake, Dave and me to a Twins game, and even though I had to rest my head on Dave’s shoulder, I did not fall asleep!! The Twins were securely in the lead when we left in the 8th inning to get Katrina from the airport. We figured we might as well check on our luggage while we were there, and as luck would have it, one of our bags was behind the counter (it had been there all day), and another had JUST arrived on another flight from NYC!! So all’s well that ends well. We have our bags, and we’re off to Winnipeg in a few minutes here.

Jeremy Legault’s conducting recital (or should I call it an Event?...very large-scale!) is on Thursday and Friday. That’s right: two appearances, folks! If you’re in Winnipeg, check it out at the University of Manitoba. It’ll be great! Actually, if you’re in Winnipeg, email me so we can hang out. I might be very bored this week! What’s in Winnipeg again? Seriously, I want to know!

Bye for now!

Ciao, Slovenia; Ciao, Italia!

We had a great last day in Slovenia. We decided to take the train to Piran, a medieval coastal town, skipping the last day (morning) of the conference. It was worth it. 2 hour train ride, 1/2 hour bus ride, on which we met a soccer referee for Slovenia whose full-time job was as the bus drivers' boss. He was practically a tour guide for us, telling us how to get around Piran and helping us figure out how to get back to Ljubljana in time for the World Cup game tonight!

Piran was absolutely gorgeous; we wish we'd had more time there. Highly recommend it if you're traveling to this part of the world. We swam in the Adriadic sea and sunbathed on the rocks. I had the best lunch I've had in years, and certainly the best mussels I've ever had in my life. 100% fresh, and a huge mound of them for the equivalent of 5 euros, or 7$usd. We ended up taking a bus back directly from Piran, which saved us a half hour and got us back in time for a shower before the game.

It's been a blast watching World Cup games in Europe! Ever since England was eliminated, we haven't really cared who wins. Instead, my system has been to cheer for whoever the loudest ones in the bar cheer for! Then you're just part of the revelry! Tonight we sat at the same patio as the last time Italy one (vs. Germany), and the Italian fans were slightly louder than the French. Dave was cheering for Italy because we're going there tomorrow...well, I'm sure he had a better reason than that. Who am I kidding? Is my reason any better?! It was a lot of fun, especially since Italia won! Anyone see Zidane's headbutt? Ouch--must have hurt the other guy--good red card call, but I always wonder at the nerve it must take to look the most famous player in the world in the eye and pull out the red card. What guts.

Off to Venice tomorrow!! Very exciting!

When in doubt, "gelato"

Words you live by in Slovenia:

Prosim (please)
Hvala (thank you)
Pivo (beer)
Union (best brand of beer)
Smile (other brand of beer if they don't have Union)
Bela kava (cafe au lait...even though I don't drink coffee, I've had some)
Gelato (gelato..."the best outside of Italy")

We really take for granted the fact that English is such a universal language. Is it just the ignorance or isolation of living in such a large country as the United States of Canada (joke...) that makes most people unappreciative of the fact that everyone seems to speak English? One of the most interesting things on this trip has been seeing various people of different cultures conversing in a common tongue--of course, I've been alluding to English. When we arrived, I felt really bad that I couldn't even remember the word for hello (Dober dahn--not sure if that's spelled correctly, and I'm not sure how to pronounce it), but I quickly came to realize that no matter what you do, everyone knows you at least speak English. It's simultaneously been a source of relief a cause of a wee bit of guilt; I don't know why. I could get by on French, and I'll always try my hand at key phrases when I travel. It just makes you appreciate everyone else's attempts...and successes! I wish I could be so accomodating when they visited my country.

Lots to blog about...let's see.

Conference highlights:

1) I'm not saxophoned out yet...although I came close today. There was an afternoon of sax and various multimedia. There's only so much anyone can take of that, including saxophonists and multimedia enthusiasts. There was one piece for sax, electronics and dancer. The dancer was tethered to the sax player...I'll post a picture when we get home. There was also a piece played by Canadian saxophonist Julia Nolan (UBC) for sax and audio-visual presentation. The visual: wet naked male bodies. It wasn't graphic, it was very artistic. I personally didn't get it.

2) Funniest "serious" piece: solo saxophone and actor. The actor was in some sort of white plastic sack, straining and struggling to get out. Very creepy, especially with the plastic pulled over the face like a person being suffocated. Other than that, it was very hard not to laugh out loud during the performance.

3) Biggest stress (besides getting lost at 3am on the night of our arrival): checking in to the conference and finding out that the tech guys did not have Dave's updated tech info sheet. They said they were under no obligation to provide tech guys for the performance, as they didn't have the sheet. It all worked out in the end, but Dave was pretty worried for a while. The performance went extremely well. It's weird to think we flew to Europe for an 8 minute piece!

Before the conference started, we had a couple of days to get over jetlag and get our bearings. We went for a walking tour of the city on Tuesday morning and took a little train (a la Disney--think "It's a Small World After All") up to the Ljubljana Castle that afternoon. We could have walked up the "mountain". As the train climbed up the hill, little old ladies with walkers were passing us on the path. Nearly.

We saw both semi-final matches of the World Cup in cafes in town. It's too bad we won't be in Italy when the final takes place. That would be an exciting experience! It was crazy enough with the hard-core fans around here. We're very close to Italy, so of course most people were cheering for them vs. Germany. The France game was on during the evening concert two nights ago, and of course they had a tv on in the lobby where everyone congregated. We caught the end of the game at a cafe aftwerwards.

We've seen some amazing concerts. My hands-down favourite has been "Sax Assault" (risky name, eh?) who were joined by Bob Mintzer and then followed by the Yellow Jackets. Even if you're not a fan of the sax, Sax Assault is a group to check out. They sounded like a big band and played different kinds of music, mostly funk or Pat Metheny-ish jazz. Very very cool.

The absolute best part of this trip so far has been the ambiance of the city. There are about 20 cafes on every street, so you just take your pick and settle down for a bela kava or pivo. Our routine has been to go to one place for lunch, another for coffee, pick up a gelato on the way to the conference hall, and go out for pivo at a fourth place after any event. You don't have to go to the same place twice, but we have our favourites. We love the cafes by the river (again, dozens), where you can take part in the best people-watching available. The women are Euro-chic, and I feel terribly unfashionable at all times. I finally broke down and wore my heels last night (20 min. walk to the centre from our hotel, cobble streets, bad idea), after which I promised my feet I wouldn't put them through that again. At least I looked good for one night.

Off to another concert this evening. We've been going out for meals and gelato with various colleagues, new and old. Had a nice meal and bottle of Slovenian merlot with Roger Greenberg (followed by...gelato) the other night, and we'll try to rope in Jeremy and Mary Brown before we go our separate ways.

I can't wait for Venice, but Ljubljana has been fantastic!!!

Slovenia!

After a very long travel day, we are finally in Ljubljana. We left Minneapolis on July 1 (happy Canada day!) at 11am, and arrived at our hotel on July 3 at 3:30am. We were supposed to arrive at 7:40pm the previous evening, but we missed our train in Venice, adding several hours to the trip. That was completely my fault, but as Dave tells me, there's no sense beating myself up about it. We were out the hours as well as the fare, which really sucked. I felt so bad. We're here now.

I may get kicked off anytime, so I'll make the rest brief. More interesting stories another time, I guess!

We also got lost once we arrived in Slovenia. We were warned not to take a taxi, and our hotel was supposedly only 800 meters from the station. Well, we walked with all our luggage for about 45 min, asking 2 taxi drivers (glad they didn't charge us) and a hostel clerk where this hotel was...again, at least we're here!

The hotel was a welcome sight. Very clean and comfy. We explored a bit of town today, but spent most of our time (after sleeping in) at cafes and restaurants. There are about 20 cafes per block, and most are riverfront. It's very atmospheric...I can't wait to show you pics. Tomorrow we'll go on a walking tour. Dave performs on Wednesday. It's about 9pm here, and we'll try to go to bed early.

Hvala! (...which actually means thank you!...I can't remember hello or goodbye! :) )