Days FIVE and SIX

Well, the tour's actually over at this point (I'm sitting in the Symphony office right now!) but it since it was so tough to find time to post on the blog, we thought we'd do a retrospective.

On day four in Vancouver, the kids played at the Magee Secondary School in Vancouver. There was very limited time to get them fed and on their way to the school auditorium, so we bought 10 pizzas and brought them on the bus to the gig for the kids to eat between rehearsal and performance. Those 10 pizzas were absolutely DECIMATED. Apparently, we didn't buy enough. Or maybe the kids' appetites were just enormous. Or both.

The Magee School Orchestra had a different feel from the Richmond Orchestra. Between our students being totally wiped-out and their own students being completely wiped-out, I think it was tough for everyone to drudge up the energy to do another performance. To make things even stickier, the low brass musicians from Magee who were meant to join us for Finlandia had never seen the music before. But those students really rose to the challenge, and the performance was stunning. Click on these photos to see videos of the students performing at Magee. I think you'll agree that they sound phenomenal.

As the kids got on the bus to leave the venue, Nancy got on the bus microphone and started off by saying "Everyone, this is your conductor." And all the kids hollered and clapped. Then she gave them a big thank you for being such attentive and phenomenal musicians, as well as wonderful people. It was an awesome reminder of why we were out working so hard. These musicians and their music are worth it!

That night, we got back to the hotel and slept like rocks.

The next day was a sight-seeing and exploration day, beginning with a trip to the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver. This was quite a sight to behold. The bridge is very long and skinny, and hangs over an enormous gorge with a river flowing below. I had a tough time pulling together enough courage to go across, but I made it! Everyone in our group made it, actually. We are a brave bunch! Shortly before we walked across the bridge, we took this group photo. Notice the two folks on the left of the picture. I don't remember them being on tour with us...

Then, of course, we had to do the funny version. Click to see closer. I particularly like Asali's expression. Crossing the bridge made still photographs a bit tricky.

Once we crossed the bridge, we had a couple of medical misshaps that made things a bit frantic for a while. One of the musicians slipped and fell, landing her and I in the emergency room for a while (thank God for the rental van!) so I didn't catch a lot of what happened until later in the evening. I hear that everyone went to Stanley Park for lunch and then went to hang out in Gastown. At 5:30 or so, we all met up at Milestones Restaurant in downtown Vancouver for our farewell dinner. The steak was delicious! We all sat in different booths and had so much fun just relaxing and enjoying ourselves.

Directly from Milestones Grill, we went to the Orpheum Theatre to see the living jazz legend, Sonny Rollins. It is a very ornate, old-school theater, complete with giant chandeliers and gilded mirrors. When we entered the theater, Issy said "I would give anything to go backstage!" I said something like "Yeah, it would be awesome to meet Sonny Rollins" to which she replied, "No, I just want to see the backstage area." What an operations nerd. :)

Fun in Vancouver

Hi everyone!

After a couple fun days touring Victoria (including beautiful Butchart Gardens), we took the ferry back to Vancouver yesterday. I think the kids were really tired - I know I was! We had to wake up around 5:30am to take a bus to the ferry, then ride the ferry to Vancouver, then ride the bus to Granville Island (where they have the sweetest public market and craft shops). Travel - eat - wait in line - eat - travel - wait in line. That's the nature of a tour, we're all learning.

When we got to the hotel, everyone took a few minutes to recuperate, but soon we were off to the Richmond Gateway Theatre in Richmond (close to Vancouver) to warm up for our performance there last night. Upon arrival, we were greeted with the nicest people! Reggie, the President of the Richmond Youth Orchestra, Spencer, the conductor, and lots of very friendly young musicians greeted us. After warm up, we ate from a fantastic spread of Chinese food that the RYO prepared for us, and we exchanged some gifts with each other. It was so fun to see our kids mingle with theirs so easily. Music forges a bond!
The Richmond YO has a beginning and intermediate string ensemble that performed before intermission (and were very good), and then our orchestra played one of the finest performances I've ever heard. I was so impressed with their musicianship, how they rose to the occasion. Then the RYO top tier orchestra performed a very fine set, and then the groups joined to play Pirates of the Carribean together under Spencer's baton. It was so exciting! They had never sounded better... until...

This morning we went down to the University of British Columbia for a 90 minute workshop with assistant conductor John van Deursen. When I walked in to the sound of our students playing Handel's Musik for the Royal Fireworks under Mr. van Deursen's direction, I nearly cried! The sound was unbelievable. Nancy sat and listened for a while, and leaned over to me to say "This is so great for the students!" Everyone was just tickled to have the experience, I think.

Right now, the kids are spending some free time swimming, shopping, and relaxing. They deserve it! Tonight they go to the Magee Secondary School for their second and final performance. We'll keep you posted on how it goes!

Jaime

We have arrived!

Hey everyone!

The Youth Symphony has arrived safe and sound in Victoria, B.C.! After a few hilarious hiccups (see below) a long bus ride to SFO, a flight to Vancouver, a ferry ride across to Victoria, and another bus ride to the restaurant for dinner. And a partridge in a pear tree.

I woke up in Portland yesterday morning and thought "Hey, the YS kids are on their bus by now and happily riding up to SFO to catch their flight!" Jake and I got in the van to drive over the border into Canada and I decided to check in with Nancy to see how everything was going. Well, apparently, the kids got on the bus at SLOHS, drove over the grade to Atascadero to pick up a few students at Santa Barbara Rd., and promptly got stuck in a ditch next to a horse corral. The bus wouldn't budge, so after several tow truck attempts (and a couple of hours), they got another coach to drive them up to SFO. Of course, these are the greatest, most easy-going kids in the world, so they rolled with the punches and just enjoyed the sunshine and petting the horses. What a group.


Once the new coach arrived, everyone packed in and took off for SFO, making the flight (which was already a bit late) and getting into Vancouver in time to hop on another coach and head toward the ferry at Tsawwassen. The coach was delayed by an hour (they were supposed to get on at 5, but got on at 6 instead) but they met up with us at the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown Victoria for some much-needed dinner. After that, we all headed back to the hotel to CRASH.

This morning, we all got up bright and early for breakfast at the hotel, and right now Issy and I are happily listening to the orchestra rehearse Handel's Water Musik. It sounds so lovely, and the kids are all in such high spirits that we both just want to give them an enormous hug! We are certainly feeling the luuuuuuuuv.

Later, we'll all head downtown again for the Royal BC Museum, the Empress hotel, and much later, Butchart Gardens. We are having a blast!

Last rehearsal before take-off....

Check out this video of our last rehearsal. I think we sound ready...

I just got the van from the rental place, and it's absolutely huge. Driving it around will take some getting used to, since I usually drive a little Honda that's very low to the ground. I feel like a need a boost to get in - it's like the old A-Team van! Where's Mr. T when you need 2 basses, 8 cellos, a bassoon and a French horn hauled to Vancouver?

Well, everything appears to be in order. Instruments are coming in from musicians, the itinerary is set, and all is on track! Jacob (my husband) and I are just counting the minutes to 3pm when we'll be pulling out of the Symphony parking lot...

Jaime

Lots of fun publicity for tour...

Hey tour followers,

Check out the front page of the Tribune this morning! http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/65410.html I especially love the photos of Nancy and Chris Burkhardt-Snelling. :)

I also heard that we were on KSBY last night and this morning, but I haven't found anything on the KSBY website. In any case, we've had some nice coverage on this!

We've got video!

We're doing some tests to see if we can get video on our tour blog so that parents can see clips from their kids' performances while on tour. Issy and I got pretty loopy putting this test video together. Check it out by clicking the photo.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Jaime