Muti

We've had two rehearsals with Riccardo Muti, and I feel like a completely different musician. He is an amazing artist. Making beautiful music, or any great art, can seem so elusive, but the masters make it so clear, I wonder why it didn't occur to me from the beginning. He spoke in the opening ceremony this afternoon, and said something about the orchestra I've always tried to tell people, but never had the words or experience to really convey. The orchestra is a paradigm of an ideal society. In the orchestra, everyone must be their individual selves, with their flaws, strengths, disagreements, etc. At the same time, we all must work toward a unified goal. Only with the free expression of ideas, and listening to other people will the final result be something special. If everyone was taking orders from the conductor, on the other hand, we would all be slaves, subject to the word from above. "The conductor is more like the prime minister, who must listen to everyone's ideas, add his own, and create what's best for the community." (This also reminds me of this fascinating article in this month's National Geographic on swarm theory. Ant and bee colonies accomplish amazing things, without ever being told what to do. We humans traditionally give our most important decisions to ever smaller groups of people. Ahem...) His presence alone is producing some of the best music I've ever been a part of. I'm working very hard with rehearsals and concerts, but it is so rewarding and inspiring.

Last night, a bunch of us went to a karaoke bar. Amazing... We found this gem of a bar near our hotel, and sang Prince (almost the entire soundtrack to Purple Rain) Queen, and Hanson. Pretty amazing time.