Tokyo Drifters

We returned to Sapporo after spending half a day in Tokyo, and what a day it was. In our last rehearsal with Muti, he imparted some widsom. He said our jobs will be very difficult, but very important. Today, everyone in the world is growing farther apart, cultures feel threatened and defend themselves, sometimes in violent ways. But in music, in particular, this festival, people from all over the world can sit down with one another, not say a word, and say more to each other and reach a level of understanding that is unquestionable. It was a pretty beautiful thing. I wish the world would pay more attention to what's going on instead of trying to change everyone's mind. Our's is a great responsibility.

Since we only had one night in Tokyo, many of us decided to go all out. We started with the reception after the concert at Suntori Hall. The bass section got some great group shots with the principal of Vienna, and Muti. I would post them now, but I need to get copies of them because they're not on my camera. We went to a club in downtown Tokyo (something I don't really do in the States) and we partied our asses off. The subway system in Tokyo puts all others to shame in my experience, by the way. Anyway, we got real crazy. The flutist from Vienna, Gunter (there should be an umlaut over the 'u') came with us. He's a very cool guy, he gave me a cigar, and complimented the bass section. I think Muti liked us too, during the performances of the Schubert, everyone agreed he was looking at the bass section 75% of the time, and diggin' it. I'm not quite sure how I got back to the hotel, but I did. I do remember going to the basement around 3 am and exploring the shrine and gardens at the hotel. All the lights were off, and no one was around, it was very surreal. Around 4, the sun came up so we celebrated the new day with Jack and Coke. (I think I sad before, the time zone position of Japan has to be weird, the sun rises at 4.) The net day, we had to be on the bus at 9, and get back to Sapporo for a rehearsal that afternoon. Whoever decided that was a good idea should re-evaluate their thought processes. I'm playing The Firebird Suite and Mozart 35 "Haffner" with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. (The Sapporo guys like my bass) But tonight, I'm playing with the Vienna Phil. woodwind ensemble at Kitara. I'm pretty pumped about that, and a little nervous, but it will be good times. Anyway, I have to change and get ready for tonight, hope everyone is doing well.

Quote of the Day (Yesterday): "I spy...a Japanese person."

Quote of the Day: "Oh yeah, PMF was great, I played concerts, went to bed early everynight, and I'm halfway through the Bible..."

Kitara Concert Hall

Tonight, we played our second concert with Ricardo Muti at the Kitara Concert Hall here in Sapporo. Tomorrow, we're leaving for Tokyo to play the same program. We played Verdi's La Forza Del Destino Overture, Mozart's Concerto for Oboe with the principal of Vienna, and the Schubert Great Symphony. The concerts were amazing. Muti has such a command over the orchestra and a spontaneity that keeps the excitement high. During the second movement of the Schubert Symphony, I got to thinking... I spend a lot of time worrying about the future and trying to make a career for myself. It's so easy to forget what you're doing in the present while worrying about the what might happen to you. But I've always tried to remind myself, and everyone around me, that the present is all we will ever have. We could easily spend our entire lives worrying about the future. For the time being, no matter what happens to me, I'm satisfied knowing I was part of some of the greatest music and that I got to work with one of the greatest musicians of our time. I hope to keep this in mind and enjoy every moment I have, because I've dismissed a lot of great experiences because of self doubt and fear. (I don't know who exactly is reading this, but don't tell anyone.) But these concerts were really first rate. Everyone played with passion and skill, and I think the bass section could have been measured on the Richter scale. (There were eleven of us, the 10 students plus the principal of Vienna.) I wish I had more words to describe the experience so I could share it with all of you, but great art is far beyond that.

I had a rehearsal early this morning for the PMF Vienna Woodwind concert. (I'm one of two string players that had to be up early this morning, but I'm over it.) We're playing the Dvorak Serenade No. 1 on Friday night. I stayed up way late last night, and got about 2 hours of sleep, but how could anyone be tired when you get to play with musicians like this? After the rehearsal, I had some down time before the next bus, and walked around the park by Kitara Concert Hall. There's a Shinto temple (see pictures above), and many monuments, some for World War II, and others I couldn't tell what they were for. I might spend a lot of my free time there. Ever since I started reading and studying Zen, I've wanted to visit places like this. I had only heard about them, and seen pictures. I need to sleep, we have to leave early to leave for Tokyo tomorrow.

Quote of the Day: "I can't wait to watch Sumo and take a nap." (And I did)

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.

Viennese Waltz

I appologize not having posted in a few days. My　computer is out of juice, and this is the first free moment I've had to use the public computer in a few days. I've been having a really amazing time and a rough time as well. I'll start with the bad, so I can close with the good. The food has not been agreeing with me too well. I'm not a big fish eater, but everyone in Japan　sure is.　I have to find a way to eat more. I got a little sick the day after my birthday. But, all is well, I went to the supermarket. I've never been so happy to see bananas and dental floss. The things we take for granted... But, the amazing part has been the music. Yesterday, we rehearsed a Josef Strauss Waltz with the principals of the Vienna Philharmonic. To learn from and to work with these musicians is really quite incredible, a once in a lifetime experience. Not only that, but Riccardo Muti will be conducting our rehearsal for the Schubert Great Symphony this afternoon. I'm about to explode, but I hope I can keep myself together. Also, at dinner last night, I happened to sit with two violinists, a violist, and a cellist. We got to talking about the Schubert Cello Quintet (a piece for 2 vln, vla, and 2 vc), and decided to read it after everyone returned to the hotel. It is possibly my favorite piece of music. (Suggested recordings: Cleveland Quartet with Yo-yo Ma, and Emerson Quartet with Rotropovich) Everyone is so excited to play music, and drop everything to do it. I wish it was like that all the time, but we get busy, and have things to do. This is the musician's vacation.

I had the morning off, so I actually caught a bit of the Red Sox game. Last I checked we were up 12-3 against Tampa Bay. They play the games live, so the start here at 8:00 in the morning, when Boston's at home for a night game. The fates have aligned well to bring me Red Sox even when I'm on the other side of the world. I've been having a lot of fun, aside from the one day I was sick. (Nothing 13 hours of sleep and McDonald's couldn't fix.) The landscape here is amazing. I would put up pictures, but I don't have my computer to do that. The rolling mountains around here are things I've only seen in Zen paintings. I understand the close connection to nature the Japanese culture has always had. I hope all is well in the States.

Quote of the Day: ”Hajima mashite"

Vienna

Folks, today was my birthday, and what a birthday it was. We celebrated last night, and we celebrated today as well. Today was a good day. This post will be short, because my power is running low. I'm playing in the opening ceremony concert on Saturday. I was assigned to this chamber group that I thought was going to be made up of PMF students. Turns out, half of it is PMF students, the rest of it is the principal oboist, clarinetist, bassoonist, and french horn (ist?) from the Vienna Phil. Very intimidating. Either way, it is a great experience because I'm the one of two string players playing with them. My dear friend Mr. Biava made sure I got to do something cool like that. Everyone else was assigned to this string orchestra piece, and I'm very glad I don't have to do it. We had a sectional with the principal bass of the Vienna Phil this afternoon, and it was an interesting experience. But, back to the birthday celebrations. We went to the Kirin beer garden in downtown Sapporo last night. I though about ordering a seaweed tonic, a shandy gaff, or the lamb tonic, but I stuck to the beer. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it.) All is well, I would like to write more, and post a picture, but my computer will not last much more. (I'm wasted and I need to go to bed.) ((What?)) Good night all.

Quote of the Day: "What's a shandy gaff?"

Daylight

So, I woke up this morning at 4:00. I didn't realize it was 4:00 for a little bit because the sun was out and I heard a lot of PMF people walking around the hallway. When I did realize what time it was, I investigated. I think Japan or the time zone in which it exists is in a funny position. The sun should just not be out that early. It fooled everybody. The windows in my room don't have blinds, they just have doors that completely block out the light. Maybe I'll take advantage of that tonight. I fell back asleep for a little while, but couldn't sleep past 7. So, I went down to breakfast, 3 times, because there was nothing else to do until our bus left at 10:30. We went to the Art Park, which is where we're going to rehearse and perform our Sapporo concerts. Its a pretty amazing place. The concert stage is an outdoor one, similar to the one at Tanglewood. They have these crazy concrete sculptures everywhere too. I saw a Hula competition going down on the stage this afternoon. Little five year old girls, performing perfectly in unison. Something about the discipline in this culture astounds me. 30 little Japanese girls can perform like that, but no one can seem to let people off the elevator before trying to push their way in. We had our orientation meeting this afternoon. Everyone's really nice. They have about 12 photographers that follow everybody around and take pictures (no, really?), yeah, pictures. I also received my first per diem, which is 3000 yen, a little more that 30 dollars American. This festival must have the largest funding of any festival I can think of. (There wasn't even an application fee to apply) Well, after exploring our Art Park, I came back to the hotel. Turns out, spongebob is the most entertaining show I've found on television. This holds true in America as well, but when its in Japanese, I can still understand what's going on. Something about the way the show is animated. I went into town with a couple bass players, and we got some food at the cheapest place we could find, that wasn't my decision. But, now my per diem will cover my beer, which by the way, can be purchased right outside my room from a vending machine. You don't even have to tip that guy. Anyway, my audition's tomorrow, as is everyone else's, but no one seems to care. That's a good thing.

Quote of the Day: "Pass the immodium."

Sapporo

Well, I just got off of some 20 hours of traveling to Japan, and I can only guess at what time it is supposed to be here. The 14 hour flight from JFK to Tokyo was not as bad as I thought it would be. If anyone's curious, Breach, with Chris Cooper, is a great movie, Wild Hogs, with Tim Allen and Co., not so great. I might expect that kind of stuff from Martin Lawrence, but John Travolta? Anyway, don't see it. So, no one really speaks much English here in Sapporo. But, on the plus side, the bass players, myself included, all have our own rooms in the hotel for the month. Everyone else is jealous, so you should be too. And, the only English channel I receive has the Bodyguard playing, pretty awesome. Here's a picture of gifts that were waiting for me in my room. Anyway, I'm super tired, I will write again soon.

Quote of the Day: "Shank you, have a nice fright."