Hi,
This is a collection of all my emails and pictures from my recent San Diego Symphony tour to Carnegie Hall and China. Some of you got added to the list late, some of you got mysteriously dropped from the list, and some of you never even made the list. So just in case you missed something, here they are again.
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October 15, 2013: Instrument Cases
Hi, All ,
I am so excited about my upcoming tour with the San Diego Symphony to Carnegie Hall and China!
Here is a picture of the instrument cases for the instrument cases for each instrument of the orchestra. I think these big cases get shrink wrapped before they go into the cargo of the plane's belly. It's a huge undertaking!
Jerry will be on the tour too!
We'll send you pictures as we go.
All the best,
Mary
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October 23, 2013: New York to Beijing Here We Come!
Hi, folks,
Jerry and I are ready for the 14 hour flight to Beijing.
From top to bottom: neck pillow (thank you Ken and
Leslie), eye shades, noise canceling earbuds,
Airborne, hand sanitizer, knitting (of course!), Kindle,
iPad, passport, and light compression stockings.
Oh, and I forgot to include the Tylenol PM!
More pictures to follow.
Mary
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October 26, 2013: Ready to Go
Our concert clothes and shoes are packed in these wardrobes for the flight to NY tomorrow. The stage crew is pulling an all nighter after our concert ends @ 10 pm. They will load all of the instrument cases, wardrobes, and everything else on a plane tomorrow morning. We will be reunited with our instruments and concert clothes at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday the 29th. Most of the orchestra flies to NY on Monday.
The second photo is for the SDSO website. It was taken by my dear friend and talented photographer Beth Ross Buckley.
More pics to follow.
All the best,
Mary
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October 29, 2013: Carnegie Deli
Hi,
Well we made it to NY yesterday and had a wonderful time at the Carnegie Deli with about 45 friends, family, and colleagues. People came from New York, Maine, LA, San Diego, and even Australia!!
It was a wonderful gathering. The food was delicious and serving portions were gargantuan. I got a kick out of a prominent sign on the wall: What To Do In Case of Choking.
Today we have a rehearsal at Carnegie Hall for about 2 1/2 hours. Then the concert is tonight at 8.
More pics to follow.
All the best,
Mary
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October 29, 2013: Morning Rehearsal at Carnegie Hall
Here are pictures both backstage and on stage from our morning's rehearsal. The concert tonight is completely sold out!
During the rehearsal we got used to the acoustic of a different hall. We can dare to play as softly as we want because the sound travels beautifully. It also feels like the acoustic is "telling:" everything is heard and there is nothing to "hide behind" (for example entrances need to be perfectly timed and intonation must be spot on.)
We're all very excited!
All the best,
Mary
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October 30, 2013: Great Concert! Now on to China
The gods were with us last night! The orchestra has never played better! We had an extremely enthusiastic crowd . Wow!
I was so wired I didn't get much sleep .
Our plane awaits for our trip to Bejing and then our transfer to Yantai. Tomorrow is a free day and then we go back to work.
More pics to follow.
All the best,
Mary
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October 30, 2013: PS
Instruments are shrink wrapped and ready to go!
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November 3, 2013: Friday in Yantai
Yantai is San Diego's sister city in the northeastern province of Shandong. It, too, is a coastal resort, and is home to a university and a bustling downtown. New skyscrapers are popping up all over the place.
Friday morning we set off for a walk to the beach. On the way back we discovered a Chinese cemetery hidden away in a grove of trees. Along with the gravestones were mounds covered with plants and flowers with entrances for the yin spirits. Notice the bowl that would contain nourishment for the spirits. (Of course I had to look this up on Wikipedia when I got back to the room.)
In the afternoon we took a tour to Yantai Hill where many former consulates of the mid 1800s have been preserved. Also in this park are various temples, gardens, fountains, and a museum devoted to stars of the Peking Opera which began in Yantai during the Qing Dynasty.
Then we visited the Yantai wine museum. The Yantai area evidently has the perfect climate for growing wine grapes - an equivalent of our Napa Valley. I had never heard of Chinese wine before - perhaps you have.
More pics and stories to follow shortly.
All the best,
Mary
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November 3, 2013: Jerry on the Bridge
This is a suspension bridge near the lighthouse on Yantai Hill. Red padlocks festoon the bridge in a whimsical way. (Lock-making is Yantai's #2 industry after wine-making)
As you can see Jerry is having fun!
All the best,
Mary
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November 3, 2013: Welcome Banquet
Thursday night the Yantai dignitaries hosted a lavish welcome banquet at the hotel. You can see from the menu and the table groaning from the weight of the food that we had an array of delectable offerings.
A sweet part of the evening was a ceremony to commemorate the recent wedding of our artistic director Tommy Phillips and his new bride Julie Smith, our principal harpist. You can see them dressed in traditional costumes in the last picture.
So far Jerry and I are feeling fine, although some in our group have succumbed to asthma attacks and bouts of stomach problems. Fortunately we have Dr. Jessica Chen from San Diego who is our tour physician. She has been busy!
More pics to follow.
All the best,
Mary
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November 4, 2013: Banquet Entertainment
Here is a snippet of some entertainment at our welcome banquet in Yantai.
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November 5: Shanghai
Last night we hit the ground running and within an hour we were walking down the street to a "point to the pictures in the menu" restaurant and then taxiing to a 90 minute cruise on the Huangpu River. It was amazing! The buildings were all lit up - I'd say it was a cross between Las Vegas and Disneyland.
At the hotel peanut butter was artfully displayed in these individual cups.
Today in the elusive search for a yarn shop we ended up in the fabric market with piles of material on the street. Yarn shops don't seem to exist in Shanghai - the closest being a hole in the wall with several bags of yarn of indeterminate content. I didn't buy anything yet.
Then we happened upon this historic area full of shops . The weather was sunny and mild and the skies are pretty clear.
All the best ,
Mary
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November 5, 2013: Lights in Shanghai
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November 5, 2013: More Shanghai
Shopping in the Old City
Pictures of the Shanghai concert hall. The bottom picture is of the reflective ceiling .
Unfortunately our principal trombonist came down with bronchitis so we had to fill in with the trombonist of the Shanghai Symphony. Fortunately the concert went well.
Off to Bejing tomorrow!
All the best,
Mary
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November 7, 2013: Shanghai to Beijing
Here is Derrick, one of the local guides hired by the SDSO to shepherd us through airports, handle our baggage check-ins, and make transportation arrangements. I particularly like his balletic qualities as he balances on his luggage cart!
Jerry arranged with Happy Larry to guide a group of us through Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. Here he is with Carla's mother.
Here is our group of 14. We sat in the lobby last night and the first 14 people to pay up were in.
You can see we had wonderful weather and blue skies!!!!!
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November 7, 2013: More Forbidden City Shots
I thought I was so smart to take some panorama shots of the inside of the Forbidden City, but due to operator error (that would be me) they didn't come out. I should have taken a video instead. Oh well. It is hard to convey the vastness of the scale of these buildings and of the courtyards. You must come here to see for yourself!
The garden in the Forbidden City.
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November 7: Basses and Beijing
When we arrived in China some of our basses had literally come unglued. When played they buzzed and rattled from all the extra vibrating surfaces. Once we got to Shanghai they took their instruments to a luthier who reglued and clamped them. They looked like this for the rehearsal but played the concert without the clamps.
Here are pictures from last night's concert at Tsinghua University in Beijing. It's a gorgeous concert hall, isn't it?
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November 8: "The Egg"
Our concert last night at the National Center got the Performing Arts on Beijing was a grand success! The acoustics were excellent and as you can see it is gorgeous!
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November 8, 2013: More Beijing
We finally found a very nice yarn shop through a Ravelry member who belongs to China Knitters.They had cotton blends, silks, and even mink. I couldn't think straight so I got a pretty blended yarn (of indeterminate content) I think I'll make a poncho with it.
We stopped in a tea shop on the way back to the hotel. Many locals came in to buy assorted teas in bulk from the old red tins behind the counter.
Here is my newfound friend Celine who plays violin with the Minnesota Orchestra. She was hired by the SD symphony to do the tour because unfortunately the Minnesota Musicians have been locked out for over a year. Celine has been a great buddy, next to Jerry of course! We both wear size 10 N shoes. How's that as a basis for a friendship!
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November 8, 2013: The Great Wall
Today we headed out on a bus tour to the Great Wall. Here's Jerry.
Here are my colleagues Nancy, Ryan. and Terri.
Here is part of our route. Jerry and Imade it all the way to the top of the hill in the middle of the arch.
Me with my colleagues Ryan, Yumi, and Nicki.
When I made it to the top of the hill ahead my colleagues applauded me. At the top was a young couple having wedding photos made - I figure their marriage will be a piece of cake after all the effort it took them to climb all that way!
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November 9, 2013: Scorpion on a Stick
Last night we went to the street market and one if the delicacies is scorpion on a stick! They deep fry them and bon appetit! Needless to say I didn't partake.
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November 9: Street Market
More street market photos.
Potato chips Beijing style.
More unusual delicacies- even more bugs!
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November 9, 2013: Get Home-itis
Here is an assortment of the detritus from the trip: luggage tags, all access tag for the tour, various concert tags, and our tour booklet which ended up having a slight resemblance to reality. (Our bus times to the venues and to the airports, for example , were constantly in flux. We had to check the SDSO bulletin board in the lobby for the latest updates. )
I've got a bad case of get home-itis. The tour has been fantastic but I've had enough Chinese food to last a lifetime! I look forward to getting back into my comfortable routine of teaching, yoga classes, and our morning hot cereal.
China has surpassed my expectations in every way and I'm so glad I've had this opportunity to witness this thriving rich culture.
San Diego here we come!
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