Moni posts from Bulgaria – day three

May 18, 2011

 

7:00 a.m.

Yoko Moscowitz was waiting for us at the lobby of the hotel. Yoko and her husband Ken have been in Bulgaria for two years. Ken is in charge of the education division with the American Embassy and the two of them have lived in several different countries since they got married. Before we started with the other activities of the day, Yoko took us to her house for a short practice session and breakfast. It was my first time in a car with a red license plate in Bulgaria. Within a diplomatic vehicle with this type of plate, the local laws do not apply.

The Moscowitz’s apartment was in one of the nicest neighborhoods of Sofia. It is considerably bigger than the average apartment and on display is art from all over the world. Since Ken has been working for the government on international projects for over 20 years now, I assumed that he had personally bought all the pieces. When we arrived he had already gone to work, but we would meet him very soon. Midori and I both started practicing, and as soon as tea was ready, Yoko called us to the table. She’s been studying Bulgarian and sings in a local choir, so she understands quite a bit.

9:30 a.m.

Ceco called me from downstairs to let us know that he was there. Midori and I changed into more formal attire and we headed down to meet him. Ceco took us to 134th School for the first presentation with the string quartet. Besides the students of that school, waiting for us were students from the 18th school, which offers Japanese language studies. There were screens around the school so that staff and students who were not able to attend or simply couldn’t fit in the auditorium would get a chance to see some of the event.

The rest of the quartet was waiting when we arrived, and we quickly went over the sequence of events. I encouraged them to also play some of it by ear. In presentations like these, a solid script is necessary, but going off it makes perfect sense if done in style.

The quartet began by introducing its members and the instruments. It was unnatural to see Midori so quiet – she is usually the leader in these presentations. But during the presentation the cello player had to speak for her and it seemed to work out really well. They played their first piece and everyone loved it. Then the cellist introduced me and I said a few words about the solo piece I would play. After I finished, it was Midori’s turn to play. The lights were bright and from the stage I couldn’t see the reactions of the audience, but the quartet seemed to be in awe – it’s the first time they have heard her play an unaccompanied solo, and it sounded very good!

The presentation is over in less than an hour and then it was picture time! Kids were happy, adults were happy – an overall success!

12:00 p.m.

Ceco took us and the quartet back to the Music School where we ate lunch and prepared for our rehearsal with the orchestra and Maestro Maxim Eshkenazy. He had just flown in from Los Angeles and it would be his first time reading these pieces with the Classic FM Orchestra. He knows the group well, of course, and there should be no problems.

1:30pm

Maxim and I went over my pieces and later Midori did the same. We were ready to play with the orchestra!

2:00pm

I played first. There were lots of familiar faces in the orchestra but I decided to focus on the music now and make friends later. On the second try, Maxim was already guiding the orchestra along my rubatos in pieces that they know very well. During the break, lots of the players went out for a cigarette, and because I was done with my portion of the rehearsal, I began socializing. It turns out that I went to music school with lots of the members of the orchestra! It had been so many years, but we remembered stories together and they updated me on some of our other classmates who I had lost touch with. But soon the break was over and we decided to meet properly once the week was over.

Midori’s Tchaikovsky concerto attracted most of the teachers that are still in the building so there was a considerable audience. She’s played the piece hundreds of times, and I’ve heard a good number of them, but it still seems different every time.

6:00 p.m.

I went back to the hotel and changed for the reception we were about to attend. Midori brought her outfit already so she could stay and catch up on emails and eat yogurt.

7:00 p.m.

We were off to the reception. It was organized by Classic FM radio and the “America for Bulgaria” foundation, one of the main sponsors for our event. It took place in a historical venue in Sofia called the Army Club. The person in charge of the venue took us in through the back door since most of the guests had already arrived. He said that he used to play the violin and we started talking about it. One thing lead to another and it turned out that I know his son who completed his masters at USC in Double Bass!

Backstage. I could see the food that’s about to be taken to the guests. It looked delicious, but I couldn’t have any just yet. Midori’s interpreter helped to go over her outline and I practiced violin softly. There was a tall TV star with a deep voice to introduce us before our mini-performance. Once he had greeted everyone and told them a few words about Midori, we went on stage and played a little something for two violins. Afterwards, I quickly slipped off and a lady handed me a remote control to run the slides of the Power Point presentation Midori and her assistants in New York worked on for the last few days. She spent a few minutes on each slide and showed pictures from previous ORPs, International ORPs, and even of some of the events that had taken place in the last few days and hours. The goal of presentations like these is to familiarize the cultural and business leaders of Bulgaria with the value and importance of classical music and arts. The topic of this particular presentation was classical music and young children, but Midori touched on a few much more general issues. I was glad that there was a TV crew covering the event so that it could reach more people than the select hundred or so in the audience. The interpreter did not miss a beat, and I kept clicking that remote every time Midori exhausted a slide.

Finally, it was time for some mingling, wine, and tiny sandwiches–a nice reward!
9:00 p.m.

After the reception, Midori was approached by the director of the school for visually impaired children. In fluent English, he asked if it would be possible for Midori to visit some of their classrooms and perhaps play for the kids. She didn’t think twice and agreed to visit in the morning before our final concert.

We finally sat down to our dinner and went back to the hotel, exhausted but happy.

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