International ORP in Lima, Peru: Day 4
September 2nd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Thursday, September 1
Today was one of the easier days… or am I just getting used to the international ORP schedule?
This time the driver didn’t have to wait for us and we are already wrestling with Lima’s morning traffic shortly after 7 a.m. Midori’s going on and on about some new departmental projects she has waiting for her back in school and I nod occasionally pretending to stay engaged while I am studying the landscape. I can’t count to three without hearing a car honk at another, and the buses are so packed around the doors that some are tilted to the side. No one has it easy in the morning.
The conservatory feels colder than yesterday but we are told it’s just the extremely high winter humidity that makes it seem so. There is a heater in Midori’s practice room. It doesn’t do much good, as the ceiling is over 5 meters high. I try to peel an orange and fail miserably. The oranges here are all juice! I devour it half-peeled and while washing my hands, notice that the sinks here dispense only icy cold water. How do the students practice after washing their hands?
Midori and one of the Conservatory students work during the masterclass.
The class today is shorter and after it, there is a short but sweet ceremony. Midori receives an honorary degree from the National Conservatory on behalf of the Ministry of Culture. There are various officials and students present, and several figures from the Conservatory give short speeches. The director of the Conservatory reads a few really touching emails he got from students. In the middle of the ceremony, all the lights go off. I guess there were too many appliances plugged in at once! That doesn’t seem to startle anyone as the event continues and the lights go back on gradually.
Midori receiving an honorary degree from the National Conservatory.
During the masterclass, one of the girls tells me that there is no violin maker in Peru, and that the person who usually fixes everyone’s instrument currently resides in France. The only other option becomes sending instruments and bows to Argentina but that gets to be too expensive and rather dangerous. This girl plays the Sibelius concerto beautifully but her violin looks like it needs emergency medical assistance.
After the ceremony is over, Laszlo and I leave Midori at the National Museum and go to get lunch. The coffee shops here all serve delicious cooked food and are equipped with a full bar. I use the free wireless to catch up on some of my own correspondence, but it does feel nice not to be so easily available while I’m here.
After the ceremony, with several representatives from the Conservatory and many of the masterclass participants.
Today’s a tutti rehearsal day and I am really happy with the progress the strings have made in the last two days. Midori plays through the entire Beethoven concerto and Maestro Harth-Bedoya has a chance to work out some textural issues. I don’t speak more than ten words in Spanish, but his rehearsal technique is so physically descriptive that I don’t feel lost at all. During rehearsal, we find out that Midori is supposed to do a live TV interview tomorrow and is invited to play something short as well. She’ll have to get up extremely early so I don’t think I’ll join her for that.
The best part of the day is yet to come. After rehearsal, some string players stay behind and we decide to read chamber music. All we could get our hands on are the Mozart Quintets. Midori sits in the second violin chair and students switch in and out. Everyone is ecstatic, parents are taking pictures, others are looking over the parts they are about to sit down and play (which is actually cheating since it’s all supposed to be sight-reading!). After about an hour and a half, we have exhausted all our sheet music. We agree to do the same tomorrow but before the rehearsal this time.
One of the boys that played first violin is extremely talented. I heard from his friends that his parents have always been against the idea of him playing violin and when he was applying for University, they hid his violin away so that he can focus on his career. All he wanted at that point was to apply to music conservatory but they told him that he can do that once he is done with his “real” degree. He has less than a year left!
-Moni
