A wonderful early symphony, not played often enough.
Musicians on tour
It was great to catch up with the musicians of Pacific Symphony on the China tour, many of whom I hadn’t spoken to since the European tour in 2006 (which I covered for a newspaper), some of whom I was
Jeanne Skrocki: A violinist flying high
By ERICA SHARP Jeanne Skrocki remembers a time when she had given up the violin and might not ever play again. Twenty-five years later, she is the now assistant concertmaster of Pacific Symphony, a spot that seems like it was
The bass drum in Wuxi Grand Theatre
In the video below, you’ll get just an inkling of what the bass drum sounded like — the fidelity isn’t great — when Carl St.Clair and Pacific Symphony played “Daphnis and Chloe” in Wuxi Grand Theatre in China recently. I
Tuesday in Beijing
I finally got laser tagged in Beijing. All I was doing was trying to get a photograph of bassoonist Andy Klein, on crutches, being helped off the stage of the National Center for the Performing Arts there on Tuesday. It
Monday night in Beijing
Compliments of donor Charlie Zhang, the hard working tour staff (and guests) enjoys a duck dinner in Beijing. Pinchas Zukerman was in particularly fine form.
Sunday in Chongqing
We were in and out of Chongqing in less than 24 hours, arriving mid-afternoon Sunday and departing Monday morning for Beijing. The concert came in between. You’ll get no summing up of this mega-city from me. Fair to say, the
Mother’s Day in Chongqing
The mothers of Pacific Symphony pose backstage at our concert in Chongqing on Sunday night. Happy Mother’s Day!
Thursday and Friday in Hefei and Wuxi (continued)
We rolled into Wuxi (pronounced Woo-she) at a little after noon Friday, having left our hotel in Hefei at 8:30 a.m. Wuxi is on the way back to Shanghai on the train line; we had passed through it on our
Thursday and Friday in Hefei and Wuxi
Thursday and Friday were what orchestra tours are all about: Getting a boatload of musicians (or in this case a trainload) somewhere far away and giving a concert. Thursday morning found us in Shanghai. By the afternoon we were in