Mar 7, 2019
Halfway into our 2019 US tour the theme seems to be snow. The sunny view from my hotel in Boulder, Colorado this morning is of gorgeous snow-covered hills. The view on our first tour day was a bit less welcome — the snowstorm in Toronto stayed with us for almost all of our drive to State College, Pennsylvania, and added a couple of hours to the already long trip.
May 29, 2018
By Patrick Lavender, touring video operator Patrick joins us on our 2018 Australia tour for his first tour with the orchestra. As the video operator, Patrick runs the projections during a live performance, which includes still images and video, timing it perfectly with musical and speaking cues while following a score of the music. When the orchestra was in Canberra, Patrick gave us a look in a day in the life of a technician on the road.
Video operator Patrick Lavender and this partner, lighting associate Kaitlin at the zero-kilometre mark.
Nov 25, 2017
By Brandon Chui, viola, guest 2017/18
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Charlottetown, PEI
Mar 19, 2017
By William Norris, Managing Director
At the time of writing, I’m trying to think of a good play on the infamous movie title for this blog, but it may end up being plain old "Tafelmusik in Seattle." Let us know if you have better ideas.
Mar 14, 2017
By Dominic Teresi, bassoon
Early Tuesday morning we left Winter Park, Florida, and headed across the country to begin the final West Coast leg of the tour. It probably comes as no surprise to say that Southern California is a favourite destination for everyone in the orchestra. This has been our third time in the area in recent years, and we were all excited to return to some of our favourite spots in Santa Barbara and La Jolla. The only down side was that the tour schedule was heating up at this point — four travel and concert days in a row meant there would be little time to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
Mar 9, 2017
By Julia Wedman, violin
One of the things I love the most about touring (and maybe life in general) is that unexpected things happen — both unexpectedly wonderful and unexpectedly challenging. This blog is dedicated to the highlights and challenges of touring.
Sitting next to me on the airplane the other day, our wonderful narrator, Blair Williams, inspired me by quoting Australian actor Zoe Caldwell, "Without a challenge a skin begins to grow around the soul."
Nov 18, 2016
By John Abberger, oboe
After two days of rehearsal we performed our first concert on the tour on Sunday, November 12 at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. The two days of rehearsal in China were grueling but necessary for several reasons. In the first place, we have not performed Bach: The Circle of Creation since we first mounted it in April 2015, or more than eighteen months ago, and there is general agreement that Circle of Creation is the most difficult memorization feat that we have tackled to date, owing to the complexity of Bach’s music.
