Very exciting tour ahead with the MCO Academy students!
Monday 19 November
I arrived in the early morning in Düsseldorf and I decided to stay there for a while as I have a friend studying there that I hadn’t seen for some time, always very rewarding in MCO, it gives you the time to travel and see people that you have met over the years in different countries. We had some very nice food and some mulled wine from the Christmas market houses.
Tuesday 20 November
We had our first meeting with the students. I was also a mentor so I met the student that I would mentor during the week. Very young talented student from Barcelona.
Then we had our first rehearsal and the sound was just fantastic, the great level of the students and the hard work of the mentors assured a really high level of playing from the first day.
After the rehearsal there was a welcome drink for everyone in domicil which was very nice to be able to meet everyone.
Wednesday 21 November
I arrived a little bit early in the hall to warm up a bit, on tour you always have to find spaces to practise as it is not that easy!
Before the afternoon rehearsal I listened to the pupil that I was mentoring a little bit which was excellent, it’s amazing to see how young people play better and better each generation, very inspiring for me!
After the rehearsal we went for dinner in a fantastic burger place near the Orchesterzentrum and afterwards for a drink in domicil. The next day was my birthday and to my surprise in domicil at 00.00 some people went to get me some chocolate, including Kinder Riegel (my favourite) and sang “happy birthday” which was very nice!
Thursday 22 November
In the morning rehearsal the orchestra played happy birthday for me which was very nice! Having your birthday and playing with MCO is very special!!
In the afternoon I had a walk around the wonderful Christmas market in Dortmund.
Friday 23 November
Today was the day of the first concert!
After the morning rehearsal I went around the Christmas market to buy a few presents for the family and afterwards I went to rest, as I always like to have a big rest before the concert to get energy for the evening!
After the concert lots of people went to domicil which was great to celebrate all together the success of the concert!!
Wonderful night with most of the orchestra there!
Saturday 24 November
Today I took the chance to rest well in the morning!
Then I went for a walk around Dortmund before taking the bus to Essen.
It was very nice to play in Essen, it was my first time! Beautiful hall! Very good concert with a very nice introduction where we played bits of the double concerto of Martinů.
Sunday 25 November
This morning I managed to go for a very nice walk all around the city!
It was very cold and grey but this weather has something special for me so I very much enjoyed it!!
After we went to Köln, really nice hall!
And after the concert we had a wonderful reception in the hall with great food and drinks!
Very inspiring tour with the MCO and the Academy students who gave everything every day and took every opportunity given to them!
Really good to see the enthusiasm of the younger generations. They will have great careers ahead of them!!!
Photos: Geoffroy Schied / Rodrigo Moro Martín / Martin Piechotta
COMMENTS