Cleveland Orchestra in Vienna - 10/31/07 11:13 AM
Last night we performed our first concert in the famous Musikvereinsaal, the home of the Vienna Philharmonic and the site of the famous New Year's Day concert with Walter Cronkite. With it's beautiful decorations, history, and fantastic acoustics, it's always a treat for musicians to play there. Last night's program was Mozart Symphony #28, Debussy's "Iberia", and Beethoven's 7th Seventh symphony. We had curtain after curtain call and the normally reserved Viennese audience was very extroverted! Tonight is Ligeti's "Lontano" ( a very beautiful modern work) and the Bruckner Ninth Symphony. Since both our conductor and Bruckner are Austrian, the Viennese … (0 comments)

Cleveland Orchestra- Luxembourg and Cologne - 10/27/07 04:22 PM
We just finished 1 concert in Luxembourg and 2 in Cologne. Luxembourg is a very nice banking city which obviously has lots of wealth. There are large pedestrian malls with beautiful shops. On our free day some of us rented cars to get out of the city and visit some castles. We enjoyed the rebuilt castle at Vianden and the partially-rebuilt castle in La Brouchette. I would highly recommend visiting both if you are in the area. The concert hall in Luxembourg, which we opened two years ago, has excellent acoustics but is a little boomy because of the extremely high … (0 comments)

Cleveland Orchestra on tour with Realtor - 10/24/07 09:02 AM
We've been on tour for 9 days and everyone is beginning to get into the rhythm of touring.  The tour started out in Washington D.C. with a concert at the Kennedy Center and the program was Mozart Symphony #28, John Adams A Guide to Strange Places, and Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony (the "Pathetique).  Despite the mediocre acoustics the audience seemed to enjoy it very much.  Next was New York City, with 3 concerts at Carnegie Hall.  I usually enjoy running around the city to see museums, etc. but I was hit with a nasty cold that kept me confined to the hotel … (3 comments)

First tour concert-The Cleveland Orchestra - 10/15/07 10:29 PM
We started our tour today in Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center. The program was an early Mozart symphony, a piece by minimalist composer John Adams, called "A Guide to Strange Places" ( It should have been called a "Guide to a Strange Piece!) Anyway, the audience loved it. The concert ended with Tchaikovsky's famous Symphony #6, the "Pathetique) Kennedy Center's acoustics are not the greatest but it was a good concert and the audience was pleased. Tomorrow we head to the holy grail of concert halls, Carnegie Hall in New York, where we have 3 concerts. I'll report on that in a … (1 comments)

Turning over my listings for music - 10/09/07 05:49 PM
So next week I'm leaving to go on a concert tour with the Cleveland Orchestra, with whom I've played since 1978.  I'll be gone for 3 weeks and although I'll have my laptop with me and therefore email, I won't have international cell phone service so I feel like I'll be really out of touch.  Why am telling you this?  Only this week did the seller of my first listing decide that maybe painting and new carpet is what's needed to sell the house. (It's been on the market since March and the home is tired and needs work) So....I'm going … (1 comments)