LA Phil

I'm writing this just a few moments before the musicians will be taking the stage for our first concert in Cologne, this ancient city on the Rhine blessed with a marvelous concert hall.

LA Phil President and CEO Deborah Borda, hard at work on this blog post.

The performances in Lisbon and Madrid found the Beethoven and the Mahler 9 already in stunning shape and growing every night. I find the intensity at times almost overwhelming. Audiences are wonderfully receptive with standing ovations every night.

Our concert in Madrid was a gallery of Angelenos and international friends including Zubin Mehta, James Conlon and the First Lady of Spain. It was quite the scene backstage!

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Lisbon was fascinating.  A beautiful city, rich in history and culinary delights.  I could easily spend several weeks exploring its winding, cobbled streets and diverse cultural offerings.

A long luggage queue, courtesy of the LA Phil, awaits its spot on a plane from Lisbon to Madrid. Despite problems with the luggage tag printer, all bags arrived safe and sound in Madrid.

However, it is not to be as this morning we are en route to Madrid.  I'm traveling with my fourteen-year-old son, Keith, who is finding the food challenging but enjoying the sights.  We'll squeeze in a trip to the Prado Museum on Sunday afternoon, then Mahler 9 for me and homework for him.  After that, we head out for some authentic Spanish Flamenco, sangria and last, but not least, a good night's sleep!

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"Orchestrating" a tour blog isn't the easiest thing in the world. But if we had an overriding theme that defines the kind of content we like to provide, it would be content that offers a unique perspective -- whether that's a European city through the eyes of one of our orchestra members, the way the LA Phil staff sees a pile of luggage or how the entire operation moves from Point A to Point B.

How's this for a unique perspective -- an excited smile and wave from our own Music Director, Gustavo Dudamel, as he walks onstage to kick off the first of thirteen concerts that will eventually make up the 2011 European Tour.

Or how about a glimpse of our Principal Concertmaster, Martin Chalifour, seconds before he walks onstage to tune the orchestra.

The clips are short and shaky, but we pretty much guarantee that you won't see them anywhere else. Like we said, it's all about unique perspectives.

Enjoy!

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I am typing at the break of our first rehearsal and think the orchestra sounds quite good this morning in spite of our jet lag!  Having awakened at 3:00am each of the two nights we have now been in Lisbon, it always gives one a bit of anxiety wondering how that first rehearsal will feel.

Also, as an oboe player, I am never able to predict how my reeds (yes, we think of reeds constantly!) will react to the trip.  I have to try to gauge how to adjust them in my hotel room, hoping it will translate to the concert hall.  This is constantly a work in progress, especially on a tour such as this where we are traveling to many cities and will be in different hotels and playing on wildly different stages across Europe. These factors combined with the stress of flying, since the different altitudes have an effect on them, makes for interesting reed making.

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