One Concert Down!

We’ve got one leg of the tour (presuming that this tour is a five-legged beast) in the books.  Tonight we played at the charming Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale to a very Buffalo-friendly crowd.  It’s amazing to get such a warm reception so far from home!  I suspect that there were many Buffalo snow birds in the audience tonight.

Here’s the view from the stage.

Tonight’s concert was slightly different that what we will be performing at the rest of the venues.  Because of space issues (the stage at Parkers Playhouse is much smaller than what we are used to at Kleinhans), we could not fit a grand piano in the front, so instead of Fabio Bidini performing the Ravel Piano Concerto, our concertmaster Michael Ludwig played the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.  He performed with aplomb, and overall the concert went quite well I think.

It can be a real challenge to play in a hall with unfamiliar acoustics, and it will be interesting to see how the orchestra adjusts to each new venue.  In preparation for this tour, we played this program in Buffalo last weekend, so the music is still very much “under our fingers”, but when you play on the road, everything is just slightly different, from the acoustics in the hall, to the set-up of the chairs, and most importantly, to the sound coming back to each musician.  I’ve never been on a tour, so I’ve never had the experience of a new hall every night, and I can already tell that it will be a challenge (in a mostly good way).

Not to be too frivolous, but one of the BIG advantages that Parker Playhouse has over Kleinhans is this:

There was a cooler full of Diet Cokes at intermission.  A-W-E-S-O-M-E. We don’t have a cooler full of Diet Cokes at Kleinhans.  Parkers Playhouse 1, Kleinhans 0.  Of course, I don’t have a locker for my coat and purse at Parkers Playhouse, so I guess we’ll call it a tie when it comes to frivolous-but-fabulous amenities.

I should probably write more about the concert, but I’m not going to lie, I’m exhausted.  Tomorrow we have to get up and drive to Daytona, so I think I need to get to some good sleep, but before I sign off I want to give you an update on how all of our “luggage” survived on the truck.

It all survived!  Yay!

Our rehearsal this afternoon was the first opportunity for those who had their instruments on the truck to open up the trunks and see how everything looked, and I am quite happy to report, no instruments were damaged in transit.

I was also amused to see how much of our stage “furniture” came down to Florida for the tour.

We brought our own chairs!  We also brought those long pieces of wood that are attached to the leg of the cello chairs.  The cellists jab their end-pins (the long metal spike that the cello rest on) into this piece of wood so that they don’t damage the floor.

This is a terrible photo (obviously).  Sorry.  This is a giant chest of drawers that serves as command-central-station for the backstage crew.  This is also where you look if you need ear-plugs, Advil, or cough drops.

We brought JoAnn’s podium!   I was a little surprised to see this, but after a bit of thought it makes sense that we would opt to use a familiar podium.  It would probably be a little disconcerting to see JoAnn conducting from a podium that’s either much taller or much shorter than her normal podium.  When you factor in all the other variables of performing in an unfamiliar hall, I suppose it makes sense to ensure that the conductor is at the same height as she is back home.

This is our rehearsal clock (and violinist Sheryl Genco).  This clock tells us when rehearsal starts, stops, and when it’s time for break.

Sound shields.  You use one of these when there is a very loud instrument sitting right behind you.  Violists occasionally use these when the trombones and trumpets are extra feisty.  (BPO Trivia: The sound shield was invented by recently-retired BPO violist, Bernie Fleshler.)

About the only thing onstage tonight that we didn’t bring from Buffalo were the music stands.  These stands belonged to the Parker Playhouse, and I am pleased to report that they worked just as well as the stands back home.

-Kate Holzemer 3/12/10