Thursday, May 29, 2008

I am here...

And what a first day here it was. I tried taking a flight with a bit of a quirky schedule, I left JFK at 1am Wed night, arrived here at 4am a day and a half later, with the time change. Pretty good plan to have a full day here, but it only works if you can sleep on the airplane, which is very hard for me.

I was met at the airport by my former student who will join me on my recital, and her mother. We breakfasted on some great beef noodle soup at an open-24-hour place, along with kimchee and the usual sides. Then it was only 6:30am so I went back to their home, and crashed for a while. Then, I practiced, and hooked up with friends from Philadelphia Orchestra, who happen to be touring in Asia and performing here this week. So we visited a Korean palace in downtown, and then had terrific Taiwanese lunch with amazing soup dumplings, and noodles. Then I was whisked away by Bohee and her Mom, through dreadful Seoul traffic, to meet up with SoYoung Lee, the flutist who has brought me over here for the trip.

We reviewed my schedule, and then I rehearsed briefly with the pianist for the recital. Next were two students, both lovely and fun to teach. One studying the CPE Bach solo sonata, the other the Burton Sonatina, which I will play on my concert. Then, I was taked to dinner at the home of a Korean flute student who is studying in Philadelphia, and I was joined by two of the flutists from the Philadelphia Orchestra!! So it was a great day of connecting with friends, the musical world being full of such friendships. And there we were, only 6800 miles from home!!

I will write more soon,
BART

No comments: