This past Monday, I had the opportunity to listen to the Graz Orchestra rehearse in the morning before their concert in the evening. It was amazing! The played at Stefaniensaal (check it out here), which according to Heidi (Chamber instructor and the principal flutist for the orchestra) is one of the best music halls in Europe. They played Liszt, Mendelssohn and Wagner. Here are some pictures I took of the orchestra and the hall.
Of course there is a statue of Beethoven in the center of the foyer haha
The foyer again
Ceiling
Front seats in the hall
Some of the musicians warming up
The hall
View from the balcony seats
There is a statue of all the famous composers all around the hall, this one is Felix Mendelssohn
Robert Schumann
There is Heidi, with the brunette hair and black sweater
The full orchestra
Again, with the Director, Heinrich Schiff, who is a World class cellist
Here is Heinrich Schiff performing a Cello concerto by Gulda (Start it from 0:21.. it's pretty bad ass if you ask me haha)
Anyways, that's it for me today. I am back at school again tomorrow and the chamber recital on Saturday. I'll let you know how that goes! Thanks for all your support! God Bless!
Hope everyone had a great week and is enjoying their weekend. My week was pretty awesome I must say. The weather is still nice but the temperature is starting to drop.. so I might have to bring out my winter coat very soon. School is going well, as usual (I finally started doing my readings ;). The chamber concert is this Saturday, November 19th. It will be held at a piano store in Jakominiplatz (one of the main town centers.. kind of like downtown). I will definitely be posting some pictures and hopefully videos from the concert in my next post. We have one more rehearsal this Thursday and then it's showtime ;)
We are playing Friedrich Kuhlau's flute trio op. 119 in G major. Here it is!
Now of course this is not us.. hopefully we sound as good.. or better ;)
Heidi, who is the instructor for the chamber ensemble, is a flutist for the Graz Orchestra. They have a concert tomorrow evening at the Graz Congress in the center of the town, and she invited me to go watch the rehearsal in the morning, and then hopefully meet some of the musicians, and make some connections. So I will be doing that before heading to school tomorrow.
My lessons with Dr. Eike Straub are going great. We have a concert at the school at the end of November. I will playing Bach's English Suite no. 2 in A minor, BWV 807 and Johannes Brahms' Klavierstück op. 118. I am working to perform all of the movements, but if not, I will be playing select movements from both the Bach and Brahms. Again, I will post the videos of this concert as well.
I usually go about 30 minutes early to Dr. Straub's room and practice before my lesson...and by practice, I mean playing random pieces which pretty much ends with some jazz when Dr. Straub walks in. He has told me that he's pretty impressed with my jazz. So he said that I should look into the jazz department and see if I'd like to take any courses and maybe even some lessons! Since he is the department head at Kunst, he said he could get me into the classes/lessons although it's a little late in the semester. I am very excited about this. I will update you as to how that goes! This week is going to be a BUSY week for me, but I am going to take it all in ;)
To my disappointment (and some of you as well), I still have not been able to find a barber as you can see [-_-]
Not to worry! Since the concert is this weekend, and I need to look presentable, this will be gone by the end of this week.. even if I have to go over some desperate measures haha.
I took some pictures on my way to church today so check them out!
I would translate that for you... but I'm kind of feeling lazy.. :)
That's all for now folks! Thanks for reading and have a blessed week!
Sorry for slacking off on my blog! Since school started, things have been a little hectic!
So far school is going great! I have 2 courses, some type of Musicology and Music History after 1900 on Thursdays... The catch.. BOTH of these classes are in German [-_-].. so I pretty much have to improve my German now haha. It's not too bad because I knew the professor before I came to Graz, and thankfully he speaks good English... So we have an arrangement where I will come and see him during his office hours, and he will give me a summary of the week's lectures. I am enrolled in 2 chamber ensembles, which is also great because I get to work with the other talented students here at Kunst. We actually have a concert on November 17th, so I'm pretty excited. Last but definitely not the least, I have my performance lessons on Fridays. My teacher (Prof. Eike Straub) is amazing and I am really enjoying the lessons.
Besides school, I've been hanging out with a lot of friends, salsa dancing, going sightseeing, going to concerts, and having a great time in general. Here are a few pics of what I've been up to lately.
The boys! From left :Miljan from Serbia, Miguel, Akos and Martin, both from Slovakia as well
Again.. plus me haha
There was a concert this evening at my school
The concert hall is very beautiful
My friend, Monika, from Lithuania, joined me for this concert
Eduard Lanner was the pianist
That's all for now folks! Thanks for reading and God Bless!
So October is finally here and it marks the beginning of the school year. I will be meeting with my prof on Tuesday to discuss the courses I am enrolled in, performance, and all that fun stuff. I have my first classes and lesson on Thursday (thank God! I still have sometime to brush up on my repertoires haha). so I am very excited.
I am really loving it here in Austria. One of my favorite is that the lifestyle here is a lot more laid back than it is in Canada (Although this bothered me in the beginning). This is because everything here is only open from 8/9am til 12pm and on Thursdays, also open from 2pm til 4pm.. so if you need to get something done in Austria (banks, appointments, etc) you have to do it before noon! The exceptions are malls, grocery stores, restaurants, etc which are open til 9pm or later. The bright side of this is that people, instead of working all day, actually enjoy their days. So you can see the citizens enjoying a glass of wine, a beer, an ice cream, etc. anytime after 12 pm.
Overall, I am loving this experience, and it's starting to feel like time is going too fast haha. Here are some random pictures that I've taken/stolen from friends :). Enjoy.
These are pictures of the usual path I take from school back home
This is a mini theater outside the practice building
There are a lot of stores, restaurants, etc on this street
One of my favorite stores ;)
Remember the 2 Canadians I met? (Deni and Jen).. well there they are walking towards me. I didn't even see them til they got close haha
The Bridge.. there were constructions going on at this time
