kansas city

how's it going? this is daniel han, one of the newer members (i play the violin) of the philadelphia orchestra. this is my first tour w/ philly so i thought it would be fun to try and keep some sort of account on how things are going. i didn't bring a computer so i may not be able to write every day but i'll try.

i never really thought traveling took a lot of energy. all i usually do on a plane is sleep but i definitely felt tired upon arriving in kansas city (probably because i waited until the night before leaving to do 2 loads of laundry). after checking into our hotel, i tried to get some rest, in front of the tv of course (free cable!). i decided it would be a good idea to get something to eat before the concert so i ventured out to look for food. unfortunately, most places downtown closed at 3 or 5 p.m. so i ended up getting mcdonald's. definitely not my first choice.

i headed to the hall a little early to warm up and look over the evening's program. by concert time, i think we were all pretty awake and ready to go. despite the hall being a bit dry, the concert went well. we started off w/ mozart's sinfonia concertante for winds and orchestra. it's pretty amazing to have such superstars in the music world as soloists and realize that they are my colleagues. dick, ricardo, danny and jen sounded amazing together. i am looking forward to hearing them throughout the tour.

the second half was tchaikovsky symphony #5. it is clear the orchestra knows this piece so well. it was a lot of fun and the audience loved it, so much so that we played an encore (dance of the comedians from smetana's opera, the bartered bride).

afterwards, an old colleague and i met up for dinner. he and i were in the fort worth symphony orchestra together for a little and he has since moved on to the st louis symphony. we hadn't seen each other in a long time so it was nice to catch up. he came w/ his girlfriend who turns out to be someone i went to school w/ in boston. such a small world. we had a great time.

we're heading to chicago this afternoon for another performance of the mozart and tchaikovsky.

i love chicago so i'm looking forward to playing there. i'm meeting a friend of my father's for dinner before the concert and my wife's uncle and aunt for dinner after the concert. so at least i won't be hungry. til next time.........