Prague: a final bow

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra’s 2008 European Tour comes to a dramatic close in the beautiful city of Prague. One of the few large cities undamaged by World War II, Prague’s cityscape is a stunning mix of medieval buildings, labyrinthian cobbled lanes, picturesque bridges, art deco and art nouveau masterpieces next to churches and ancient courtyards, all overseen by an 1100 year old castle.





Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990, Prague has become one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations. The tourist crowds and brand name shops have blighted the old world flavor slightly, as this is not a town built for mass-tourism, but the city’s charm is unalterable.





The Youth Orchestra members tour the city upon arrival, getting a first hand view of the 10 centuries old Prague castle, walk across the Charles Bridge (spanning the Vltava River – or Moldau as its commonly known in German) and stroll through ancient streets to scenic old town hall square.





Prague is also one of the cultural centers of Europe with hundreds of concert halls, galleries and performance spaces. One of the world’s great music festivals, the Prague Spring Festival, is held here each May, hosting the world’s great orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony in recent years. The city’s cultural history is rich, home to composers Dvorak and Smetana; Mozart lived here briefly and conducted the world premiere of Don Giovanni in the city.



The Youth Orchestra’s performs its final concert of the tour in beautiful Smetana Hall. Named for the popular Czech composer Bedrich Smetana (1824-84), Smetana Hall sits in one of the world’s most distinctive Art Nouveau buildings, the Municipal House in the heart of the old town. The building opened in 1912 and was the scene of the proclamation of the independent state of Czechoslovakia. The landmark building was painstakingly restored in 1997 and its interior concert hall with a capacity of 1100 serves as a stunning venue for the YO’s final tour concert.










Once again the acoustics differ greatly from previous tour venues. After stepping out into the hall to hear the acoustics from the audience’s perspective, SFSYO Music Director Benjamin Shwartz turns to the brass and asks, “I’m trying to decide how much pain we should put these people in. This is a small hall, and the brass gets really loud.” But painful it was not; the Orchestra adjusted its dynamics and sounded fantastic.







The Orchestra’s concert in Prague was presented in part by the US Embassy as a social outing for the local diplomatic corps, and many were in attendance, including the Ambassadors of Brazil, Norway and Argentina and the embassy staffs of Mexico and Israel. The U.S. Ambassador was unfortunately detained with Condoleezza Rice in town, but sent his Cultural Attaché. The biggest bouquet of flowers though came from an appreciative host, the Czech Minister of Culture.



As a recent YO tour review stated:

"...Old Europe could learn a thing or two from this talented young group."


But this talented group of young musicians learned a lot from Old Europe as well. The incredibly attentive and enthusiastic audiences throughout the continent’s cultural capitals taught this group of 104 extraordinary youngsters about the joys of music making at the highest levels in some incredible and diverse venues. The camaraderie developed, the historical insights, the acoustic challenges, all make the Orchestra a better and stronger group. For over two weeks, they impressed the critics and won countless new fans.

Bravo YO. See you in Davies Symphony Hall next year.

Munich: Impressing the critics once again

Munich is rivaled only by Berlin as Germany's most popular tourist destination, and the picture book, fairy tale gothic city is often a contradiction of sophistication and tradition: gleaming new BMW sport coupes driven by Lederhosen clad locals munching on giant pretzels.



The city is a haven for all sorts of culture, with a staggering amount of museums, theaters, galleries and performance venues yielding a very vibrant arts scene. Founded in the 12th century and located on the Isar River just north of the picturesque Bavarian Alps, Munich is Germany’s third largest city, behind Berlin and Hamburg. With its cultural life, weather, picturesque squares and streets, central location, and economic prosperity, Munich ranks consistently in the top 10 cities worldwide in quality of life surveys.









At the center of the city is the Marienplatz, with the old and new town halls flanking the square. Many picturesque churches and cathedrals dot the cityscape, with plenty of open spaces and open air markets for Munich residents and visitors alike to take in the sights and sounds…and of course, the food. Bavarian fare is hearty and tasty and YO parents can be certain none of their children will come home any lighter...


Traditional Bavarian Weisswurst...only eaten before noon!


For those a little hungrier, a half meter long Bratwurst.


Now thats what I call a pretzel.


Sauerbraten (think Teutonic Sweet & Sour Pork)


Always leave room for dessert: with strawberries in season, Erdbeerkuchen mit Schlag.

The Youth Orchestra has been enjoying Bavarian quality of life for several days already, but has saved the Munich concert as its last in Germany, before heading to Prague to close the 2008 European Tour.

The Munich performance takes place in the Munich Philharmonie located in the Gasteig Cultural Center. Inspired by the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Barbican in London, the Gasteig houses not only the 2400 seat Philharmonie but a variety of smaller halls, performance and theater spaces, galleries and libraries. More than 1700 events take place at the Gasteig each year.



The hall is quite large, similar to the Berliner Philharmonie, with wood on all sides, floors and ceilings resulting in very live acoustics.





The YO rehearses, welcoming back violinist Julian Rachlin, who performs the Bruch Violin Concert.



It's concert time and the ensemble has really hit its stride now, with successive concerts giving the musicians a great feel for the works on the program. Many YO members feel this was one of their best performances ever.





And the critics agree. A review in the prestigious German Daily paper Süddeutsche Zeitung summed it up this way:

How long and intense the rehearsals must have been for Bela Bartok’s Dance Suite to sound full of such precision and so musically rich, so warm in the strings, so round in the brass yet always razor sharp.

Rarely do the Scenes from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet contain so much color, drama, expression but yet also tenderness and romance as with the performance by the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

What was heard at the Philharmonie under the direction of Benjamin Shwartz, sounded so phenomenally good, that one must even rank this ensemble among even the top professional orchestras.

Bavarian Summer Festivals Part 2: Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt, a central Bavarian city on the Danube was settled around 800, with plenty of medieval flavor left. These days, it is also known as the headquarters of Audi, and roughly one third of the town’s residents work for the large automobile manufacturer






The YO arrives early for an acoustic rehearsal and a few even test the acoustic effects of the nearby Danube River park.







The Youth Orchestra concert is presented as part of the Audi Summer Concert Series. The crowd is, again, a wonderfully young one, with many children and families in attendance this Sunday evening. Special discounted tickets were made available to Ingolstadt’s schoolchildren and once word spread among the schoolchildren, the concert quickly sold out the Theater Ingolstadt, with a capacity of 1200.



The youth of Ingolstadt is keenly interested in seeing what their counterparts from San Francisco have in store. This young crowd looks remarkably like a San Francisco Symphony Music for Families concert, with many children and young people, perhaps getting their first taste of classical music.



The youthful musicians from Bay Area did not disappoint their German counterparts, who cheered wildly, at an almost deafening volume, as the YO delivered another solid performance and three encores. Another 1200 now fans of classical music, and surely fans of the SFSYO !



A review in the July 8 Donaukurier summed up this successful evening with high praise:

“This American Orchestra plays at a dizzyingly high level, one that, most likely, cannot be matched by another Youth Orchestra anywhere.”

Bravo YO !

At home in the land of Wolfie...

With Munich as the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra’s home base and a non-concert day on the schedule, what better to do with a group of 104 young musicians than to visit the nearby musical mecca, Salzburg, for the day.



Scenic Salzburg, on the banks of the Salzach river, sits at the northern boundary of the Alps. The Altstadt, or "old town", is dominated by its baroque towers and churches and the massive hilltop fortress built in 1077. The first settlements at Salzburg, which means Salt Castle, date back to the Neolithic Age, and merged into one city by the Romans in 15 BC.





Above all, Salzburg is the city of Mozart. Perhaps the most enduringly popular of all composers, Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg in the late 18th century. Mozart's father Leopold Mozart was a violinist in the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, for whom Mozart also worked for over a decade. There are many monuments to the beloved “Wolferl” throughout Salzburg. Mozart's presence is everywhere: Mozart chocolates line the store windows, Mozart t-shirts, and Mozart look-alikes roaming the streets, but above all, Mozart’s music is heard throughout the picturesque streets and alley ways. The YO members visit the Mozarthaus, where they get a firsthand look at where the composer was born and raised.






The Youth Orchestra musicians also visit the famous Festspielhaus, the Festival Halls where the renowned Salzburger Festspiele (Salzburg Festival) where performances are held each summer. They visit the main concert hall as well as the very unique and scenic indoor/outdoor venue carved into the rocky hillside, known as the Felsenreitschule.





Many who have never been to Salzburg know this hall from a scene in the Sound of Music, as the von Trapp family singers performed on this stage in 1936 (think Capt. Von Trapp getting choked up singing Edelweiss). While the Sound of Music isn’t quite Don Giovanni, YO members nonetheless are singing Do-Re-Mi under their breaths as they make their way around the grounds.





After a magical day in the city of Mozart, the Orchestra heads back to Munich for its final two concerts in Bavaria before heading on to Prague.

Bavarian Summer Festivals Part 1: Passau

After a wildly successful visit to Germany’s capital, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra heads south for three concerts in Bavaria.

On its way to Munich, the Orchestra makes a lunch stop in the city of Leipzig. A city rich in musical and cultural tradition, Leipzig was home to Johann Sebastian Bach. For musicians, a trip to Leipzig to visit the St. Thomas Church where Bach worked is akin to a pilgrimage. Leipzig was also home to Mendelssohn, Schumann, Wagner, at many other musical luminaries at various times.


YO members in front of the Bach statue at the St. Thomas Church


After a hot concert Berlin, YO members cool their heels a bit in a crystal clear stream in Bayreuth, home to the Wagner clan.

Headquarters for the next 5 nights is Munich, with a concert in the city a few days later. But first, the YO performs in two well-known and nearby Bavarian Summer Festivals, in Passau and Ingolstadt.

A two-and-a-half hour ride east brings the Orchestra to Passau, where they are guests at the prestigious European Festival Weeks, in its 56th season.



Passau is a beautiful riverside town in eastern Bavaria with a population of only 50,000, twenty percent of which are students in the local University of Passau. Passau’s history dates back to the 5th century with a construction of a large monastery, and, in 739, an Irish monk founded the diocese of Passau, the largest diocese of the Holy Roman Empire for many years. The organ in the St. Stephen’s cathedral is the world’s largest pipe organ, with Passau is also known as the City of Three Rivers as it sits at the confluence of the Danube, Inn, and Ilz rivers, near the Austrian border. It's incredily charming.


St. Michael's Church in Passau

The Youth Orchestra’s concert is in St. Michael’s Church, a former Jesuit church on the bank of the Inn River, built in 1670. To preserve the architectural dominance of the town’s main St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the exterior of St. Michael’s remained somewhat restrained; but certainly makes up for this with its magnificent interior stucco work.



The YO rehearses in the church, yet another acoustical challenge after performing in a converted shipyard and the Berliner Philharmonie. The reverberant sound of the church interior requires wholesale changes and careful instruction by Benjamin Shwartz to adjust the various works on the program. One sincerely doubts the church acoustics were built for the volume of the brass and percussion in John Adams’ Lollapalooza.









With tight quarters in St. Michael's the Youth Orchestra's dressing rooms are next door, in a former monastery building built in 1612, currently used as a college preparatory school with emphasis on the Classics and Theology. The 17th-century stucco work on the ceilings makes for an inspirational warm-up.





Once again, the house is full, as a delightfully young crowd fills St. Michael’s, with many standing in the highest reaches of the church.









The Orchestra makes the best of the church's acoustics and performs very well. The buses leave Passau for the trip back to Munich just as an all-night festival begins throughout the town, with the adjacent former monastery now filled with the sounds of a strangely alluring techno-skaa-deathmetal-dance band (with amplified tuba, of course). Wow…the YO can really get a party started.

Oh...I almost forgot: as it was the Fourth of July, the local German presenter surprised the Orchestra with a little touch of home. Not milk and cookies this time, but just as wholesome and much appreciated by all.