Tuesday 11 September 2018

(March 17, 2018) En route, via Istanbul...

It's been a very long two days of travel-- I'm sitting at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey, as I write this, struggling to keep awake.  Perhaps I'll go find a Turkish coffee to accompany my pocket book of Rumi poetry, as I wait for my flight to Tirana, Albania to board.

Airport reading...

It's the start of another adventure! Having left early spring behind in Vancouver, and passed through snowy Montreal, I'm en route to join the West Coast Symphony Orchestra as we start our tour of the Balkans (Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Montenegro), with Maestro Bujar Llapaj.  It's a slightly different group than those who went on the first Balkan tour in 2012-- though with many familiar faces.  The special news this time is that the orchestra will be touring one of my pieces, "Equinox", featuring our Macedonian friends, Music Progressive Quartet.  I can hardly wait!!

Passing through Montreal

It's been a solo voyage so far-- I won't meet up with the rest of the orchestra till later this evening, at the Hotel Livia in Tirana.  I did not travel with the main group this time, since I'll be staying on for a week after the tour-- flying to Athens, Greece afterward for a short holiday.  Istanbul was so beautiful, flying in this afternoon, with its roads coursing like veins through the hillsides-- its mosques and reddish-copper coloured rooftops.  I really wish I had more time and energy to explore here.  But for now-- onwards to Albania!

Istanbul

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