(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

The Horn Call- International Horn Society article

Last month (October 2013), Oliver de Clercq received a brief feature in the International Horn Society's journal, The Horn Call (Vol. XLIV, No. 1, pg. 27), regarding the European premiere of my horn concerto, Mosaic, with the Albanian Radio Television Orchestra, in March 2013.

(May there be many more performances of Mosaic to come!)

Recordings from Spring Concert in Albania

As a small update to the Albanian/European adventures earlier this spring, I have just received a recording of the concert with the Albanian Radio-Television Orchestra!  Recorded live at the Academy of Arts in Tirana, Albania, on March 21, 2013, with guest maestro Bujar Llapaj, and guest horn soloist Oliver de Clercq-- here is my horn concerto, 'Mosaic':

https://soundcloud.com/ejknudson/mosaic

detail from collage by Elizabeth Knudson

And the world premiere of my overture, 'Tides':

https://soundcloud.com/ejknudson/tides-rtsh-premiere-march-2013

beach at Sarande, Albania (and inspiration for 'Tides')

Should you ever be interested in finding the sheet music, the scores and orchestral parts for both pieces are available for loan/rental through the Canadian Music Centre (the CMC will send music anywhere in the world):

http://musiccentre.ca/node/37862/showcase

There is also a solo horn and piano arrangement of 'Mosaic', available for sale through the International Horn Society:

http://www.hornsociety.org/marketplace/online-library#!/~/product/category=0&id=6957407

Thanks again to so many of you for the continued support of my composing career... it's been a very busy and exciting year so far, and I look forward to another exciting year ahead!  I am currently working on two new pieces-- one for a Macedonian quartet, and the other for a bayan (button accordion) player based in Denmark, so stay tuned for some more musical adventures...

All the best for a relaxing summer!

Arrivederci, Roma!

March 28:

This was our last full day in Rome... but we did manage to do a lot in that time.  Our first stop after a large breakfast at our hotel, was the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, located inside the Villa Borghese, within close walking distance from our hotel.  The weather was gray and rainy in the morning, so it was the perfect day to be inside perusing art.  We spent several hours inside the gallery, and saw the entire collection, including a whole lot of Italian art from various time periods, plus a special temporary Japanese collection.  No photos were allowed within the gallery.  Among other things, the original Verdi portrait by Giovanni Boldini was on display.

front steps of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna

portrait of composer Giuseppe Verdi, by Giovanni Boldini (1886)
[image courtesy of Wikipedia]

After the Modern Art Gallery, the rain had stopped, and we had a relaxing stroll through Villa Borghese Park, where we saw the famous 'Pines of Rome', which served as the inspiration for composer Ottorino Respighi's piece of the same name.  

a pigeon and some spring greenery

Fountain of Seahorses

among the Pines of Rome

Walking out of Villa Borghese, I said a visual goodbye to this beautiful city... we walked back into town the same way we'd gone on our first evening in Rome, enjoying a panoramic view of the city from the higher vantage point of the park.

view of Rome from the edge of Villa Borghese park

Our next stop was the Tiziano (Titian) exhibit... we spent quite a while inside, admiring 39 large paintings by the famous 16th century master.  It was really a stunning exhibit.  I bought a small book (in Italian) with some of his works, and came away inspired with an abstract idea that I might try to translate into music in my next piece.  

outside the Titian exhibit

changing of the guard outside Quirinal Palace, where the president lives

There were a couple of other things (well, many more things!) I would have loved to have time to see and do in Rome, but we were tired by the time the gallery closed, and we headed back for dinner at a small pizza place near the Euclid station close to our hotel.  It was a relaxing and low-key evening... a perfect way to wind down a very busy and exciting past couple of weeks.  

On the way home tomorrow, we will be connecting through Frankfurt, then Montreal, and home to Vancouver.  Arrivederci, Roma!  My first visit here was amazing, and I definitely hope to be back again someday!

Buongiorno, Papa Francesco!

March 27:

Today we went over to see the Vatican.  After a quick look around the piazza in front of St. Peter's Basilica, we went into one of the Vatican gift shops (called 'Mosaic'), since I had the urge to peruse some of the souvenirs.  I did buy a few small things, including a charm of the new Pope, Francis-- not bad, considering he has only been Pope for a matter of days.  I also got a postcard, but didn't take advantage of mailing it from within the Vatican... I'm glad I didn't line up for stamps right then, because if we hadn't emerged from the gift shop right when we did, we'd have missed the biggest sighting of the day...

outside St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican

Yes, we saw Pope Francis!

Swiss guard at the Vatican

After our sighting of the Pope, we wandered outside the Vatican walls again, and walked all the way around the perimeter of the Vatican walls (the long way) over to the Vatican Museum, where we spent a couple of hours looking through their extensive collection of art and artifacts.

Musei Vaticani

Oliver and the golden ball

There was a huge amount of interesting things to see... it was also very crowded with tour groups passing through, but we managed to view pretty much the entire collection, which ranged from ancient Egyptian artifacts, through Greek and Roman sculptures, to Renaissance art, and even a smaller modern art wing.

checking out a work by Van Gogh

The culmination of the Vatican Museum tour (whether self-guided, or with a tour group) brings one to the Sistine Chapel, which is breathtaking.  The room was packed full of tourists, and museum guards telling people to be quiet, and not take photos (though photos were permitted in the rest of the museum)... still, we spent quite a good amount of time looking around, and up at the spectacular ceiling and walls.  (Yes, I did sneak in two photos inside the chapel...)

ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

part of the wall of the Sistine Chapel

St. Peter's Basilica

After the Vatican, we paid a visit to the Colosseum... it was closed for tours by the time we got there, but we were still able to walk around and check out the exterior.

Colosseum

Gladiators

After the Colosseum, we walked by another landmark, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, whose construction dates all the way back to the year 435 AD (though it opened in the 1700s).  After a quick stop for gelato, we strolled on to the Giardini di Piazza Vittorio, just as the sun was going down.

Santa Maria Maggiore

Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II

After another long day, and a few kilometres of walking, we headed back to the neighbourhood near our hotel for some dinner.  Tomorrow is our last full day in Rome, and I think we are planning to check out some more art...

Andiamo a Roma!

March 26:

We spent the morning having breakfast in the town square of Sant' Agnello, followed by a quick shopping excursion in Sorrento, since I wanted to purchase some small ceramic souvenirs.  We made it back to our suite just in time to be picked up by the taxi, which took us to the Sant' Agnello train station.  We were pleasantly surprised by a busking trio on the train (who were actually quite good)-- two accordions and saxophone.  We would later discover that busking on the train for money was pretty common, as we saw a few more people with accordions, none of whom were any good.  As Oliver said, these guys set the bar high!  But in any case, this made my morning:

Sant' Agnello station

Busking trio on the train

We were also able to see the map of the trains again, and figure out that we must have been on the green line the other night, instead of the blue one... stranding us in Poggiomarino, instead of taking us to Sant' Agnello.

Anyway, we arrived in Rome again, no problem, and were able to find our hotel, which was just outside the centre core of town, near the lovely Villa Borghese Park.  After checking in to our hotel, and leaving all our baggage, we went out to explore the town, starting with a stroll through Villa Borghese...

The big 'O' outside the Gallery of Modern Art

pond and sculptures

Heading out into the city itself was kind of spectacular.  We could see over the rooftops and all the way to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.  We had a small map from the hotel, with some of the main attractions in town listed, and we wandered through town.  We also randomly found a very interestingly-named store...

looking over Rome to St. Peter's Basilica

Oliver navigating

Hey, I didn't know you had a store in Rome!

We walked through the Piazza Navona, which was bustling with tourists and small outdoor cafés trying to lure us for dinner... and on to the Pantheon, where we were able to step inside and have a look around.  There was even a cellist busking just outside-- he was quite good.

fountain in Piazza Navona

bustling with tourists

outside the Pantheon

cellist busking near the Pantheon

Finally, we stopped for dinner at a restaurant that was so busy we got the only free table left, at the very back... though it did have the best porcini mushrooms I've had in a while!

L'arcana

We continued on past the Fountain of Trevi (again, swarming with tourists, though quite impressive)... and the famous street intersection with the Four Fountains, before locating the Teatro dell' Opera.

Fountain of Trevi

Teatro dell'Opera

Finally, we took the subway back to our hotel after a long and interesting day... tomorrow we are planning to visit the Vatican!