Archive for 2010

GWO in Europe 2010: Abundant Emotions

The return to normalcy after a J-term experience always requires some adjustment. Going from having one class a day and intense rehearsals to spending every day touring and experiencing new and exciting things, it is a shift to go back to the same-old routine.

GWO in Europe 2010, Day 13 – Salzburg

Day 13 of the Gustavus Wind Orchestra's European Concert Tour begins with a departure from Vienna, the City of Mozart, to Salzburg, the Birthplace of Mozart, and ends with the tour's final concert in Bad Ischl, a short drive east of the city.

GWO in Europe 2010, Day 12, Vienna

Day 12 – Vienna Writing about our visit to Vienna in a few short paragraphs, especially about the experiences of 75 musicians, is an impossibility. Around us are centuries of history in the buildings, architecture, concert halls, theatres, opera houses, museums and parks, each of which deserves its own story. After a tour around and […]

GWO in Europe 2010, Day 11, Eisenstadt

As Day 11 begins with a tearful goodbye to new friends in Pomaz, Hungary, the GWO turns west, toward Austria, its final concerts on the European tour and the return home.

GWO in Europe 2010, Day 10, Pomaz/Budapest

Day 10 brings the Gustavus Wind Orchestra full circle after 16 years. The ensemble returns to Pomaz, just outside Budapest, Hungary, on its 2010 Central European Concert Tour. After a day of sight-seeing in Budapest, GWO presents a joint concert with the Pomaz Wind Orchestra.

GWO in Europe 2010 – Day 9, Leaving & Returning

Day 9 To leave is both to depart and to leave something behind. To return is to go back and to give something back. Day 9 brings us to the end of our time in Poland. The country and its people have been very good to us for the third time, and while excitement is […]

GWO in Europe 2010, Days 7 & 8, Kety

As the Gustavus Wind Orchestra enters the midpoint of it Central European Concert Tour, it is time for the ensemble to leave Krakow. What should have been an uneventful drive to Kety takes on new meaning as the ensemble is caught up in the 65th anniversary celebrations of liberation from Nazi Germany in the towns and villages throughout the region.

GWO in Europe 2010, Day 5 & 6, Krakow

Nearly half-way into its 16-day concert tour in central Europe, the Gustavus Wind Orchestra and Conductor Douglas Nimmo travel to Krakow for its first-ever concert at St. Katherine's in the former capital of Poland, 26 January, 2010.

GWO in Europe, Day 5, The Road to Auschwitz

The sun is out but there appears to be no sunshine in this place. The fresh dusting of new snow and the hoarfrost coating the trees in the woods does not brighter the day as we approach the camp. A book that is a collection of poems and paintings written and illustrated by school-aged children in the Warsaw Ghetto is titled I DON’T SEE ANY BUTTERFLIES AROUND HERE. Auschwitz is such a place. It seems to discourage even the hope of natural beauty.

GWO in Europe 2010 – Days 3 & 4, Poland

As Day Three dawns, the Gustavus Wind Orchestra's early wake-up call announces the day for departure from Prague and the Czech Republic and the journey into Poland. Along the way we stop for a visit to Hradec Kralove, considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in Bohemia. Following a city tour and lunch, we leave the Czech Republic behind us.