Ensemble Touring Blog

Category: 2016 GSO in Greece/Macedonia

  • Thoughts on Tour from the Conductors

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    rlin

    After coming back from tour, GSO and G-Jazz had a flurry of concerts including a MMEA performance, our home concert, and others. When we were asked to write about our touring experience for the Friends of Music Newsletter, we were glad to have some time to reflect and collect our thoughts. The 2016 Gustavus Symphony…

  • Back to Greece

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    rlin

    Written by Kris Reiser February first, we arrived at Anatolia College after a luxurious 10am departure from our hotel. (there were series of 5;30 AM wake up calls in the days before) The word Anatolia refers to sunrises, the direction east, and a region of Turkey. The college we were visiting was on a hill…

  • Afternoon Jazz and the Return to Greece

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    dstamps

    Blog written by Eric Hanson ’16. After a successful concert at the Bitola opera last night, we were up and at it early again this morning. Following a 6am wakeup call and a quick breakfast at the hotel, we hit the road around 7:30. Our destination was Ohrid, a small city in the mountains on…

  • Just Across the Street

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    Al

    As the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra and Gustavus Jazz Lab Band’s international concert tour moved from Skopje to Bitola in Macedonia, the beauty of Macedonia became even more obvious. After spending two days in the smothering winter fog of Macedonia’s capitol city of Skopje, it was wonderful to move south and through one of the mountain ranges that…

  • First Impressions – Lasting Memories

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    Al

    Blog written by Bailey Hilgren On our long drive from Volos across the border on January 28, we were surprised with an announcement that our performance in the Skopje Opera House the next day was actually going to be broadcast live all throughout Macedonia. Further, the Macedonian pop star Laura Krliu was going to be…

  • A Thousand Words

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    Al

    It is wonderful to read the insights from the members of the 2016 Gustavus Department of Music concert tour. They see and hear so much more than I do at the same event. While there is so much to say about the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra and Gustavus Jazz Lab Band’s international concert tour in Greece…

  • Two Cups of Coffee

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    Al

    Blog by Joey Wiley ’16 Waking up at 5:30AM is definitely not ideal when home, but on tour, and specifically in Greece, the reward of this early wake up time is much greater than the cost of a couple cups of Greek coffee. As we started our journey from Patras to Volos, I was eager…

  • Tiny Huge Concert

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    rlin

    By Kendra Frey Our second concert, at the Patras Music School on Monday, was a tiny, huge event. The space was tiny. The crowd was huge. After setting up the stage and all of our equipment, we all settled down into our seats and realized that while we all had very little room, there was…

  • What a Site!

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    rlin

    Written by Elena Gottlick The morning after our concert at the Athens School of Music, two buses filled with sleepy but excited Gusties (accompanied by their trusty tour guides, Alexandra and Maria) headed to two of the famous nine hills of Greece, the Areopagus Hill and the Acropolis. Students learned that the Areopagus Hill is…

  • Our First Concert

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    rlin

      Written by Nate Long After arriving at our hotel on Thursday afternoon, we had been on the road or in the air for over 20 hours, and everybody was eager for a long-overdue full night’s sleep. Few of us were truly ready for our 6:30am wake up calls, yet we dragged ourselves out of…