China Tour Blog #10: Esprit Sizzles! Alex Pauk, Rock Star!
The orchestra was feeling pretty pumped from an unbelievably successful tour. This final concert in the Guangxi Arts Institute Concert Hall was a highlight. It was the orchestra's night to put on its best (last) show and the musicians delivered!
The queue for the hall started an hour and a half before the concert was to start. It was a wild scene as people were desperate to get a seat. By the downbeat, unfortunately no more audience members were able to be squeezed in. The 'traffic directors' were putting them on the stairs. We were sorry that we had to disappoint so many people who could not get in.
Even Evan, my 'accidental' interpreter, could not get in. I asked Sally, our head volunteer, to call him to find out if he was going to get into the hall. Apparently he was somewhere in the line so I asked her to go out there and drag him in so he could have a seat. Evan had become the interpreter for my two hour lecture a few days earlier. He is a young composer studying in Nanning and I really wanted him to experience Esprit!
Esprit sizzled! Violist Doug Perry said that's what happens when the orchestra bonds. There is just something that happens through osmosis. No one says anything, they just know it. And that translates through the energy of the orchestra. The orchestra was in the 'zone' for that final concert as was Alex. Fireworks happened. The audience went wild. And for Canadian new music! – Daniel, Pauk, Louie and Schafer. By the last piece, Falcon's Trumpet by Schafer, the people that packed the hall were really wondering what to expect next from this Canadian orchestra. The distinguished guests, Festival delegates and general audience members were looking around and over their shoulders at the orchestra which was surrounding them in true Schafer fashion. Bob Venables soared as the trumpet soloist. It was wonderful to see the astonished faces in the crowd as they kept looking at the musicians surrounding them.
There were cheers at the last note of Murray's concerto. Then mayhem. Hundreds of people brought out their cell phones and were taking pictures of the orchestra. From the stage we were looking out at a sea of cell phones!
Then pandemonium on the stage! Audience members came up to take selfies with their favourite musicians! Our PA's were delirious! Our youngest orchestra member, Aleh Remezau, our oboist, being the youngest (and cutest?) musician was besieged by a line of girls who wanted their photo with him. But there was an equally long line of young women who all wanted their photos with Alex as well. Alex Pauk, rock star!
The orchestra arrived back at the hotel at midnight and most had run off to the convenience store to buy beer and snacks. We invaded the lobby of the hotel, taking over a whole section, pulling up chairs, and basically setting up a private party right there at midnight. Everyone was high over the great performance they had just given. They shared stories of their experiences during the tour, including the new friends they had made in even this short time.
The last ones straggled off at 2 AM. Bad move. We had to be up in a couple of hours to catch our 5 AM bus to the Nanning Airport. Wired, tired, and mostly not quite over the twelve hour jet lag (day for night!), a 4 AM wake up call sounded surreal.
That's life on the road with Esprit – a unique orchestra and a great group of people!
– Alexina Louie