By Nicholas Carter, Sydney Symphony Assistant Conductor
We checked out of the Beijing hotel at 11am for our journey to the airport which was mission in itself given the traffic congestion in Beijing. I must say that it is amazing how well organised this tour is. It’s seamless. However, the same can’t really be said for the check-in procedures at Beijing airport. We spent quite a bit of time standing in queues at the airport – both to check-in and to board the plane.
The flight was relatively quick – an hour and a half – arriving in Shanghai by 4.30pm. On the plane I was reading Prokofiev’s autobiography in preparation for our upcoming Prokofiev Festival. A fascinating man. Very confident and aware of his abilities and very candid in the book about his opinions of other composers - the inferiority of all other composers in his view!
You’d think we would have quite a bit of time to explore Shanghai in the afternoon given we arrived at the airport at 4.30pm but it took 2 and ½ hours to drive from the airport to the hotel due to traffic. So we arrived at the hotel at 7pm. In one sense sitting on a bus like that looking at the suburbs of Shanghai is really fascinating. Because of European influences over the centuries the architecture in and around Shanghai is quite startling for example seeing faux tudor mansions and neo-Georgian houses being built today is really quite something.
We eventually arrived at our brilliant hotel. I’ve got the biggest bed I’ve ever slept in. I got lost from one side to the other. Some of the double bass players (Alex Henery, Stephen Newton and Ben Ward) and I then headed out to the Bund area of Shanghai for some dinner. We found a great little restaurant where they didn’t speak a word of English which was great fun. It’s amazing how much hand gestures can translate quite clearly when the need arises. We ate dumplings, noodles and other miscellaneous stuff plus 4 beers coming to a total cost of about 100 Yuan (about $18 Aus) making the meal around $4.50 for each of us. Amazing!
Walking along the Shanghai streets at night was also amazing – people trying to sell you genuine Rolex watches for 150 Yuan (approx $A28). They send you the warranty later apparently! And the weird thing too was that everyone was trying to sell us laser pointers.
All in all, an interesting day on a trip that is proving invaluable to my training as a conductor.
As part of my year’s training with the Sydney Symphony I have been very fortunate to be invited on this trip. My job as Assistant Conductor on tour is to provide feedback to Mr Ashkenazy and to the orchestra, particularly the concertmasters and section principals, about issues arising from performing at a different venue each night. It can take a while to adjust to a new acoustic of a hall so during the rehearsal I provide feedback about the issue of balance.
My other job on tour is to stand in for Mr Ashkenazy either during a rehearsal or performance if ever the need were to arise… but let’s hope that never happens.
It’s fascinating to hear the orchestra in different venues. Knowing how the Sydney Symphony sounds in the Sydney Opera House is one thing but knowing how the orchestra sounds in the Shanghai Arts Centre is another – it can reveal nuances that perhaps one acoustic doesn’t pick up but another one does. That’s why touring is so rewarding and beneficial for an orchestra because it teaches adaptability to different situations at very short notice.
I’m very much looking forward to the Shanghai performance. Our hotel is right next to the performance venue – the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre. It looks amazing from the outside. It’s an extraordinary building and by all reports it has an amazing acoustic as well.
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