By Dene Olding, Co-concertmaster
Monday morning was spent recuperating from the big travel journey the day before from Guangzhou to Kuala Lumpur. The hotel where we’re staying in KL is very beautiful and it’s nice to luxuriate in all its surroundings and ambience.
I missed breakfast by accident – it stopped earlier than I thought! So I moved on to getting ready for the violin masterclass that had been organised by the Australian High Commission at one of the local performing arts academies. I didn’t quite know what to expect at the masterclass because we had to fit in 10 violinists in only 2 hours which only gave everyone about 10 mins each. I was concerned at how to make it meaningful to the students in only 10 mins per student.
Our Principal 2nd violin Kirsty Hilton joined me for the masterclass. The standard was not as high as in Australia but they were very grateful for the advice we gave them. The age of the students was interesting – it ranged from age 9 to mid-late 20s. One challenge was the one lady who showed up in the full Muslim regalia. I didn’t want to offend sensitivities so had to ask her permission to touch her arm to demonstrate a particular technique. I really do think the students got a lot out of the class. Afterward they acted like paparazzi and all wanted to have their photos taken with us.
After that there was a bit of time for some window shopping around KL in the bewildering but magnificent mall that’s attached to the Petronas centre. Malaysia seems to be a very cultured place. KL itself seems very attractive with much lush greenery. But due to the Malaysia’s equatorial climate my violin feels likes it’s been immersed in water due to the humidity.
Then it was time for the 8.30pm concert. The Petronas Concert Hall is rather pleasant but quite small – about a third of the size of the Sydney Opera House in terms of number of seats.
The concert had a lot of energy and the audience responded in kind.
The concert was followed by our end of tour party held at the ‘sky bar’ which is on the 33rd floor of our hotel. The bar has a swimming pool right down the middle and as Australians and water are like magnets it was hard to go through the night without someone getting thrown into the pool!
When you’re on tour, you get into a different mindset and time almost standstill. Sometimes we’re not sure what day it is. It’s rather surreal I think. It’s nice not to have to worry about the responsibilities of home but after a certain time on the road you feel like it’s time to go home. Buffet breakfasts are not the norm at home!
But really these tours are all about the music. It’s almost refreshing for the orchestra to be able to hear itself in different acoustics apart from those experienced at the Sydney Opera House. We discover new things about ourselves and I am always amazed at how this orchestra responds in the concerts even though we have not had much rehearsal time. The concerts go extremely well because everyone is concentrating so hard and committed to doing the best they possibly can.
Mr Ashkenazy is a delight to work with and I think the whole tour in terms of representing Australian cultural life overseas has been a great success, especially in China given they will be ever more important to Australia in the coming years.
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