Day Three: Arrival in Anji and the first concert!

Signage welcoming SSO to Anji

We are now in Anji, a bit northeast of Shanghai by a few hours at a beautiful resort town in the heart of a lush bamboo forest, beautiful park and national reserve. Our hotel is new and beautifully landscaped with waterfalls, paths and walkways. Its name--the Anji Athens Palace Hotel--is fitting. We all feel quite fortunate with these accommodations. Our concert will be held here as well tonight so its an easy stroll through the corridors to rehearsal, then back for a 6:30 concert and afterwards, to a celebratory dinner in another part of the complex.
When the buses--we are traveling in three--pulled up we were greeted by signage that welcomed the American symphony south of Chicago. Many lined up to get photographs of themselves with the digital posters in the lobby that announce our performance tonight. An elaborate process of getting and then distributing room keys takes about 10 minutes now after a few days of practice. Our group gets their own luggage, instruments and belongings to the lobby and awaits further instructions--time for lunch, time for rehearsal, and time for the concert.

What's that on my head?

It's overcast and cool today but that did not stop us from taking a short ride over to the park after lunch to have a conducted tour and stroll through the forest, taking photographs and of course do some "panda watching" from an elevated path overlooking their domain. Some even stopped to have an opportunity to pose with a curious and playful monkey and have their photographs taken as well as sitting in a throne like chair with some rather regal but also somewhat intimidating peacock sentries guarding the sitter. The grove of 200 year old bonsai trees mounted on pedestals was impressive as was the dense groupings of trees interwoven with decorative stone paths and bamboo structures.

It is the also the day of our first concert--Loaned/rented instruments--cellos, bass and percussion--have arrived and the\ orchestra will have a few hour rehearsal to prime them for tonight's concert. They are all ready to do what they came here for--perform!

Several take a stroll up the mountain pathway behind our hotel in search of vistas, returning
with reports of pleasant but overcast views.

The concert begins at 6:30 in a hall adjacent to our hotel. People attend as guests of local
companies, one being a large office furniture firm in this district. It is our sponsors whose
employees are invitees as well as local officials. Tonight, even a well known local erhu player
will join us in a piece.

Soloists bid the audience a rousing salute at the conclusion
of the Song of the Yangste River

The room fills, the concertmaster cues the orchestra and then Maestro Troy Webdell enters after his introduction and then bows to the audience with a booming welcome and Happy New Year in Chinese, to which the audience enthusiastically responds with great applause.

Spring Festival Overture, a traditional boisterous and beautiful piece by Chinese composer Li Huanzhi, engages the audience in what will be an evening of entertainment threaded together with music from both cultures. Operatic solos by Natalie Mann, Sean Kroll and Jin Jin are complimented by a striking composition by David De Boer performed by saxophone soloist Stacey Maugans. Adults and children of all ages show their enjoyment with audience participation, clapping along to some of the recognized tunes and lots of smiles and offerings of welcome. A rousing response is returned with the the Song of the Yangtse River, a most notable Chinese and sentimental piece loved by all. Afterwards, many come up to photograph orchestra members or share their English skills affirming their appreciation of the fine performance.

As is the norm now, we dine afterwards, sharing the rewards of the evening--reflection about this intriguing place, its warm and generous people and what’s on our radar for the next day. Our hosts Jinyuan and Ruiling Meng make it a bit more festive by treating us all with a large enough birthday cake for Kathleen Brannen--another of our trip coordinators. A good time was had by all. It was even more celebratory when the Brannen’s luggage finally caught up with them after three days--it seems it took a bit of a detour and went to Emerits.