POLAND...at last!!!

Duo sTREga reunited:

Krakow and Zakopane!!!!

Wonderful Photo: Anna Dzięgiel

...and so, finally, I made it to Poland.  It has been on the wishing list for a while, but I guess I had to wait for the perfect time! And the perfect time it was: the Fall put on her best colours and I had some of the most welcoming experiences packed in four intense days of great music making. I am commenting on the "welcoming experiences" for a reason: it seems to me that while most cultures have some sense of pride in being good hosts, this is perceived at a very heightened level in Poland. I did say, half jokingly, that I felt like it was Christmas for four days and I was Santa Klaus on a rare visit, but in fact it wasn't so far from reality. I was literally inundated by gifts of flowers - at every concert and masterclass, even though everybody knew I was leaving after a few days-, all possible kinds of food - just in case I didn't feel like one thing, or maybe I wanted to try something different, and I had to try this special thing that is typical of here, which they have plenty of, be it on the street (the bruschetta-like zapiekanka), in a restaurant (szarlotka which, although delicious, I am assured is not quite the home-made apple pie of Maria - I'll need to check -, but still, YUMMY!!), on a mountain (oscypek: the squeaky cheese!), at home (with fancy porcini mushrooms!) -, and please, don't even thing of eating twice the same thing! -, infinite supply of chocolate that recreated itself in lovely boxes on my bed every time I was coming home, spectacular honey - which I already finished a while ago, so I now have to urgently go back to Poland! -, private performances just for me, to share the music, as well as private lessons to learn - and not succeed - how to say words in Polish,...just to name a few of these experiences. 

Photo: Anna Dzięgiel

In all this, one might thing that I wouldn't have the time to play a note, but NO!!
I arrived at Krakow airport where I was welcomed by tall smiley Kasia, made taller by a cheerful waving Canadian flag (thanks Becky!), and taken straight to a beautiful villa to play in a dance-filled concert organized by Gaia, Centrum Muzyki i Muzykoterapii, for some amazing kids, just look at this face:

Photo: Anna Dzięgiel

 Two days later we were driving to a Masterclass: two hours with fun talented students followed by a short sample of my upcoming performance.

 The same evening we had a photo shooting with amazing photographer Anna Dzięgiel - whose fun fun husband shared with us his tarantula's skin - the real tarantula was in a box eating a cricket! - which I managed to touch without passing out, but it was a close call: 

Photo: Anna Dzięgiel

Next morning we packed and drove to Zakopane, Szymanowski's home town and a beautiful little village South of Krakow, at the feet of the Tatra mountains and of the sleepy giant...and what a drive through the Fall-y hills!

Here is a proof that there, too, we didn't sit idly:

And the following day, my last day, we had another recital in Krakow:

Photos: Anna Dzięgiel

Thank you very much, dear Poland:

                 

                   do zobaczenia wkrótce!!!

Starting from the end of the Tour: the fabulous Zagreb Woodwind Trio

Montreal, La Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur (October 27th, 2013)
Toronto, Heliconian Hall (October 30th, 2013)

With the Zagrebački Puhački Trio, the Croatian Consul General and composer Michael Pepa

The end of the tour is a painful moment to face: coming home to the "normal" life after living for three weeks between incredible excitement, full and heightened concentration, and a generally high level of tiredness. Even doing your laundry in a normal laundry machine seems so uncool!

...but I am shamelessly lucky, and so some guardian angels decided to make it more bearable for me by taking a piece of tour back to Canada to smooth the first two weeks back...and I am not just talking about all the memories and experiences, but the Zagreb Woodwind Trio! which, by the way, in Croatian has for me an almost unrecognizable name: Zagrebački Puhački Trio. In passing, the other very interesting and unrecognizable name discovered on tour was skrzypce: which is the pretty violin in Polish...not to speak of my lovely country, which, also in Polish, is Włochy!

My whole Croatian experience has been distinguished by two main factors: one is meeting incredibly friendly, hospitable, and fun people with whom I felt immediate familiarity, and the other a distinguished encounter and performances for high government personalities. In Montreal with the Croatian Ambassador:

In Toronto, we performed for the General Consul of Croatia with whom we afterwards had a feast of cevapcici and calamari, and in Zagreb, well, among a sea of ambassadors and consuls, for the President of Croatia (!), and the Minister of culture Berislav Šipuš, who also happens to be a fabulous composer whose beautiful Preludes I was honoured to perform already twice!

With the Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and the Canadian Minister of State!!

With the trio, composers Berislav Šipuš and Michael Pepa, and violinist Lynn Kuo in Zagreb

 Incredibly, I had never visited Zagreb before, even though it is now, thanks to the new highway, only a few hours away from Trieste (a fact tested by my dad, who at the last minute decided to come to the performance and had some of the best times hanging out with ministers and consuls...and, most of all, with Michael and the Trio!). I found Zagreb incredibly beautiful, full of flowers, parks, fountains, colourful palaces and, what makes me feel right at home, the very strong stamp of the Austro-Hungarian empire in every building!

  

Performing Sid Rabinovitch in Zagreb!

 HVALA Zagrebački Puhački Trio!!!!!