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| Water Organ - Zadar - Croatia |
Again - What a wonderful trip!
Incredible to think that it all went by really in less than 10 days: meeting with Joyce in Trieste to rehearse before the tour (and, we have to admit, also to explore the town together since it was her first time there, although I am sure not the last!), then flying to Belgrade and meeting there our wonderful friend and splendid pianist Nada as well as Michael, then driving to Zagreb with an unplanned lunch break in Bosnia, reuniting with our dear friends in Zagreb and finally discovering the stunning Dalmatian town of Zadar! All interspersed with music and lots of eating, of course.
It all started in Trieste, as many things do :)
Joyce and I interspersed our rehearsals with our quest for the best coffee in Trieste.
The story of the coffee in Trieste starts quite far back, after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the steps of Vienna in 1683! The retreating army left behind these wonderful beans, the Turkish kahve, which soon became very fashionable in the Habsburg Empire. The beans were brought to the Empire from Alessandria in Egypt through the port of Trieste, a Free port since 1719. With the construction of the railway in 1857, the expanded manufacturing of the beans were supported by several import firms, important roastings companies and many cafes. We decided (and that wasn't easy as Trieste is home of many incredible brands, among which Illy and Hausbrandt) that one of our favourite was the Excelsior coffee. This has an interesting story, starting back at the beginning of the 1900 with the Gianfre' brothers importing onions! After the Second World War, they decided to specialize in coffee and in 1954 they sold their first kilogram.
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| Off we go to catch the plane to Belgrade |
In Belgrade we were met by beautiful pianist Nada who also hosted us at her place. Composer Michael Pepa reached us also there...we played his music at every concert!
Our next stop was in Zagreb, where we had a few rehearsals with the fabulous Cantus Ansambl directed by Maestro Tak Ng Lai. This is Pepa, ready to listen to his Yakami Variations being rehearsed!
Already two years ago, Michael received the medal of the Order of Danice Hrvatske, a beautiful recognition of his work in the arts, supporting and creating musical projects between Canada and Croatia. The medals are named after Marko Marulic, the famous Croatian writer of the 15th century whose statue we visited in this trip!
The concert was hosted by the Cantus Ansambl and the Canadian Embassy in celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary. After the concert, the Canadian Ambassador, Daniel Maksymiuk, joined us for a picture:
The next morning we drove to "the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city": Zadar, a gorgeous town on the Adriatic coast, inhabited since the Stone Age, then a 9th-century BC Illyrian settlement, a Roman Municipium in 59BC, then Roman Colonia, Byzantine after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Croatian around the 10th Century, conquered by Venice, then part of the Austrian Empire after the fall of Venice in 1797 and until 1918, Italian after 1920 and back to Croatia after the Second WW. A stunningly beautiful city, where we were met by a very warm and enthusiastic audience, a beautiful Summer temperature and stunning old and new architecture. The Sea Organ is found here, designed in 2005 by the architect Nikola Basic, these steps into the sea hide several tubes and a resonating chamber which produce sounds through the varying pressure of the sea waves.
A perfect place to end our musical journey.
