We are on an evening walk through Salzburg with instruments in tow, to the first of 7 concerts to be performed during the tour! As much of Salzburg is closed to motor vehicles, we walked with the smaller instruments and had a taxi-van deliver the larger instruments.
I loved the narrow, cobblestone streets. Salzburg was quite small and we learned our way around quickly. The kids and I liked Salzburg the best of the cities we visited; it felt safe, comfortable and friendly.
We arrive at the Stiegl-Keller Restaurant for the dinner and concert. This concert was scheduled to be a collaboration between 3 musical groups in addition to ourselves: a Swedish Choir, an African Percussion Ensemble and an Indonesian Youth Choir. Unfortunately, only the Swedes made it to this first gathering. The African drummers were delayed in their arrival and the Indonesians had to cancel their entire trip the week before when their visas did not process in time.
Here are some of our wonderful parents and musicians. In the background you can see the Swedish Choir and the concert stage.
Who says cellos can’t play jazz? The jazz orchestra played a variety of selections including Sing, Sing, Sing, Desafinado, Bossa Rojo and more. Elena sits first chair in the orchestra and is responsible for leading her section in rehearsals and concerts. Her stand partner is one of 5 professional musicians who joined us on tour to fill out the orchestra.
Go Elena! She has a cool solo in Bossa Rojo!
Elena enjoyed the night with her friends. She also took a lot of photos of Salzburg from the restaurant window.
The Swedish Choir sang traditional Swedish songs, accompanied by the 2 violinists pictured on the far right. They dressed in traditional costumes representing their specific regions.
The Swedes demonstrated traditional dances and shared stories about their country and culture.
We went to the open air market in the town square for lunch and I taught the kids how to order in German. They absolutely loved the “Pizza Brezeln” which were the size of dinner plates. The raspberries and strawberries were great, too. Of course we had to have ice cream for dessert. (where else can you get hazelnut ice cream?)