Bests & Mosts (European Tour, Summer 2010)

• Best new word I learned: snyrtingar (Icelandic for "loo")
• Most awe-inspiring view: Hardangarfjord, Norway
• Best view of Paris: top of the escalator arriving at the fifth floor of Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (through the open window)
• Best service in a restaurant: Les Artistes Italian restaurant, Paris
• Most sour & cranky waiter ever: Kaļķu Vārti, Riga, Latvia (the food was good, though)
• Best hotel: Hotel Bergs, Riga, Latvia
• Best seafood chowder: Bergen, Norway
• Best shrimp salad sandwich: Troldhaugen, Norway (see above)
• Best view while playing on stage: Troldsalen, Troldhaugen
• Best drivers for stopping at crosswalks: Bergen, Norway
• Best airports: Kastrup(Copenhagen) and Keflavik(Reykjavik)
• Most loved (and rarest) convenience: air-conditioning
• Most ridiculous item in my suitcase: long, thick, heavy, black turtleneck
• Best ice cream: Latvia (everywhere, every day)
• Best coffee: cafe next to Smiltene bus station in Latvia
• Best pirags: cafe next to Smiltene bus station in Latvia
• Most touching comment after my performance: Valmiera, Latvia
• Most thrilling moments: performing at Troldhaugen & watching my daughter perform in Sigulda, Latvia

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Valmiera

Yesterday morning we left Gulbene by bus, bound for Valmiera.  Only a hundred kilometres, but the bus schedule allows two hours for this distance.  I wondered how it would take so long, but that was made clear when at the halfway-point at Smiltene, we had a twenty minute stop for coffee.  This was actually most welcome as we hadn't really had time for breakfast before leaving.

It is interesting to me that many of the place names in Latvia have been long known to me, but again, I never really understood that these are actual towns.  As a kid, with our local Latvian folk dance group I learned these names as names of various folk costumes.  Smiltene in fact was the costume my mother made for me.  Now, I get that it's actually a lovely little town where you can buy extremely good coffee and some of the best pirags we've tried yet.  Last week, when someone mentioned they were driving a friend back to Lielvarde, I pictured them driving to a red and black plaid folk costume, with a hand-embroidered blouse underneath.

Valmiera is the town where my mother lived for a few years as a young girl, until the age of twelve.  She studied piano at the Valmiera Music School, the same school (but in a different building as much of Valmiera was destroyed in the 1940's) that sponsored my concert here last night.  Very neat to be performing here.

We were met at the bus by the director of the music school, and he was such a wonderful host and tour guide.  He showed us around and made sure that everything was optimal for me, AND treated us to a wonderful lunch, mid-afternoon.  I got a chance to practise in the hall in the afternoon and although it wasn't yet tuned, I really loved the Bechstein concert grand.  After it was tuned, it was even more wonderful.  I really look forward to returning to perform on it again.

The concert went quite well, and after the people in the front row were gently reminded (by me; how I hated to do it) to be quiet, I felt the audience to be quite responsive.  Again, the applause included several people coming up to me with bouquets and kind words.  One young girl approached me as I was walking offstage and thanked me in heavily accented Latvian, saying she has never been so moved.  I too was very moved by her deeply felt words.

After the concert, it was off to an outdoor cafe with some relatives, some of whom I had never met before.  Interestingly, there were relatives from both my grandfather's side of the family and my grandmother's side.  So great to be the reason for their meeting one another.

I really like this city of Valmiera.  It's very beautiful, situated on the Gauja river, and seems like a cultural centre of some importance in this part of the country.  There's an interesting blend of very old buildings (the St. Simon Church of 1280!), restored pre-war buildings, and modern post-Soviet buildings as well.  Lots of trees and gardens. I do hope to return soon and stay longer.

Looking forward to one last look at Riga today before flying home.

Gulbene concert

Just back from playing my recital in the small town of Gulbene.

Before the concert began, the organizer was apologizing that the crowd would be small on such a hot night in the middle of the summer.  She told me that really there are only 10 people in Gulbene who are the concert goers regularly.  Well, not to worry, there were at least 30-35 people there, and they were a lovely warm audience.  At least 10 of them came up to me during the applause at the end with gifts and flowers.  Totally overwhelming.

The piano for this concert was a DDR product: an August Forstner concert grand.  Not a Steinway D by any means, but I had a couple of rehearsals on it ahead of time in which I tried to learn how to optimize its characteristics.  As apparently my email with program information was not received, and due to the extreme heat, I changed the program at the last minute, cutting it down to just over an hour with no intermission.  I think that worked out just fine.  But still, I don't know when I've ever sweated as much.  UnbeLIEVably hot!

Then we were treated to a beautiful meal afterward.

Now it's starting to feel like the end of the trip is very near.  Off to Valmiera tomorrow morning, then two more nights before we fly home.  Mixed feelings, bigtime.

Gulbene, Stameriene

Yesterday we made our way from Sigulda to Gulbene, a two-and-a-half hour bus ride, thankfully air-conditioned.  As we drove north-east, I enjoyed sitting back and watching the countryside.  Latvia has a gentle beauty with pine and birch forests everywhere.  Driving further and further from the capital city Riga, one feels like one is moving into a simpler and humbler way of life.  Buildings in general are a little more run-down, although there are clearly lots of restoration projects happening everywhere.  The nineteen years of recovery from Soviet rule have perhaps moved a little more slowly in the countryside than in the cities.  As we drove by all of these beautiful forests, my feeling of being rooted here began to deepen.

Gulbene is a small town in the province of Vidzeme.  Wikipedia says that the Gulbene district has a population of about 30,000, which is the size of Stratford, Ontario.  I believe the actual town is more like 6,000 inhabitants or so.  Interestingly though, like Stratford, Gulbene's symbol is a swan; which is in fact the meaning of the word "gulbis".  Again, like Stratford, Gulbene has a lot of history tied in with the railroad industry.

We were met at the bus by a relative (nth cousin, however many times removed) whom I had never met before.  In fact, he boarded the bus and asked for me by name!  He then took us to our hotel a few blocks away and gallantly unloaded our ridiculously heavy suitcases.  At the exact moment that he was doing so, a colleague from his amateur theatre group was walking by and was enlisted to carry one of the suitcases up the stairs to the third floor.

After settling in, we later met up again and were given a grand tour of the surrounding area.  This was something I had been looking forward to for some time.  My maternal grandfather grew up near Gulbene, near the village of Stameriene.   The land which had belonged to my great-grandparents was taken over during Soviet times, and the house was demolished.  Now that Latvia is once again free, that land has come back into my family's possession.  I was very interested in exploring it, and had a romantic vision of standing on that land and somehow feeling some deep epiphany of belonging or such.  To reach the property, my cousin drove his Mazda over fields, stopping to dismantle a barbed wire fence or two on the way.  He parked amidst a few unimpressed cows (guess they weren't fans of the Katy Perry song blaring on his radio) and we got out to wade through the long grasses into the woods.  It's an impressive and beautiful piece of land, again with tons of straight and tall pines and birches, but of course there are no paths, nothing cleared; the only hint of civilization is the wooden sign my dad made and hung on a tree a few years ago with the name of the property: Brikšni.  (Yes, it's still there.) 

Unfortunately, the "Ah" moment didn't have a chance to come to me, as I was fairly busy minding branches, holes in the ground, tree roots, etc. as we hoofed it through the woods.  We came to a clearing at the far end of the property and were ransacked by mosquitoes.  That probably would have been the moment of basking in the awesomeness, but I couldn't get back to the car fast enough.  In the space of less than a minute, I must have been bitten 45 times!  Stupidly, I didn't even stop to pick up a souvenir pine cone.  But at least, I can now envision the place, and next time I'm in Latvia I'll be sure to arrive properly clothed and bug-sprayed for a wilderness experience.

We were also driven to and through the village of Stameriene.   I've heard this name so many times, but had no impression of it.  But now, being there, I did feel the wonder of how my grandpa long ago spent time here growing up.  There seem to be many old buildings that have withstood all the time and turmoil.  This helped me to imagine what the place must have been like a century ago.  Extraordinary.


We were also taken to the Stameriene cemetery, where we laid flowers from our host's garden and ferns from Brikšni on the grave of my great-grandparents.  Apparently, this grave is a somewhat approximate guess as far as the actual location goes due to the tumult and upheaval of Soviet times.  Again, quite a moving experience nonetheless.

Sigulda (2)

One of the most exciting and unexpected things that came from our Sigulda experience was the opportunity for my daughter to work with some great jazz musicians:  Janet Lawson and Raimonds Petrauskis  gave her the space and the support to explore singing in this style.  Here (go ahead, click on "Here") is her first public performance as a jazz singer, accompanied by the incomparable Raimonds himself.  Apologies for the terrible video quality; I was too stunned to pay any attention to how I was filming it.

Sigulda

Ten days of my time in Latvia this summer is being spent at the 9th annual Young Musicians' Master Classes in Sigulda.

In 1985, my mother (who is also a pianist and piano teacher) suggested that she and I attend the first Latvian music camp that was taking place at Mount Orford, Quebec, Canada.  Not knowing what to expect, but always ready for adventure, I agreed and we went.  I also attended the following year.  Now, twenty-five years later, I find myself with this wonderful opportunity to attend and take part in the latest incarnation of this camp, on Latvian soil - and to share this experience with my own daughter!  

Prior to attending that first camp my experience of Latvian culture had been mainly within my “half-Latvian” family and the few Latvian families that lived in my hometown.  There were a few years during which the kids of my age group were given some regular classes in Latvian folk dancing, folk songs, and some elementary language skills, but not on the scale that operated in the larger cities.  I had attended some Song Festival events as a child, and those experiences all had an impact on me, but I was not really aware of the Latvian community of musicians and music-lovers prior to 1985.

That first music camp was the beginning of so many important things for me; a chance to get to know many wonderful musicians and gain many new friends, a chance to learn Latvian language and Latvian music and to discover the richness of being a Latvian musician.  That experience was formative for me in learning about my Latvian identity, and also led to many other opportunities within the music world and within the Latvian community.

Now, so many years later, I find this Sigulda music camp just as exciting and inspiring, and now with the added joy of actually gathering together in Latvia itself.  To meet so many of the friends I made in 1985 again, and to make new friends from so many different parts of the world, and to share this special passion for music and Latvian culture is such a rich experience.  I feel so honoured to be invited to join such a unique and gifted community.  It is truly amazing how many talented musicians and wonderful people are here together.   

The Masterclasses take part in a fairly recently built (2001) building, the Sigulda Music School, which is known as "Baltais Flīģelis", or "the White Grand Piano" because of the building's shape.  Every night is a concert, either with the Masterclass faculty members or with the students.  The calibre (and length!) of these concerts is absolutely outstanding and inspiring.  

My participation in Sigulda involves working with voice students in their lessons with Canadian-born baritone, Nigel Smith, accompanying them in recital, as well as performing some solo pieces and some Schubert songs with Nigel.  

I look forward to returning to this camp again soon.  Hopefully this time I won’t wait twenty-five years between camps.

Riga

Our first two days in Latvia were spent in Riga, my mother's birthplace. Upon arrival, like in Bergen, there was no official check-in with customs. We just collected our baggage (which miraculously appeared despite all the chaos of the process in the Paris airport), changed some Euros and dollars into Lats, and caught a cab to our hotel. The cab driver was friendly, although nervous-making in that he seemed to need to face me and maintain eye-contact during conversation while driving, even though I was in the back seat. This first conversation in Latvian in Latvia was a definite test of my ability to shift from one language to another.

For these first two nights, I had booked a fabulous five-star hotel, Hotel Bergs. Perhaps a bit of a splurge, although it really cost no more than a regular hotel would in North America, and it was less than half the price of our hotel in Bergen. What a delight this hotel was! This place has won awards for design, as it is a brilliant renovation of an old-style building, blended with some very contemporary aspects. Our room was huge, and air-conditioned! Very comfortable, and very beautiful.

After settling in, we walked over to Vecriga - "Old Riga" - and found an outdoor bistro for dinner. After eating only seafood in Norway, and in France, mainly fish or eggs, there was nothing of the sort on this menu. I settled for a venison burger, which turned out to be quite delicious.

On our walk back to the hotel we passed by the Brivibas Pieminieklu, the most important landmark in Riga, the Freedom Monument. For a country that has suffered foreign occupation for so much of it's history, this monument holds a lot of emotional energy. My own memory of the Freedom Monument was of a peaceful demonstration there which I took part in, in January of 1990. I don't really remember exactly, but I believe that demonstration was somehow in solidarity with Lithuania, just prior to gaining it's freedom. A very emotional event; I remember a huge crowd of people with red and white carnations which were all placed at the foot of the monument. Lots of singing, and lots of tears.

On the evening of our first full day in Riga was my performance of a short set of pieces in a concert showcasing faculty from the Sigulda music camp which would begin the following day. The concert took place in a beautiful hall in the Riga Latvian Society building. The piano was again a Steinway D, and was gorgeous, a joy to play. Obviously, the tuner/technician that works on this instrument is ace. I got a chance to practise for a half hour in the morning, which was especially handy as I hadn't practiced all week in Paris. In 8 days I had only had my hands on the keys for about half an hour when rehearsing some Schubert with a baritone I would be performing with in Latvia. Good thing I had chosen to perform some of my "party pieces".

After I performed, I was handed three bouquets of flowers during the applause. One massive one from my second cousin, another from her mother, and a third from a friend from Ottawa who was staying in Latvia for a while. I was overwhelmed at seeing these dear people after such a long time, and struggled to carry so many flowers.

I was happy that I performed first on the program, because that meant I could sit back and watch the rest of the show. What an honour to be performing with this group of musicians of such a high level. It's no secret that Latvians are a musical people as whenever a few are gathered together, they're bound to erupt into singing, but the per capital percentage of the population (including Latvians abroad) who are highly talented, highly skilled professional musicians must be well above the norm.

After the concert we had a chance to visit with my second cousin and her mother at an outdoor restaurant in old Riga. A lovely time.

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