Wind Ensemble in China

To quote the Matchbox 20 song "Baby, Its 3AM and I must be lonely" would be very appropriate right now. Simply insert Jet Lagged for the world lonely and that is exactly what is going on. It is currently 3:43 (12 hours ahead of NY) in the morning and I am completely wide awake. After laying in bed for what seemed like an eternity, I figured it might be a good time to "Blog it up" and let the folks back in Fredonia (and my mother, if she can learn how to get the internet to work) how the trip over was and how things are progressing here in China.

This is the story about 3 men that left Fredonia, NY at 3 PM on Saturday, May 17th, 2008, and are now with the Fredonia Sate Wind Ensemble in China. Their names are Sam Gelfer, Matt Maher, and Dan Caruso. It all started as they drove off from Fredonia, taking a stop in Binghamton for an hour to rest/so Dan could exchange cars, and then continued off to Long Island. Their goal was simple: reach Newark, NJ by 9:10. In order to do this without making Sam's parents drive a long distance, they set out to travel from Long Island using the Railway Express to arrive at Penn Station, leaving at 3:45 AM.

So, I'm currently sitting in the dark of my Beijing Hotel room stinking of foreign aquatic street food listening to my iPod rethinking one of the best days I can remember having in a long, long time. My days in China so far have been absolutely amazing. I have seen things I never thought I would have the chance to see in my life and I suppose I owe it mostly to a twisted piece of brass, as odd as that sounds.

It's 11pm on Friday the 23rd. We just finished our concert at the South China University of Technology School of Music here in Guangzhou, China. We flew in from Beijing this morning. Only one or two lucky people were able to achieve internet access in Beijing (there was no wireless, and apparently Macs don't work so well here). Sitting in my hotel room now I was able to plug in and get online. Here's a synopsis of what's happened so far.

The Wind Ensemble's tour repertoire will be selected from the following:

Festimusik der Stadt Wien
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Arr. Roderick Macdonald

Kabayer for Trumpet and Symphony Band
Chen Qian

Orchestral suite no. 2, Badinaire
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Arr. Robert Deemer

Summertime
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Arr. Donald Hunsberger
Trumpet soloist, Roderick MacDonald