The Music...

Gentle Reader,

We toured with an absolutely spectacular orchestra out of Valparaiso, Indiana: The South Shore Orchestra. As you know, we played eight concerts in seven days, in beautiful concert halls south and west of Shanghai.

To our great surprise and astonishment, our hosts passed out red cashmere scarves for the guys... and pastel skirts with hoops for the women!!! The females also received a flower to place in the hair. Needless to say, these hoop skirts weren't very flattering, especially over our concert black. String players were ramming bows into the hoop, the tympani player Allie could no longer find her feet to tune, my flute threatened to roll off my poofy lap, etc... I haven't worn a hoop dress since going to Junior Prom in high school, where it was sort of a thing that spring. Uncomfortable then, uncomfortable now. We were initially told that we were going to be wearing them for every concert. Rebellion in the ranks.We ended up striking a compromise with our hosts: we would wear the hoop skirts for the first two concerts, the flowers for every concert. Truly, they just wanted the New Year concerts to be festive, but we felt far more ridiculous and encumbered than festive. It was a major relief to shed the skirts after Concert #2. Fare thee well forever, hoop skirts...

Each concert required set up, sometimes using the collapsible stands, sometimes using stands at the particular concert hall. We set up by section, with Lauren coordinating this crucial part of the evening. We would then rehearse, about two hours before the actual concert, checking sound and feeling the space. Every hall had its own acoustics, so this rehearsal allowed all of the instrumentalists and vocalists to get a sense of the sound.

Although the program changed a bit from night to night, depending on what our hosts wanted on the program, the music was generally as follows:

Spring Festival Overture by Li Huanzhi
Mission Impossible Theme by Lalo Schifrin
Song to the Moon by Dvorak (soprano solo)
I Bought Me a Cat by Aaron Copland (baritone solo)
Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo (classical guitar solo)
The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss
Song of Heroes arr by Mike Boo
Gershwin Medley by George Gershwin
A Pleasant Night traditional (erhu solo)
Galloping War Horses traditional (erhu solo)
Habanera from Carmen by Georges Bizet (soprano solo)
Toreador Song of Carmen by Georges Bizet (baritone solo)
La Ci Darem La Mano by Mozart (vocal duet)
Jasmine Flower traditional
Thunder and Lightning Polka by Johann Strauss
The Moon Represents my Heart traditional (erhu and classical guitar duet)
Radetsky March by Johan Strauss
The Same Song traditional

A challenging program filled with both Eastern and Western music. The audience always clapped along to Radetsky March and frequently stood and clapped together to "The Same Song." All of our soloists were phenomenal. We all wish we would have had a chance to "see" them sing/play. They were very animated, and the audiences all loved them, as did the members of the orchestra. Beautiful.

My favorite piece every night was the erhu/classical guitar duet, accompanied by orchestra "The Moon Represents My Heart." I found myself humming this piece throughout the day. Such a graceful, haunting melody. The lyrics capture the romantic spirit of the Chinese. Here is a translation of the lyrics:

English and Hanyu Pinyin Lyrics of The Moon Represents My Heart

English Translation

You ask me how deep my love for you is,
How much I really love you…
My affection is real.
My love is real.
The moon represents my heart.

You ask me how deep my love for you is,
How much I really love you…
My affection does not waver,
My love will not change.
The moon represents my heart.

* Just one soft kiss
is enough to move my heart.
A period of time when our affection was deep,
Has made me miss you until now.

* You ask me how deep my love for you is,
How much I really love you.

* ** Go think about it.
Go and have a look [at the moon],
The moon represents my heart.

Repeat *

Repeat **

Hanyu Pinyin

ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen
wo ai ni you ji fen
wo de qing ye zhen
wo de ai ye zhen
yue liang dai biao wo de xin

ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen
wo ai ni you ji fen
wo de qing bu yi
wo de ai bu bian
yue liang dai biao wo de xin

* qing qing de yi ge wen
yi jin da dong wo de xin
shen shen de yi duan qing
jiao wo si nian dao ru jin

* ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen
wo ai ni you ji fen

* ** ni qu xiang yi xiang
ni qu kan yi kan
yue liang dai biao wo de xin

Repeat *