Written 10/11
Our week off is over—back to work! Today we had our first rehearsal for our next concert, which is on Friday in the neighboring city of Zenica. The concert is sponsored by the Bosnian-Herzegovinan Society for the Arts and Sciences, a foundation based in Chicago that partially sponsored the exchange program that brought me here. So, I believe that we will be able to meet some people involved with our exchange program on Friday for cocktails. I’m looking forward to talking to them, and sharing both the positive and negative aspects of living in Sarajevo.
An American conductor is leading this week’s concert cycle, so once again our rehearsals are in English. (yay!) We are playing a lot of short pieces, including Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture”, which is one of my favorite concert overtures. The orchestra did not play the Brahms very well today, which was disappointing, but I’m sure we’ll be better by the end of the week. We are also playing a Mozart flute concerto and the Rodrigo Concerto de Aranjuez, featuring a Bosnian-American guitarist and an American flutist. Both of the soloists live in Pasadena, the hometown of my in-laws! I was able to talk to them only briefly today, but they suggested having lunch with our American quartet sometime later this week. I’m looking forward to it. I’m really surprised Ross hasn’t encountered the guitar soloist before, considering that he’s from Pasadena and knows Ross’ former teacher, who’s also Bosnian-American. The classical music world is awefully small! On top of all of the connections mentioned above, our conductor for the week conducts in Midland/Odessa Texas, at a concert hall where Ross was invited to play a solo recital a few years ago. And (according to google) she conducts operas in Chicago and has accompanied at Northwestern. So many coincidences...
I had a lot of fun at the rehearsal today, listening to the guitarist play so well. Hearing classical guitar brings out a flood of emotions for me, since it was a constant part of my life for so long that now is (usually) missing. I have realized that I really enjoy hearing Ross practice in the other room. It’s a good thing he plays the guitar, since I’m not sure I could ever feel that way about some other instruments. (I won’t specify any by name, lest I offend someone.)
After rehearsal ended, the rest of the day was pretty non-eventful: riding the tram, eating lunch, skyping, practicing, eating dinner. This evening, I went down to a gathering at Admir’s apartment to watch a soccer game. Bosnia was playing France, and if they won, they would go on to the Euro-cup, so the game was a big one. The game ended up being a tie, so we’ll have to watch a rematch later this week. (I have to get into soccer so I can feel like a real European, haha.)
Bosnia played Luxemburg the other night, and won 5-0. The reason I know this is that Sara, Morena, and I were having a quiet evening in the apartment until we heard what sounded like explosions. Sara had the gumption to look out the window, and reported that some people from our building were throwing down firecrackers from the roof. I said “I bet there’s a soccer game on”, and flipped to a local channel. Sure enough, there was a game on, and Bosnia was kicking ass. The firecrackers are a little loud and scary, but it’s fun to be here in the midst of a very good soccer season.
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