Six weeks of playing orchestral music together with 96 other young musicians have now come to an end. It has been a wonderful experience. To me, getting to meet other talented musicians has been the biggest takeaway from AYO. The exchange of musical ideas, learning from one another, helping each other out, and also the fun, the laughter, the camaraderie, the joy that is being together for six weeks to prepare and perform music. We'd quickly look for the locals to take us to the best places for food and sightseeing, we'd make fun of our conductor together, we shared our life experiences with each other. All these made us closer and closer each day. It's no surprise our final concerts were among the best. However, the networking doesn't end within AYO. Through my colleagues, I have made other important connections, such as parents or friends who are talented or even professional musicians as well.
I was prepared for this but I'll say anyway, a concert tour really isn't about sightseeing. We've played 15 concerts in 9 cities in 6 countries within 3 weeks and I haven't had much time to see what I wanted to see, particularly in Japan. Our minds have just been thinking: "which program are we playing today?" Either that or we are up early in the morning to travel. It was actually hard to keep track of what day of the week it was. Sometimes our buses to the airports were so early in the morning, we hardly had time to sleep. We're actually lucky to get six hours before leaving a city; most of the time usually three to five hours. The one difference I observed about this tour compared to previous ones is that we use one whole day for travel and nothing else. In the past, they would travel to the next city and head straight for the concert hall for rehearsal and concert. After which, they would fit a free day here and there. In a way, our schedule is better in a sense that we do have the opportunity to get enough rest before the concert. Only drawback is sightseeing time becomes significantly shorter.
Anyway, I shall go through what I can recall from each city in as much detail as possible, talking about the sights and sounds, the concert hall, the audience, the food and what ever I feel like putting in. So here goes:
Hanoi (9 - 12 Aug)
The first day of our tour started with a final tutti in the morning with maestro Judd at the HKAPA. After rehearsal concluded, the orchestra headed to the airport for our first flight. There was a small struggle between me and the check-in lady who refused to let me board with my bass trombone but luckily, she called in a supervisor who was more lenient and told me to stick with the group to get priority boarding and a space for my instrument. Nice lady! And by the way, the bass trombone fitted fine in the overhead. The Airbus A320 basically only has partitions every two doors so length isn't ever going to be an issue. So, after a flight delayed by one hour, we arrived in Hanoi!
It was my first time in Hanoi and although I was excited to see what was around me, it was dark at night and we've had a long day and most of us simply wanted to get to the hotel for our dinner and have some sleep. The Hanoi Hotel, which we were booked in, was really comfortable and more spacious compared to our accommodation in Hong Kong.
I basically chose to sleep in during the mornings while in Hanoi which I now regret because it means I missed the opportunities to find the locals who could bring us around. Oh well, there's always a next time for Hanoi. There were some sights I looked up on the Internet that interested me but were a bit too far from the hotel. Anyway, what I got to see in the city from the bus trip was a city whose roads are dominated by motorcycles and also had lots of European influence in its architecture, which is no surprise because they were a colony of the French. Horns from vehicles were abundant.
AYO performed at the Hanoi Opera House, which is a 102-year old building that has very distinct French influence in its design. It was a really nice hall to look at. Typical of opera houses, it has a big stage and AYO only used the front portion. Most of the orchestra was in front of the frame of the stage but unfortunately, the brasses and timpani weren't. Here you can see a picture of the stage setup.
A shell was eventually added behind the orchestra to help with acoustics but being in a theatre, acoustics were naturally quite dry as there were not so many panels to help with reverberation. The two concerts were a bit shaky to be honest, being the first concerts on tour. After a not so long sleep, we left for the airport the next day for our two flights that will take us to Singapore!
Singapore (12 - 15 Aug)
Before I write about what happened in Singapore, I'd like to mention the flight from Hong Kong to Singapore. We had a plane that was fitted with the new economy class seats and it was quite a joy to fly in! The seat was basically what Emirates has on its planes already but this seats are actually new in the Cathay fleet. We had a big touchscreen system that was really snappy and clear and had complete seasons of our favourite shows (Big Bang Theory for me)! The seat also has a USB port to plug your iPod in and probably can also charge your phone. It was one of the more enjoyable flights I had on tour.
When we were in Singapore, I didn't actually get to bring many of my orchestra friends out for food. However, I did manage to get the double reed players in the orchestra as well as bassoon coach Giorgio Versiglia to meet some local players for lunch. I was very surprised by the fact that many of the members actually went for steamboat meals here in Singapore. It was something I did not expect because to me, steamboat is not exactly a very Singaporean dish! It did kinda make me regret not having brought them to places for more Singaporean touristy food.
Having performed in many halls around Asia by the end of the tour, I realise Esplanade's concert hall is very reverberant and it wasn't the easiest hall to play in. There was a very interesting happening backstage when Gabriel (son of soloist, Steven Isserlis) attached a GoPro to Laurel's slide for rehearsal to capture some footage for the documentary he is making about the tour. Here's a picture
To be honest, the concerts in Singapore didn't go so well. It was really quite below the standards people expect of the orchestra. It was just a shame we didn't do well. So our wakeup call on the day of departing Singapore was 0445 and to most of us, the logical thing would be to not sleep at all which is what I did! After a meal, I stayed up in my room to watch videos. So after 1.5 hours or so, it was actually time to leave!
China (15 - 18 Aug)
Having not slept the night before, it was a horrible ride on the plane to Hong Kong. Being someone who can't actually sleep well on the plane, it was quite torturous. When we got to our buses to China, it was so much more comfortable with the extra space and less noise. I did manage to catch some shut-eye. Our flight left Singapore at 0800 and we arrived at the hotel at 2030 or so. It was really a tough day of travelling. The one consolation was that we were booked at the Hilton hotel in Zhongshan and it was a fantastic hotel with a great room! It was very comfortable and felt really luxurious and it was the kind of comfort we all craved for at the end of a long day of travel.
The concert halls in China were both theatres with big seating capacities so acoustics were not really in our favour already. Although the sound boards that they installed for our concerts probably helped project the orchestra's sound into the huge space, it didn't really help us much on stage. It was quite hard to hear sections that are far away from us and because of the dry nature of the halls, most of us were playing louder than usual which worsens the hearing situation. Also, the audience in China were pretty noisy when we were playing. All in all, it didn't make for enjoyable concerts in China.
I thought Zhongshan was a really clean city given that I was in China. It felt like a recently developed area which probably is the reason why the city is relatively clean and quiet. Dongguan on the other hand, wasn't quite so and when we got to the hotel, we were warned to look out for petty thieves when we leave the hotel. However, it was in the hotel in Dongguan that I managed to access Facebook without a VPN! Surprisingly the hotel's WiFi could allow us to connect to Facebook. Overall, it was a slightly less than average experience for my first time in China. Maybe next time I'll get better ones especially if I visit the bigger cities like Shanghai or Beijing. On the morning of 20 Aug, we boarded the buses back to Hong Kong for our flight to Taipei.
Taipei (18 - 21 Aug)
We arrived in Taipei in the evening and once checked-in at the hotel, went straight for the night markets for dinner. From the moment I left Taoyuan airport, I had a feeling I will enjoy my stay in Taipei and I really did. I went with the group that went to Ningxia market. Although I did not go to the famous Shilin market, I did get a good idea of the night market life in Taipei. The food in the market was really interesting and inexpensive as well! I can't exactly remember what I ate but I do remember I enjoyed the food there. Here are some pictures from the market:
The nice thing about being in Taipei with AYO is that we have 25 Taiwanese with us in the orchestra and all very keen to bring us visitors around. After the trip to the market, a local took us up in his car to Yangming shan. Although it was late at night and we couldn't see what the mountain actually looked like, we had a great time looking at the city lights from the top and I saw a shooting star for the first time as well! Having gone back to the hotel late, I actually overslept and woke up the next day at about 1pm and missed the chance to do more sightseeing with the others. After a quick lunch, I boarded the bus to the concert hall.
Taipei's National Concert Hall is a really nice place to look at and be in. It doesn't even look like a concert hall from the outside:
Inside, the hall is big with a spacious stage and acoustics similar to Esplanade's. An acoustic like the one in this hall really made the orchestra play with a much better sound than it has before and I felt we gave our best concerts so far. Sibelius in particular was quite a joy. The audience in Taipei were really supportive and enthusiastic as well and that helped motivate the orchestra even more to give good concerts and Mr. Isserlis also felt the support and gave six encores in all.
On the day of our departure from Taipei, a typhoon was inbound and we were all wondering if we will make it out of Taipei and if we do, will we make it to Hong Kong safely? We checked Cathay's website and our flight was delayed about two hours and all other Cathay flights arriving and departing from Taipei after ours were cancelled. In hindsight, this was probably to push passengers from later flights to ours before the airport closes and cause flight cancellations. Fortunately, we made it out of Taipei safely and landed in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong (21 - 25 Aug)
Back in familiar Hong Kong. After having spent three weeks here for rehearsals, it did feel a bit boring to be back here in fast-paced, hustling and bustling Hong Kong. This time however, we stayed at the Wan Chai area, which is much closer to the central and shopping districts. In fact, had we stayed in this hotel, The Harbourview, during the rehearsal period, we wouldn't have needed to make the daily 20-minute train ride from Chai Wan to Wan Chai and back! The hotel is right next to the APA! Anyway, on the night our arrival, our concert master brought us to this fantastic Japanese Yakiniku restaurant, Iroha, in Tsim Sha Tsui. We had a really good meal there and it was the first time I unknowingly tried food like cow's tongue and the sort.
The next day, AYO held a concert dedicated to disadvantaged children and it was the same format as the mini concert we had at the APA during our rehearsal period. It was a good time for us to test the hall as well. The Hong Kong Cultural Centre's hall is different from the other halls that we performed in. The stage is really in the centre of the hall with seating 360 degrees around the stage. This did make the hall slightly drier compared to other halls as there are less panels pushing the sound forward. As a result, this made the brass section sound quite muted from the front of the audience. It was something the brass players overcompensated for during the concerts and I believe we could have handled the situation better.
On the morning of 25 Aug, we left our hotel early in the morning as we always do but with lots of excitement as we head to our final country on our tour, Japan! It was a very exciting time for me as it was my first time to Japan and we would be spending a whole week there. At 1010 in the morning, our flight left Hong Kong for Osaka.
Osaka (25 - 26 Aug)
It was really exciting to be coming to Japan for the very first time in my life and it really didn't disappoint. From the moment I landed, I could see and feel the cleanliness, the food, the great service and the wonderful people of Japan. Once the orchestra checked in to the Hilton Osaka, I went straight to the Dolce Musical Instrument shop to try out some instruments. The bass trombones that had there were a Haag and a Throja. The Haag played very much like my own instrument but the Throja they had really impressed me.
This particular combination had a nickel silver bell and had great clarity and projection in the sound and it was quite easy to play. This has made me consider going to the Throja factory in Berlin if given the chance.
It really felt like a very short time in Osaka though. We flew in one day and we were leaving the next. After a one night stay, we checked out of the hotel, had lunch and took the subway to NHK Osaka Hall. We played a really nice concert there which had a similar interior as the National Concert Hall in Taipei. It meant we could let the hall do some of the projecting for us and we could play with our very best sound. In the end, it really came out very well during the concert and it was very satisfying.
After the concert, we packed up and prepared for our overnight trip by coach to Kamakura.
Kamakura (26 - 29 Aug)
The overnight bus ride wasn't too bad. I did manage to get some rest despite not being able to lie down. I woke up to find that we reached the morning rest stop. It seemed to be one somewhere high in the hills so it was quite cold despite being in summer. Apparently I did see Mt. Fuji along the way; however it was just a silhouette because we were so far away. Nevertheless, we arrived in Kamakura at about 9am and went for our sightseeing tour in this historic city.
Kamakura used to be the capital of Japan, way back during the times of the samurai. As a result, there are many temples in the area and we visited one with a big bronze Buddha statue. Although it used to be the capital of Japan, it is nowhere near the size and complexity of the urban city that we know of, such as Tokyo. After that we went to the Kamakura Geijutsukan, the concert hall in Kamakura, for our lunch and the meetup with our host families. AYO had very nicely organised home stays for us and it was a really great experience living with a Japanese family for two nights. My family was the Watanabe family and they have 5 children!! They felt really like a modern family that likes to have outings and basically live a more modern lifestyle compared to what other orchestra members experienced. For example, where most Japanese (I believe) have their meals at home on low tables and kneel on tatami mats, my host family has a normal table with benches and there aren't many rooms with the traditional sliding doors (only their master bedroom has). They also can speak English really well! After meeting up, my host family actually brought us on a trip to downtown Tokyo for an Onsen bath (which was great!) and shopping as well.
The next day was the concert in the Kamakura Geijutsukan. This concert is really very nicely designed and maintained despite being a smaller city! The acoustics were really nice and the orchestra did fit in very comfortably.
After the afternoon concert, my host family brought me to have really awesome 100 yen sushi followed by a trip to Yokohama where we had some fun at the theme park. I had a really great time and I'm really grateful that they brought me to other places in Japan given my short time here.
The next day, the orchestra is due to leave for Tokyo and so it was time to part ways with our host families who have all been very hospitable and took very good care of us whilst we stayed with them. After a farewell ceremony, we walked to the train station to catch our train to Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Tokyo (29 - 31 Aug)
Our last stop on tour and it starts off with a train ride into the busiest part of Tokyo where we will be staying and performing, Shinjuku. Shinjuku station was huge and it took some time for us to navigate to the correct exit and make our way to the hotel. Again, we stayed at a Hilton and after checking in, we went to look for some ramen to eat and we did find a shop which does sell really good ramen!
After lunch, the orchestra walked to Tokyo Opera City for our rehearsal. The concert hall is really spectacular with a pyramid-shaped interior and the acoustics were really nice to work with. Again, the orchestra felt very comfortable in this setting and we played some of our best music here.
The concerts in Tokyo were really successful and with the final chord of our encore, Nimrod from Elgar's Enigma Variations, the 2013 AYO tour has come to an end. It was an emotional moment for the orchestra; after having spent three weeks preparing two concert programs and another three performing them on tour, it was time to part ways. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with this amazing group of musicians and also for the opportunity to travel to many major cities in Asia for the first time. Working with the low brass section wasn't that easy to be honest but eventually we did learn how to fit into each other's playing and make our parts work as best as possible. I am thankful for all the experience and knowledge gained during this six weeks.
And so with that, we had our final dinner at the hotel, took lots of pictures and waited for morning to come and take the buses to Narita airport for our flights home. My AYO journey is done.
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