Monday May 23: Tianjin:
We were able to sleep in and have a morning off today. Then at noon we got into the buses and drove 3 hours to Tianjin. We had heard there were lots of steps and no real elevator, so we were dreading loading in and out. The staff had gone earlier in the morning though, so when we got there all our gear was already off the truck and backstage. So we unpacked and set up. The hall was beautiful, comfortable, and there was plenty of stage space.
After rehearsal we had dinner. We were told it was McDonalds. Last time we had McDonalds it was in the spicy province and it was super spicy, tasty, but spicy. So when we heard about dinner, half the group left to find something else. However, it wasn’t McDonalds, it was rice, cabbage, and steak. And there was a lot left over, so I had two. The steak was good and hit the spot.
The concert started at 7:30 and went great. The beginning itself was quite different. One of the students didn’t know we were starting and walked out late. We had all sat down and finished tuning and were waiting for the conductor. We waited for about a minute and no one knew what was happening. Then the opposite door opened and the audience started clapping as our contrabassoonist walked out. Ryan walked to his seat at the front of the stage, but before he sat down he gave a little bow. We laughed and when the audience realized he was not the conductor or soloist they laughed as well. The hall was not packed, but about 90% full and the audience was great. They clapped loudly after every piece, cheered after most of them, and did not talk. It was so nice to be able to hear the band perform without a constant babble from the audience. They loved “Lost Vegas” and Xiang Gao’s “Two Jades” and encore. We then did the Chen Yi and Star Wars. Everyone loved the Star Wars. There was one guy sitting in the very front row that was conducting and mouthing every not we played. We only did three encores at the end of the program, but they loved them all, clapped loudly, and cheered a lot.
Striking the stage only took 20 minutes, but because we had to take everything slowly down the lift and down 15 stairs, it took a while to load the truck. We pushed off at 10:30 and got back to our hotel by 1:00.
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