On the Road Again

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! It’s been a hectic past few months with four different programs in four cities. I was fortunate enough beforehand to spend a few days with my older daughter Svenja, who is studying in Graz, a college town about 120 miles from Vienna.

I had a wonderful time in Ireland with the Éireann Radio Orchestra, conducting the Chairman Dances by John Adams, Bartok’s Second Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Fifth. I worked with Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, who will be in Portland next season. She is really great. Wonderful presence and fabulous technique.

In Bilbao, Spain, we performed Mahler’s Fourth and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. This is a place to visit, by the way. It’s a very “polished” city, with a lot of interesting architectural structures. The most outstanding is the Guggenheim Museum, which was designed by Frank Gehry—a stunning piece.

As I write this, I’m sitting in Brussels. We just had a dress rehearsal on Mussorgsky, Shostakovich and Beethoven. Nice city, terrible traffic problems, great food and amazing chocolate. If you don’t watch it, you gain weight in a heartbeat!

See you soon,

Carlos