Austria: The Final Chapter

Evening in Linz on Friday June 29th

Mnozil Brass. I can't even explain.

All I can really say is that it was amazing. There were no other words to describe it. Everything was so, perfect. World class music. 

The next day, we walked to the grocery store to buy some water and snacks to get us through the last day of the conference. There was a lot to see and do this day so we planned our meals sparingly.

yeah, it was an Aldi's

The views here are so phenomenal 

There was a festival and you could ride ponies. I almost died.

Then we went to see Oystein Baadsvik. It was easily my favorite concert of the whole conference. He had a whole recital of tuba solo music with piano and string orchestra. It sounded so cool.

We then headed over to the smaller hall to watch studio member Donte Ford participate in a jazz improv masterclass with jazz tuba player, Marty Erickson.

The final concert featured the Brass Band of Upper Austria. And MAN can these guys rip.

We were treated to a very special performance by jazz tuba soloist, Jon Sass accompanied by alphorn. It was truly unbelievable what music they were making. It was a funky jazzy improv jam. So cool. I will post a video when I get back to the states.

So after that amazing concert, we went home and stayed up all night. We had to catch out first train at 4:08. So we decided just to stay up so we could sleep on the plane.

This picture summarizes the joys of traveling with tubas. We are quite the spectacle when we make our way through any public place. 

This trip has been something that I'll never forget. I had such a blast with a group of friends. Thanks for living along with me this past week! I am currently sitting in the Vienna airport ready to pass out. So I'm going to do that. See you all soon!

Drew

Austria part 4

We woke up early on Wednesday morning to go see euphonium artist Fernando Deddos. He won the ITEC Composition Competition in 2010. He writes really cool Latin Funk music. He also studies in Pittsburgh. So maybe we will be able to get him to come to Penn State for a performance. 

We had a lunchtime concert in the foyer on Wednesday. It went well and a lot of big people in the Tuba/Euphonium world saw us play.

After our concert we went to Ms Brown's recital. We had a white out in the front row.

Her concert was really interesting. It incorporated percussion and dance.

After the day was over we walked around Linz and found a really great restaurant. 

Thursday morning I awoke to the sounds of a huge lawn mower cutting the jungle outside of our hotel. Not the best alarm. 

 We went to see a fantastic Euphonium soloist, Demondrae Thurman. He was awesome. 

 That night we went to watch the Italy vs Germany soccer game at a cafe in the Square. Ryan was clearly very excited. 

 We also touched based with the locals a little bit. He photo-bombed hardcore.

 Italy won. Yay! Drinks all around.

Today we woke up and went to a quick recital and then took a train up to the big hill surrounding Linz. These pictures can speak for themselves. 

 This church was amazing.

 Looking up from the city to the church at the top.

So tonight we are attending a concert given by Mnozil Brass. A 7 member brass ensemble that is world famous. They are unbelievable.

So I will write about tonight and our last day while on the train to Vienna at 4:40 am Sunday morning. joy of my life. See you then!