Elgar and Sports in San Diego

The last few days have been a reminder to me why I love so much what I am doing: to play a beautiful piece with an enthusiast orchestra and a very fine conductor while having time to do some outdoor activity and making new friends - what else could one want from life?

Playing the Elgar Concerto is always a great joy, since it is gorgeous music but not as difficult and complicated as most other concertos. And how glad I was to find out that the San Diego Symphony is not only one of the better orchestras in the country, but also incredibly friendly, almost has a youth-orchestra-vibe to it. The conductor Jiajia Ling was an absolute delight to work with and I must admit I had five very memorable days here.

But it wasn't only about music - after the first rehearsal I asked the concertmaster Jeff Thayer if he knew where I could play some tennis, and he recommended his fiancee as a sparring partner. It felt amazing to play in the middle of winter on an outside court under the Californian sun two hours of intense tennis, somehow very inspiring to play Elgar a couple of hours later :)

And yesterday, on Sunday with a matinee at 2 pm, Jeff took me along to a soccer match, which couldn't have been more fun. Oops, I think I'll continue this tomorrow, now I have to catch the car which is supposed to bring me to the airport - back to Europe for a recital with Steven Osborne in Jersey (Channel Islands...)