I was looking through my file of clippings and programs tonight, and happened upon a program for the Super World Orchestra 2000. This was a gig that I got through our then principal cellist Margo Tatgenhorst. Basically, this company in Japan called S.T. Japan (which specializes in organizing tours for visiting foreign orchestras) put out a call for musicians from major orchestras around the world to play two weeks of concerts – one in Osaka, and one in Tokyo. I didn’t really know what I was getting into with this trip – I only knew Margo, and didn’t know her tremendously well at that – and I’d never been to Asia before. I also didn’t know who else was going to be in the orchestra. That was a very pleasant surprise! Bill Preucil was the concertmaster, and the other principals were all solo (principal) players from the Vienna Philharmonic – heady company, indeed!
Here are the two programs that we did (obviously, time constraints weren’t a consideration):
Program A:
Rimsky-Korsakov – Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34
Ravel – Piano Concerto in G major (Yoshihiro Kondo, pianist)
Bross̩ РMillennium Overture
Shostakovich – Tahiti Trot, Op. 16
Shostakovich РSecond Walz from Suite No. 2 for Jazz Orchestra (arr. Bross̩)
Bernstein – Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Ravel – Bolero – choreographed by Roland Petit (Tetsuya Kumakawa, ballet dancer)
Dirk Brossé, conductor
Program B:
Rossini – Overture to Semiramide
Bellini – Casta diva from Norma
Gounod – Ave Maria
Puccini – Vissi d’arte from Tosca
Monti – Csárdás
Massenet – Meditation from Thaïs
Sarasate – Zigeunerweisen
Puccini – O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi
Morricone – Lost Boys Calling from The Legend of 1900
Bizet – Habanera from Carmen
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 4
Jahja Ling, conductor
Filippa Giordano, soprano
Iwao Furusawa, violin
OK – so that’s the skinny – the pianist was the latest sensation in Japan, I’m guessing. The ballet dancer was described to me as the “Barishnikov of Japan” – and the audiences went WILD over this dancing – literally women screaming and rending their garments. Amazing! The soprano was HORRIBLE – one of the Vienna Phil players (who all play in the Vienna State Opera as well as the VPO) bought the latest mini digital voice recorder just to be able to reproduce her screeching for his pals back home.
It was an exhausting two weeks, with about three days of long rehearsals in Osaka followed by two performances, then a trip on the bullet train to Tokyo where we did three performances in the Tokyo International Forum – quite possibly the largest building I’ll ever set foot inside in my life.
The best part of this whole experience was getting to see Japan – a place that I loved visiting and hope to see again someday. The strangest part was getting paid. We were directed to a room in our hotel on the mid-point of the tour. A couple shady looking characters stood around while a vaguely dangerous looking man in a fedora and three piece suite smoked a cigarette on a sofa in the living room of the suite. He had a suitcase of money – a SUITCASE OF MONEY – from which he paid each of us – in Yen, in cash. My first destination the day before we left was a bank which could change the money for US dollars – I went through the five closest branches before I found one that hadn’t been cleaned out of dollars by the US members of the orchestra. Fun day. I felt like a drug dealer coming back into the country with thousands of dollars in cash in crisp $100 bills.
Here are some pages from the program booklet:
