The DR Symphony Orchestra's major overseas tour for 2018 has now started. The orchestra flew from Kastrup in two different aeroplanes on Monday morning, and fortunately all people and instruments made it. However, one musician unfortunately had to cancel due to serious illness in the family. Visa rules for China are strict, so there was no possibility of a replacement, and therefore the first violins will only be 15 on this tour.
I was the last one to fly. My flight had a stopover in Doha Qartar, where I spent a few hours between midnight and 2am with hundreds of tired, worn-out Chinese workers heading back to China. I had forgotten to punch my Mastercard for the Middle East, so at 1.05am a friendly employee from Danske Bank called to confirm that I had just bought a soft drink and a sandwich at xxxx bar at Doha airport. After confirming this, the friendly lady opened my card - which I politely thanked her for. Service really does go hand in hand with Big Brother Watching.
Now I'm sitting in the beautiful hall of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Luisi is on the podium and Richard Strauss’ Don Juans expressive opening is spot on. It's a beautiful, warm and melodious concert hall. There is a People's Congress in Beijing these days, so the city is on edge. Security is tight and virtually all agreements with the Chinese organisers are changed or cancelled.
Travelling with 106 musicians and production people, instruments and sheet music is a huge machine that takes years to prepare. I was already here in October 2015, together with Fabio Luisi, to make the overall agreement with the Chinese organiser, Stephanie Chang.
As I write, the orchestra is playing the slow side theme in Don Juan, and the orchestra sounds marvellous. I've heard that you should be careful packing really good red wine in your suitcase when travelling long distances, as it can lose some of its sparkle. Fortunately, the same doesn't happen with the orchestra's master instruments. Luisi stops and tells the strings to slow down, enjoy the hall, think about more sound. They are like racehorses that have been in the stable for a long time and can feel that the race is about to start. They want to get out on the track and draw energy. Luisi knows this very well, his good vibes spread like wildfire. We are here to give the Chinese audience the joy of playing, the sound and the magic that the orchestra is so well known and loved for.
Since 2015, people both in China and in the DR Symphony Orchestra's administration, led by Gordon Alsing, have been working hard to make everything fall into place. A very nice tour has been put together. We're visiting the biggest Chinese cities, we're playing the biggest concert halls, and we're bringing a beautiful and slightly unusual programme. Carl Nielsen's 5th Symphony, a masterpiece in its originality, its Danish character and its foresight, makes me proud. We only play in cities with more than 10 million inhabitants, and we come from a tiny Nordic country ourselves - but we are presenting something unique and Danish in Western culture. And we do it with the orchestra in the world that can and has its Nielsen so deep in its roots.
On the podium, Maestro Luisi has asked the orchestra to perform the overture to Wagner's The Flying Dutchman Forward. The opera conductor of a lifetime does not deny himself. The overture was performed in Copenhagen a week ago, so it doesn't require much rehearsal time.
Soon the rehearsal will be over and we'll be heading back through the crowds, home and get some rest before the concert tonight.
My first paragraph in the Chinese diary is written, commissioned by the tireless chairman of the Friends Association, Mogens Rubinstein. ‘Can't you write a little every day, take some pictures and send them home. It will make our loyal friends happy’. Mogens said at the last board meeting - and that's something you don't ignore. The tour has begun, the premiere is tonight, and the first episode has been delivered, with the next episode to follow.
We are still awaiting pictures from the Symphony Orchestra's trip and will add them to the stories as soon as they arrive.