I always forget what an amazing city Amsterdam is. I arrived last night after rehearsing all afternoon in Hannover the two remaining Reger Sonatas, and now I am just amazed by the beauty and the life of this city.This morning I went to the rehearsal venue of the Nederland Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom I’ll have a pleasure to do another Sinfonia Concertante in the Concertgebouw on Monday and Tuesday, and now I am sitting somewhere on the streets of Amsterdam and enjoying all these people on the street, all these restaurants, coffee shops, museums, fancy and normal stores – who hasn’t been here, has to come visit, really exciting and charming at the same time.
And the Dutch people are so laid back. They all speak at least English, and they are so good natured – maybe it has to do with the fact that they are all driving their bikes instead of cars? Haven’t seen a traffic jam yet, just tons of bikes, and the tram which I took “to work” was full with tourists and locals. Very nice mix.
Rehearsal went fine, I didn’t feel great, rather tired, but happy to see my friend Carlos Kalmar again, great conductor, very unorthodox, some orchestras love him, some don’t get him at all, very interesting 🙂
Will give a lesson now to a young, gifted Dutch cellist, then practice, and then hopefully some fun tonight…