Monday half over

Hello
It has been a good day so far. I got a wonderful night's sleep last night so I feel very refreshed after the long weekend. I got up and had a light breakfast this morning. Ate too much this weekend. Walked to rehearsal around 930 and had a coffee before it started. Had a chamber music rehearsal from 1030-1145. It is so nice of the players to volunteer their time like they are. Got through 2 of the pieces all the way and I think they are just about ready. Only did two movements of the Gounod as I really needed to get to the Haydn. Only got one movement of the Haydn done. they agreed to come in at 10am on thursday to rehearse again as the concert is Thursday night. It will be fine. I trust them as players.

The full rehearsal went ok today as well. Diana Barboza is going to sing the US National Anthem and the Paraguayan National Anthem with the orchestra on the concert, so she was there today. Sounded great. then we started into the Copland. Hoedown really sounds pretty good. no major issues. Just consistency. Corral Nocturne also went pretty well. Then there is Buckaroo Holiday. It is just darn hard and we are really struggling with it. Alot of counting and unison lines to tune up. this piece is much harder than it looks or sounds.

After break and I had to actually come back to buckaroo again as I did not get it all done. then we did Jim's concerto and it is really starting to sound cool. I think the players understand it more now as it is a bit contemporary. Candide is still a bit sloppy but I am trying to push them on tempo so it is just hard to play it that fast. October sounded pretty nice with just the strings.

All in all, we are making progress but we now only have 3 rehearsals left so I think the concert will be on the edge. That usually makes for a great performance tho as everyone is on the edge of their seat with full concentration.

Had a couple of empanadas after rehearsal and came back to the room to work on the computer for awhile. Gustavo is picking us up at 640 to go to Maestro dos Santos house for snacks and a visit tonight. Should be a relaxed and easy night. Not sure what tomorrow holds just yet.

Will probably blog again tonight. Pics are of the various players in the orchestra.

Ciao, Ciao