Artistic Cremona

Cremona, Italy, is famous for violin-making.  There are over 200 shops in Cremona that make and repair violins.  It all started here with Andrea Amati in the 15th century and progressed through to Antonio Stradivari who perfected the craft in the 1700s.

Our orchestra did a tour of the Violin Museum (Museo del Violino)



We went through how they were made, what trees were used (and still used today), etc.


Before we started the museum tour, we had a demonstration on a 1757 violin in this room


by a very talented player.  They house the original Amati and Stradivari violins here (among others).  Only worth in the millions of euros.

After the museum, we all had lunch together at the Ristorante Hotel Duomo.  Very nice spot, and had a 4-course meal - just lunch.  Then we headed back to our hotel to pick up our instruments for a rehearsal at our concert site.

Since it’s raining today (mostly sprinkling), we couldn’t rehearse and play in the original spot - an open forum within an old building.  But the archway in front is large enough to hold us all, plus an audience.  So that’s how we set up.  We were hoping the pigeons sitting on that bar up high were not directly over Dan!  They weren’t.


The rehearsal went well, so we were all set for the concert (as soon as I recharge my stand light!  It will be dark.  It is the first performance in the 2024 Summer Music Festival in Cremona.

I took a couple of pictures on the way back to the hotel to get changed.  This inside the Duomo (across the square).


And this at the side of the church.


So our last stint of the day was our concert.  Here’s a copy of the face of the program.


And Caroline Déry singing

And Dan Warren conducting.


It went really well and when it was done, the audience INSISTED on an encore - they wouldn’t give up!  They really appreciated the music.  So nice to see.

Oh, by the way, remember I talked about the pigeon sitting on the pipe overhead - and not wanting it to ‘drop’ on Dan - well, there was another pipe above the orchestra and that’s exactly what happened on a Viola player!  Eeewwww.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 24, 2024 at 10:50 PM

    Yes, it was an excellent night of Canadian diplomacy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 24, 2024 at 10:58 PM

    Wow, everything looks great, enjoy! Dan and Joanne

    ReplyDelete

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