Before bussing out to Salzburg, we stopped at the Musikverein and the Zentralfriedhof.  In the Musikverein or “Society of Music Lovers,” we saw many concert and rehearsal halls along with busts of famous composers and conductors who had worked there.  We also saw the hall where the Vienna New Year’s Eve concert was held.  At the Zentralfriedhof, we saw the graves of such great composers at Brahms, Beethoven, Strauss, and many others.  This was a very unique experience and we all enjoyed this excursion.  Upon leaving, we loaded the busses for Salzburg with a quick stop in Lin – the hometown of Franz Welser-Most.  Linz was a very nice and quaint city.  We only had enough time to eat and chat a bit, but still liked being there for the time.  Once finally in Salzburg, we unpacked at the hotel and headed out for dinner.  This restaurant was in a very beautiful area and I enjoyed the scenic walk we took to get there.

Today was mostly a travel day and relatively uneventful, but it was relaxing and fun, as well.  We all had time to rest and are now prepared for our next and final concert of our tour tomorrow in the Mozarteum!

Emily Rees, trombone

Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Welser Most says Cleveland sound resounds even in Austrian churches
The music director of the Cleveland Orchestra praises the work of its youth
by WKSU's VIVIAN GOODMAN
This story is part of a special series.

http://www.wksu.org/news/feature/coyo2012/32094

A 13th century Gothic church in the heart of Vienna, Austria, reverberated with the passionate playing last night of the Cleveland Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra. There was Brahms, Elgar, Wagner, Dvorak and a special guest.
WKSU’s Vivian Goodman brings us more from Vienna.

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Pride and parents join Cleveland's youth orchestra trip
Vienna and Cleveland make beautiiful music togther
by WKSU's VIVIAN GOODMAN
This story is part of a special series.

http://www.wksu.org/news/feature/coyo2012/32119

Augie Napoli says his son's music is a labor of love, nurtured by the European tour.
Parents have accompanied many of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra musicians to Europe and they are thrilled at the success so far of the tour.

As it wraps up Wednesday night in Salzburg, WKSU’s Vivian Goodman spoke with one proud dad
That’s Vivian Goodman with Augie Napoli. His son Gabriel August Napoli is 17 and will be a senior next fall at Hawken School in Gates Mills

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Today was so much fun!  The first thing we did after leaving the hotel was going to the Vienna State Opera to do a tour.  Not only that, but upon the close of the tour, we had a personal Q & A session with Franz Welser-Most.  He spoke to us about his experiences here compared to those in Cleveland.  Some of the detailed process of putting together and opera and even told us a few stories of different conducting experiences he has had.  It was great to see him putting in so much time and effort for our orchestra.  The whole tour however was quite amazing – Severance is a beautiful hall, but if anything can make it look shabby it would be this opera house.  After our nice chat with Franz, we headed off to lunch.  My friends and I really just ate dessert and some bread, after all we had shopping to do and only an hour to do it!  We explored some tourist stores, but then found a nice shopping center and pretty much had a field day with that.  There were even sales!  Our shopping fun eventually came to an end, but then we ventured over to the Minoritenkirche for rehearsal.  It was so different playing in a church and though it was very difficult, all of us benefited from the experience.  As musicians, we need to be able to adapt to any new situation we may face and this showed us how hard that could be.  We  fine tuned some parts of our repertoire, but mostly just became familiar with the church’s affect on our playing.

We had dinner at a nice restaurant where they served three delicious courses – soup, meat & potatoes (the vegetarian meal was some green thing with cheese, but it was really quite tasty), and some sort of yogurt for dessert.  Then it was concert time and we had some pressure as Mr. Welser-Most was in attendance.  We were all nervous, but I’ve learned that you can’t always control nerves and you simply have to control the reaction rather than the emotion, so on we went with the concert and it went very well.  Franz seemed to enjoy it as well as locals and other US citizens stopping by.  The church made certain themes bleed together a little bit, but overall, we were all very pleased.  After this, I actually went out with my parents again, and we went to an outdoor bar/grill and watched the Spain/Croatia soccer game; it was such a fun environment!  Then I went back to the hotel, and we’re all now getting ready for bed and tomorrow’s bus ride to Salzburg!  It’s sad this is the last stop on tour – it’s gone by so quickly and I’ve had so much fun – but it will be such a great city with brilliant musical history, and I’m really looking forward to it!

Emily Rees, trombone

In other words, hello from Vienna! We just finished our concert in the Minoritenkirche after an amazing day of sightseeing in the city. Today, we enjoyed an incredible bus tour of a wide variety of places throughout the city. It was a truly extraordinary experience to have the opportunity to view places like the Imperial Palace, Vienna Parliament and many other historical areas within the city. However, the most astonishing visit we made was to the Wien Staatsoper, where we thoroughly enjoyed a guided tour. Not only were we able to experience the immaculate Staatsoper during the tour, but COYO had the opportunity to have a question and answer period with Franz-Welser Möst.

Unfortunately, COYO only has one more concert in Europe, but tomorrow we will be attending a tour of the Musikverein before heading to Salzburg. My peers and I have been gaining a vast amount of knowledge about the history and cultures that are intertwined within each of these cities. It is truly an amazing opportunity to view all of the magnificent pieces of history, culture and architecture in these cities. Although this is true, the most exquisite piece of this tour is simply from the music my peers and I have been able to create together.

One example of the non-music related culture I am referring to comes from the restaurant where COYO ate dinner this evening. A 400 year-old wine cellar, the Melker StiffskellerI provided a very memorable dining space with its unique and creative architecture, food and overall style of the atmosphere. Beginning with the antique bricks covered in ivy, restaurant-goers walk down a staircase to the basement of the building where the Melker Stiffskeller is located. Then, once inside, restaurant employees dressed in period clothing provide courses to diners. The overall tone, environment, and character of the entire restaurant is extremely genuine and authentic, providing an unusually artistic dining experience.

In the final days of our tour, we will be visiting many intriguing sites in Salzburg, while preparing for our last COYO concert of the tour. I am looking forward to informing readers of the poignant experience my peers and I have been given. This is a truly phenomenal opportunity and I feel unbelievably blessed to call myself a member of such a tremendous organization.

Talk to you soon,

Ryan Kearns, violin

This morning we had an early start as we headed off to Vienna.  We had a 6-hour bus ride ahead of us – we drove for about three, then stopped and drove for three more.  We stopped in a great Czech city for lunch; there were Medieval castles and beautiful architecture.  The city was constructed on a hill, providing for amazing scenery of both nature and all the narrow, windy streets.  We split off into small groups and had time for lunch and exploring.  My group went to a small restaurant with great sandwiches for a really cheap price.  Our waiter was hilarious – he had an accent of sort of Czech and sort of Irish and he kept calling us “lads” and “lasses.”  He was really fun and we ended up getting a picture with him to remember the fun excursion.  We shortly loaded the buses and continued on our journey to Vienna.  We ate dinner upon arriving and while the rest of the group went to the Swedish Square, I met up with my parents (who have been in Venice and came to Vienna for the concert) and we went out to a nice coffee shop.  Now we’re all trying to get to prepare for our day tomorrow; Franz Welser-Most is coming to our concert and he’s giving us a tour of the Vienna State Opera in the morning followed by a Q & A session.  I’m looking forward to another wonderful concert!

Emily Rees, trombone

Yesterday was a lovely day! We started out by getting to sleep in a little bit later, which was nice because after the concert on Friday night, the energy was off the walls. We started out by walking to a castle and taking a guided tour. The history was interesting to learn about, and the scenery and view from the castle windows was absolutely gorgeous.  The heat was blithering though, it was easily in the 90s. After attempting to cool off on the hour long bus ride back to town, we all got a chance to walk around the town in small groups to grab some lunch and do some souvenir shopping.  I had the best crepe I’ve ever had, and my group of friends all grabbed some walked traditional Czech sausage. We then walked through the winding streets of Prague, seeing everything ranging from romantic couples and wedding parties to Czech dancers and even a few gypsies. After finding some fun things in souvenir shops, we went back to the hotel to get prettied up for the dinner boat cruise. Looking our finest, COYO ate a fancy dinner on the Vltava river, and afterwards everyone took pictures and sat on the top of the boat as the Prague city lights glowed and as the sun parted with the sky. It was really fun to be with everyone in such a beautiful place, making wonderful memories.

Today was a day filled with travel. We woke up nice and early to pack our suitcases and to head to Vienna, which is a six hour drive. I’m currently sitting on the bus right now, and we’re almost there, but the day has been filled with fun despite the brooding  travel.

We stopped at this small town on the border of the Czech Republic…. I can’t pronounce or remember the correct name, but it was absolutely gorgeous. We ate at a little café, and the town was just filled with amazing  architecture from as early as the 12th century. We also stopped at an Austrian  gas station/rest stop, where everyone loaded up on German chocolate. I had my very first Kinder egg, which Mr. Feddeck actually recommended to get. It’s a chocolate egg that’s hollow inside with a small toy. While everyone chomped on some German chocolate, Mr. Feddeck came to the back of the bus to answer some questions that some members wrote on the back of a Mad Libs sheet. It was really nice to pass some of the time on the bus by taking part in this Q&A session. We found out what Mr. Feddeck’s lucky charm is along with some other tid bits of information. He also gave some really good advice in regards to musicianship and life in general.

We’ll be arriving to Vienna shortly, where we’ll get out and walk around the Zentralfriedhof, where we’ll see the graves of many composers.

Lily Pollack, flute