LA Phil Plays Paris’ Pleyel

Et maintenant, Paris. For me, the centerpiece of our tour. No city has the heart, the culture, the magic. It is a place where locals say “Bon appetit” to strangers, where a stare turns into a head-turn, where a smile turns into a wink.

LA Phil Loves Luzern

  And now, we travel to Switzerland! We boarded our chartered jet and made the quick 1 hour hop to Zurich where we bussed to our second stop on tour, Luzern. Pulling in around dusk, the city was shrouded in clouds:     The next morning it was recommended that I take the gondola up the face of Mount Pilatus, a 6,982 foot mountain with easy access from within the city.

LA Phil Lands in London

    After a 10.5 hour flight from LAX to London Heathrow, the remainder of the Philharmonic contingent arrived and settled in. The Green Umbrella group had flown in a few days before, and the Gospel According to the Other Mary a couple days preceding those of us playing the Zipangu/Firebird/La Mer program.

Peter Gabriel meets Kinshasa

Today, a group of translators and sixteen members of the Kinshasa Symphony wound their way up the Pacific Coast to rehearse and record “In Your Eyes” with Peter Gabriel, culminating in a benefit to raise funds to bring the entire group (almost 200 musicians strong!) back to the U.S.