2006 San Francisco Tour

The tour to San Francisco got off to an interesting start as the terminal building at Heathrow was evacuated due to a fire while we waiting to board the plane – three of the NYSA party were separated from the rest but, due to the timely intervention of Anne Wakefield, of NYSA’s housestaff , they were soon escorted by herself and a fireman to join the rest of the party. This was a precursor of things to come as, on our return, we flew into the middle of Heathrow on full alert due to a terrorist threat. We discovered afterwards that, had we left San Francisco any later, we would have been turned back which would have been disastrous. The cellos, carefully wrapped in their ‘blobbies’ went missing temporarily at Heathrow, but otherwise we came out of the whole experience unscathed - many NYSA parents had a very worrying few hours, however.

The concert venues in San Francisco were all special in different ways although my personal favourite was the first one – the wonderful modern architecture displayed in the shape of St Mary’s Cathedral.

NYSA played particularly well at this venue inspired no doubt by some of the beautiful sights around them. There was more excitement to come - during the Shostakovich “Prelude and Scherzo” a local tremor shook the crystal chandelier in the centre of the cathedral. After all the instructions on how to act in case of an earthquake, NYSA members played on without even noticing one was happening under their noses!

The chamber concert at Mission Dolores, one of San Francisco’s oldest buildings gave the San Francisco audience a chance to appreciate what had been achieved in a few days by this partnership of British and American young musicians. The tour finished with a lovely performance at Grace Cathedral where the highlight of the whole programme was the performance of VaughanWilliams’ “Variations on a theme of Thomas Tallis” with massed strings from both sides of the Atlantic. Levon Parikian did a wonderful job, as always. NYSA was then invited to a most enjoyable post-concert reception before returning to the university campus to prepare for the return home.

Link: Youth Music International Festival 2006