Our First Little Hitch

Nearly three days after departing from Philadelphia, the orchestra has performed its first concert here in Santa Cruz, Tenerife. While the orchestra’s travel here went very smoothly, one key member of our tour was not so lucky. After months of meticulous planning, no one can anticipate every possible contingency of touring.

Upon the orchestra’s arrival in Tenerife on Tuesday afternoon, we learned that our soloist, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, was going to be delayed and would not arrive in time for his rehearsal here on Thursday morning. His flight was cancelled as a result of a 24-hour airport strike in his home country of Greece. The air traffic controllers were walking out in solidarity for farm workers. Anyone see that one coming?

So, after months of careful planning, we had to act quickly to restructure the tight rehearsal schedule on tour. This required numerous phone calls to Maestro Eschenbach (who was still in the States at the time), to Leonidas Kavakos (who was stuck in Greece) and to managers and presenters between London, New York and the Canaries. And after conferring closely with the musicians, we came up with a solution to have the programs fully rehearsed and prepared.

Kavakos has now safely arrived in Tenerife and will perform his first scheduled concert Friday evening. We all feel better knowing he’s finally here. Of course, in the back of my mind was the lingering worry about the possibility of that airport strike lasting more than 24 hours and having to find a last-minute replacement for his concert on Friday. Luckily that wasn’t the case.

Now the orchestra has given its first performance to an extremely attentive and appreciative audience here in Tenerife. The orchestra is in fabulous form. Hopefully we’ve cleared our biggest bump in the road.