Back to Vienna

Been back in Vienna feels great! I am happy that we had the chance to go back and really get a chance to do our own thing since we have already been to the city once before. Vienna is probably my second favorite city of this trip. It is easy getting places and there is just so much to see. Even though we are here for a second time I don't think you can see everything that the city has to offer.

The second to last concert we had was the Vienna Symphoniker Orchestra which was just was amazing. The program included Mendelssohn's Ouvertüre,, Die Hebriden, op 26 which was just amazing. I fell in love with the piece with in the first few measures. The program also included his Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 2 which again was just absolutely killer. The pianist was amazing she kept my attention throughout the who piece which for me is a hard thing to do when listing to a piano play. Also, the horn section was just immaculate. The last piece on the program was Dvorák's Symphonie Nr. 7 d-Moll, op 70 which was the first piece of Dvoráks that I have ever heard and I really enjoyed the piece you could feel every musical moment and all the emotion behind the phrases in the piece. The conductor for that night was Enrique Mazzola who was absolutely amazing his style, emotion, and his understanding of the music was just phenomenal. I was just so impressed that I again had to stick around after the concert just to be able to meet him and tell him to thank you for such an amazing experience. So, after the concert, Frank and I work our way backstage where we got to meet and speak to him. He told us that he was just appointed the director of the Chicago opera and that if we were ever into to send him a message and let him know. He truly was an amazing human. 

The program from the Vienna Symphoniker Orchestra 

Frank and I together with Enrique Mazzola 

The last program we go to see was Otello which I am still not really sure how I feel about it I enjoyed it a lot but I am not sure that it was one of my favorite performances that we went to. That might just have to do with the fact that the people that sat around us were kind of rude during the performance so it was hard staying engaged for the program. The people around us kept coughing in the open air without covering their mouths, kept keeping in the middle of the opera and were also on their phones. One person went as far as to even take out there phone and take a flash photographic photo in a dark opera house. Overall though it was nice to see another setting of an opera that was more serious based the comedic based. 

                                   

For our last free time in Vienna Frank and I went into an underground chapel that is right next to St Stephen's cathedral which was cool to go to but was kinda small and would have been cooler if the had more information about the actual chapel. After that, we went and bought souvenirs to bring back to the US. I do have to say that I never thought I would ever spend over €100 on chocolate but I did lol. The last few hours of our last night we spent going out and having a few beers and smoking a cigar and speaking with a group of Norwegians that we meet. Vienna has again been a wonderful home of the last few days and its hard to believe that the trip is over and that we have to head back to the States. I can not believe how much I have learned and how much more I appreciate music thanks to this trip. I feel that the amount of knowledge I learned here in 27 days is a lot more then what I learned in a semester worth of Music in Historical Context 1. Thank you so much to Dr. Powell and Dr. Brown for all of their hard work and especially for the great memories that they helped me build in this once in a lifetime opportunity.  Until we meet again Vienna ❤️🎶