Troldhaugen

Today we checked out of our modest hotel and drove directly to Troldhaugen for a brief rehearsal with the BWQ before our concert there. We had just enough time to visit Grieg's tomb and house before starting the concert at 1PM. The concert was in the afternoon because it is a holiday and many people are off work. We received a very warm reception from the crowd who were especially delighted when we presented our Bergen friends with kukui nut leis before our final piece together. The ovation at the end of the concert lasted over five minutes! While we appreciated the applause we had only one hour to get to the airport for our flight to Oslo. Everything went smoothly and we arrived in Oslo in time for dinner.

After dinner we walked around the wharf exploring the area and getting some excercise. All of a sudden we saw our great friend Bastiaan Blomhert and his wife, Trinet, who have traveled here from The Hague to hear our concert tomorrow at the American Ambassador's residence. It was great to see him and we caught up on many things including discussing our plans to tour Japan with Mozart's wind octet version of The Abduction from the Seraglio next year. There is much to do to make that happen, but we are hopeful it can come together soon.