Returning to his homeland, PSYO Music Director and Pacific Symphony Assistant Conductor Maxim Eshkenazy spent much of  his time in a flury of interviews and press conferences.  Featured in 10 interviews in four days, Maxim and PSYO students enjoyed national TV, radio and press coverage.  Bulgarians wanted to learn more about their beloved musical hero, find out how our student musicians acquired their advanced musical skills and discover what makes this conductor and ensemble so special.  Clearly the publicity worked – as detailed in our previous blog entry, all of the three concerts were sold out.  In fact, audience members filled the aisles, sacrificing comfort for the chance to hear these talented young musicians perform.

Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra had their first performance in Plovdiv and were met by a euphoric audience in a standing-room only-hall, shouting “bravo!” and “brava!” They even received a visit from the King of Bulgaria and Petko Staynov, a highly cherished Bulgarian composer.

Here’s a note from Melissa Craig, our Director of Youth Ensembles:

Greetings  from Plovdiv!  I thought while I had a moment, I’d send you a little update about our first performance.

King Simeon was in attendance, as was Petko Staynov, the composer of Thracian Dances, one of our pieces on the program.  The house was sold out, and people were standing in the aisles, which is where they stood the ENTIRE performance.  The musicians started off a little tired on Slava! with a few intonation issues, but after receiving the first enthusiastic round of applause (which went on so long, Maxim walked on and off three times – and this was only after their first piece), they perked up and played at a level I’ve never heard.  They were incredible and the audience was absolutely stunned.  We performed 3 encores, and every time a soloist was recognized people would shout Bravo and Brava and applause even more enthusiastically.  I have to say, we were quite stunned with the experience, and the musicians were equally overwhelmed. We received a standing ovation that went from the first row, all the back to the very last row upstairs.  Maxim programmed repertoire to feature quite a variety of soloists, which was great to see.  I’ve never seen such an enthusiastic audience for PSYO.

The musicians are really bonding not only amongst each other, but with their chaperones and the staff.  I have to say it was an extremely proud moment to hear them last night, more so than ever.  I can’t believe the progress they made since May.  It’s been utmost rewarding to spend this time with the musicians, and share this experience with them.  Additionally, we have 4 musicians from the Wind Ensemble with us as we had recruited them to fill in some instrumentation, and I’ve been so impressed with how PSYO has warmly welcomed them as part of the orchestra for the tour.  Such a great group of musicians we have here.

 And on to Varna!

Our fabulous PSYO students started Tuesday morning in their first rehearsal in Bulgaria!  Though jetlagged, we were thrilled to be at our first concert site – Bulgaria Hall.  The Orchestra sounded fabulous – just making a few fine adjustments, getting used to a new performance space.  Very excited for our debut performance on Wednesday night!!!

PSYO musicians and siblings Philip (cello) and Meri (violin) Sheegog have created their very own blog for Bulgaria, which they describe as:

“A comprehensive record of the daring adventures of two fearless musicians as they traverse deep into the foreign realm of Bulgaria. Along with their trusty instruments, Darth Cello and Adrian VII, they go where no Sheegog has gone before!”

The first talks about the hassles of transporting a cello halfway around the world. Check it out!
http://sheegogadventures.blogspot.com/

From June 26-July 5, the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra is heading to Bulgaria, the home country of their conductor Maxim Eshkenazy, for 10 days to show off the extraordinary work they’ve been doing this season. Check back here for updates and pictures from PSYO’s first international tour!

Playing repertoire from this season, the orchestra is performing Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” Bernstein’s “Slava! A Political Overture,” Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” “Thracian Dances” by Bulgarian composer Petkov Staynov, The Imperial March from “Star Wars” by John Williams and Badelt’s “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Practice should pay off as the musicians give performances in Plovidiv, Varna and Sofia— teaching them how to adapt to the acoustics in different environments.

“It’s been an incredible year,” raves Eshkenazy. “The tour has put us all in very high spirits. Everyone has been very enthusiastic and trying their best instrumentally as we’ve played all the pieces we will be performing in Bulgaria. For a week leading up to the tour, we’ll have a boot camp of rehearsals every day to make sure we are in spectacular shape. This is my third year conducting PSYO and we’ve grown up tremendously. The orchestra is playing at its best ever.”