Youth symphony finds many places to soak up Chinese culture

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After lunch it was off to Suzhou's No. 1 silk factory, whereeveryone had a lesson in the silk process. Time was too short,though, to peruse the shops, laden with fabric, bed linens,jackets, lingerie and scarves. After a boat ride along the canals(Marco Polo deemed this city the Venice of China), the groupvisited an embroidery factory before returning to Shanghai.

Tuesday there was more to explore in Shanghai, including the YuGarden -- larger and more ornate than the intimate Master of Netsand famous for its rock formations -- before roaming ahistoric-looking shopping mall. When a young art student approachedGrace Callahan about her work, the PYSO violinist, along withviolist Colin Fadzen and bassoonist Luke Plizga, followed her to asecond-floor gallery where she and later, her parents, would makepurchases.

After a special dim sum lunch, the orchestra visited ShangaiNanyang Model High School for another student exchange. Nanyang, aprivate school with a reputation for excellence, fielded anorchestra of more than 120 students, and they immediately went offto the races with action-packed selections like "William TellOverture" and "A Night on Bald Mountain," where the violins seemedto sway in unison like fields of wheat.

While the Nanyang orchestra was dressed in black and white concertatttire, the PYSO students were still in their casual sightseeingclothes, for which executive director Craig Johnson apologized.

But the nonplussed Pittsburgh group turned in sophisticatedrenditions of Copland's "El Salon Mexico" and Rachmaninoff's"Symphonic Dances," which some in the orchestra called their bestperformance yet.

Once again they split into groups, with the brass and percussiongathering on the stage, the cellos playing for each other in anadjacent hallway ("I didn't think I'd find a student named for YoYo Ma, the famous cellist," noted PYSO principal cellist PeterLevine) and the violins off in another building.

The Nanyang students presented each Youth Symphony member with aNanyang school pin and a red Chinese knot, which resembled abraided tassel. But the woodwinds came away with something else.They found that the Nanyang players had Facebook pages and thestudents conducted an exchange of another ilk. "We're 'friends'now," said oboe player Hannah Ridge as she boarded the bus with aradiant smile.

That spirit continued that night, back in Shanghai at the SeaPalace Floating Restaurant, where the Pittsburghers indulged in alavish buffet on the top deck as they took in the lights ofShanghai's renowned skyline and parade of boats.

Shanghai Jin Jiang Tours presented Johnson and conductor DanielMeyer with portraits of themselves and each member of the partywith a marble stamp that contained both their English and Chinesenames.

They were serenaded by a group of traditional Chinese musicians,then by their own string quintet (Richard Dannenburg, who couldn'tperform previously on the Great Wall because of illness, LauraCirrincione, Shundeena Beard, Natalie Somerville and MichaelDePasquale) and brass quintet (Daniel Blumenfeld, Amanda Fischer,Caley Bowen, Aaron Pisula and Bryan Powell).

On Wednesday the PYSO troupe left the 100 percent humidity thatfound laundry damp after four days and the elderly Chinese womanwho sold colorful aprons and purses amid the crowd of vendorsoutside the hotel and headed for the ancient water town of Wuzhen.

The three-hour bus trip through water-logged flatlands and farmswas broken by a rest stop, where both the mens' and womens' stalls,sans doors, were joined by a ceramic trough in the floor. But thenow-seasoned travelers were simply bemused and went on to brieflytour Wuzhen, a remarkably preserved tourist attraction. There thegroup was sharply divided over the lunch, which featured a fattypork dish and a whole herbed fish as the centerpieces. Some ateonly rice, while others pronounced the country Chinese cuisine tobe the best meal thus far on the tour.

Soon the orchestra arrived in the lush hillsides of Hangzhou, whichis noted for Dragon Well tea that was favored by Chinese emperorsfor centuries. Then it was on to the the spa-like setting of theHoliday Wuyang Hotel and a vacation within a vacation. Immediatelythe comparisons began: "Paris," "Deep Creek," "Hilton Head,""Cleveland." But perhaps Napa Valley fit the closest, with teabushes in neat rows lining the hills like grape vines.

On Thursday there was a serene boat ride over the West Lake and avisit to the Pagoda of the Six Harmonies, with its 100-plusminiature replicas of other Chinese pagodas scattered around it.That evening brought the third concert at the Hangzhou GrandTheatre, a 2-year-old facility and still unfinished, that resembledthe Enterprise from "Star Trek." The audience response was rewardedwith two encores once again.

The orchestra would need to carry that energy during the next day,when it would travel by airplane to Shenzhen. The Youth Symphonyhad been lucky so far in dodging the raindrops during China's rainyseason. But luck would run out.

The morning started innocently enough as the group gathered in thelobby to check in luggage. Yet another game of "Mafia" cropped up,this time with a dozen players, including the animated EmilyBishop, Michael DiBarry and Dan Smith. Pianist Nicholas Czarnakimprovised on the grand piano, while Robert Kotcher toyed with aPaganini caprice on a traditional Chinese violin, the erhu, thatDan Urbanowicz had been inspired to purchase.

However, the group was delayed by several hours due to heavy rainsand arrived late in Shenzhen, an economic powerhouse of a city ofmore than 8 million that was nothing but a fishing village some 30years ago. They left early to tackle two sets of customs _ leavingChina and entering Hong Kong, where cars still drive on the leftand the native Mandarin dialect is balanced with a decidedlyBritish accent in English. The former British territory has beenceded to China and is still in a state of transition.

The Youth Symphony base of operations, the Panda Hotel, wasn'tready, so the students browsed the shops on the ground floor beforesetting off on a tour of Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong hadn't seenrain like this, with periodic London-esque downpours, in 125 yearsand the clouds only parted briefly during the visit to VictoriaPeak. Still, the view of the harbor was spectacular.

Sunday featured an optional tour to Aberdeen Stanley Market, rainincluded. The students then went off to rehearse with Hong KongYouth Symphony Orchestra and the Music Office Youth Choir.Highlights that night included a side-by-side orchestralperformance of Prokofiev's "Montagues and Capulets" from "Romeo andJuliet," selections from Mozart's "Coronation Mass" with awell-drilled choir and the presentation of gifts.

By Monday morning, the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra hadboarded its planes, where one pilot welcomed the group and said hewas "honored to take them home."

A rain delay in Hong Kong put the Los Angeles connection for someof the students in jeopardy and one Chicago group made a mad dashthrough O'Hare's number one terminal, where United Airlines heldthe plane for over an hour to accommodate the young musicians. Asthe group approached Pittsburgh it was with a sense of deja vu, forPittsburgh was overcast, just as it had been during the descentinto Beijing two weeks prior.

And the memories came flooding back, mixed with the excitement ofconnecting with family and friends.