Winter Recap!

January 

In January, while Noah captured beautiful sunsets over the canals in Amsterdam...

...Linnea spent 10 days in Apeldoorn (about 55 miles east of Amsterdam) rehearsing Mahler's 3rd Symphony with the Nederlands Orkest-en Ensemble-Academy (Dutch Orchestra and Ensemble Academy). Minuses: the Dutch food, cramped accommodations, and biking in the bitter cold to rehearsals twice a day. Pluses: new friends, a great musical experience, and sitting principal viola in concerts in all the major concert halls in the Netherlands!

Unisex bicycles provided transportation from the hostel to the rehearsal space 

The luxurious Stay-Okay Apeldoorn Youth Hostel. Cozy. 

The first concert in Apeldoorn (Wallerbosch Hall); Mahler's 3rd features
a children's choir, a women's choir, alto soloist, and 92-piece orchestra!
The opening Apeldoorn concert kicked off our six-stop tour. 

I spy Linnea?

Warming up onstage in Nijmegen

The third concert: Het Concertgebouw!! 

Aritsts' Entrance at the Concertgebouw!

Celebrating at a local Cafe with our friend Maddy (violinist)
after the triumphant Concertgebouw performance.

Flowers handed off from the conductor after
the concert in Enschede. (Not pictured:
Concerts in Rotterdam, Enschede, and the Hague) 

February

In February the Netherlands was unexpectedly blanketed in snow for almost three weeks. We got to know the phrase "aangepaste dienstregeling" (adapted train timetable) all to well: let's just say the Dutch and the snow don't "get" each other...

View from the train to Den Haag

We learned quickly that Amsterdammers don't bike in the snow!!

February also brought visitors -- Nina visited from San Francisco (via Barcelona) during the coldest week of the year, and Ma'yaan stopped over during a snowstorm on her way to Israel from Santa Cruz.

While Linnea forgot to take pictures during the snowy cross-city bike ride, 
the museum trips, the iconic panenkoeken lunch, or the frigid canal explorations, 
she was able to capture Nina inspecting some leather goods...

brrrrr

Ma'yaan's first snow!

Performances

In late February Linnea performed with violinist (and fellow Northern-California native) Sarah Wood in a violin-viola duo recital at the beautiful home of Ineke and Ruud Vermeulen on the Amstel river.

Warming up in the salon

The reception area before the concert
(and before the dozen or so deserts!)

Tired but happy campers following the recital!

Noah had a big premiere in the Hague of a new piece he composed in Amsterdam, "Sonance" performed by the Dutch contemporary ensemble Modelo62, a nine piece chamber group based in the Hague.

Modelo62 rehearsing Noah's piece 

The somewhat disorienting promotional material...must
have worked, though -- the hall was standing room only!

Noah was very pleased with the performance

Noah  happy and relieved with his teachers after the concert. From L to R: Martijn Padding,
Louis Andriessen, and Diderik Wagenaar. They approved! 

Linnea was asked to substitute with the Netherdlands Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra for a newly composed children's opera. In addition to a sold out matinee performance, the group did two shows for Amsterdam school kids. We snuck Noah into the rowdy crowd with no problem. 

Linnea dressed as some sort of tree/wood
for the 'pit'. 

A teacher not having it. 

The opera featured catchy tunes and lots of pyrotechnics.