I was unable to leave Australia to arrive before the group in Chicago so I walked straight from the long gruelling flight into the bar of the hotel to greet all our group well into their 2nd round of drinks. It’s remarkable how the buzz of meeting a whole group of new people can energise you, despite exhaustion. They were a wonderful group of people who themselves were energised by the prospect of a couple of weeks in the great cities of Chicago and New York.
While we were in Chicago only for three days, we had a terrific program including a fascinating cruise on the river, a walk in Millenium Park, a modernistic wonder on the lake in downtown Chicago and a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s home. Our performances were:
- Roy Kinnear’s excellent family drama The Herd at the Steppenwolf, arguably the most highly regarded repertory theatre company in the US
- A magnificent concert at Symphony Center with the Chicago Symphony playing Shostakovich 8 and my first hearing of the phenomenal young Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, playing Rach 1