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Last night, I attended the Chinese New Year Concert at Hamer Hall with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with invited guests from China (the conductor, the pianist, the pipa player). The concert consisted of Tian's "Gift", Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No. 4". Strauss II's "Der Fledermaus", Jiping's "Pipa Concerto No. 2", and Kats-Chernin's "Momentum". I was particularly impressed with the high-paced scales in the Piano Concerto and the octave and pitch range with the pipa, which is slightly greater than the guitar despite having only four strings. Afterwards, there was a small private function for VIPs (which apparently included me) that included speeches from the Governor of Victoria (and MSO patron), the Chinese Consulate-General, and the outgoing and incoming chairs of the MSO.
On a more personal level, I have also experienced the joy of two separate visitor groups from overseas over the past few days. The first was Daisy T from Maucao with her rather brilliant young son who, at the age of 15, is visiting Melbourne to organise his future university studies in psychology and, ultimately, music therapy. Quite the dedicated youngster! Daisy and I met five years ago at Zurich, as part of the MSc programme that I was taking with the University of Salford. The other visitors were Cath W., and her partner Isam A., who came over for lunch. Cath and I became friends through a mutual interest in international aid work more than twenty years ago, and we caught up once on a visit to Melbourne more than ten years ago. There was, unsurprisingly, a lot to catch up on, and it was quite the pleasure to meet Isam for the first time.
To finish up on the international triptych, I am posting this from the Melbourne Airport to board the Silver Bird to the South Island of New Zealand. The formal reason will be to attend and present at eResearch New Zealand in Christchurch. The conference will be preceded by a Software Carpentry Day at Canterbury University. Apart from fellow researchers and IT professionals at the conference, I am planning to catch up with Victoria S., who is a resident of said city. Afterward, I'll be heading northward to Wellington to catch up with Janet E. and hopefully a few Wellington friends before heading back to Melbourne. I'm rather looking forward to going back to New Zealand (Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu). Home is where the heart is, and mine is so deeply embedded in The South Island.
On a more personal level, I have also experienced the joy of two separate visitor groups from overseas over the past few days. The first was Daisy T from Maucao with her rather brilliant young son who, at the age of 15, is visiting Melbourne to organise his future university studies in psychology and, ultimately, music therapy. Quite the dedicated youngster! Daisy and I met five years ago at Zurich, as part of the MSc programme that I was taking with the University of Salford. The other visitors were Cath W., and her partner Isam A., who came over for lunch. Cath and I became friends through a mutual interest in international aid work more than twenty years ago, and we caught up once on a visit to Melbourne more than ten years ago. There was, unsurprisingly, a lot to catch up on, and it was quite the pleasure to meet Isam for the first time.
To finish up on the international triptych, I am posting this from the Melbourne Airport to board the Silver Bird to the South Island of New Zealand. The formal reason will be to attend and present at eResearch New Zealand in Christchurch. The conference will be preceded by a Software Carpentry Day at Canterbury University. Apart from fellow researchers and IT professionals at the conference, I am planning to catch up with Victoria S., who is a resident of said city. Afterward, I'll be heading northward to Wellington to catch up with Janet E. and hopefully a few Wellington friends before heading back to Melbourne. I'm rather looking forward to going back to New Zealand (Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu). Home is where the heart is, and mine is so deeply embedded in The South Island.
