On the Road with a Bunch of Musicians

On Tuesday night, after a long day of travel from Shanghai, the orchestra arrived in Singapore, a lush tropical paradise. After all the difficulties of traveling in China, Singapore was a haven of spotless order. In what has been a trying tour for all of us, we were ready to be pampered, and upon arrival, we were greeted with fruit drinks and gorgeous rooms in an upscale new complex of shops and theaters.

Thank heaven we all made it on the plane to Singapore. It was touch and go for a while, when it appeared that several of the extra family members traveling along with the group had had too many flight coupons ripped off at the last flight to Shanghai, and were stopped at the gate. For a while, I thought that I might have to spend some extra time in Shanghai, too, but I was allowed to board.

Gabe Pegis' whole family, however, was stopped. Wife Annette and adorable daughters Julia and Jackie (of Milford) had to wait two hours, while gate agents tried to get them to pay for new tickets -- even though the computer clearly had their ticket information. Finally, after two hours of haggling and a heated exchange (er, yelling match) between someone who spoke Chinese and the gate people, they got their boarding passes and literally flew to the gate and made it!

For many of the musicians, trying to communicate in a country where few people speak English had sometimes humorous results. When violinist Darla Da Deppo Bertolone complained that she wanted a non-smoking room to the manager of Shanghai's grand old Broadway Mansion Hotel, he sent someone to remove the ashtrays from her room! He just looked at her, wagged his finger, and said, "No smoking!"

Here are some of my impressions of traveling with a bunch of musicians:

-- Instead of T-shirts, their kids will be getting musical instruments from China -- Erhus (Chinese stringed instrument), Chinese cymbals and half-sized violins.

-- Musicians eat, shop, sightsee and hang out together according to their orchestra section: all the violas, all the bassoons, all the trumpets, all the French horns...

-- Your hotel sounds like a conservatory of music

-- Because concert times are always at dinner time, you see them eating meals at odd times of the day and night

-- 100 players = at least 200 knockoff Rolex watches sold in China