Buenos Aires

Today we said goodbye to Brasil after several weeks, five cities, a residency, three concerts, and a lot of time on the bus. Our concert in Sao Paulo was successful, but our performance in Campos do Jordao was less than stellar. We alternate sometimes between conductors, and one is very good, but the other is...well, less than stellar. Unfortunately our performance at Campos was at the most important music festival in Brasil. And Kurt Masur was there, a famous conductor. It was a little embarassing. We´re all trying to move on.

Campos do Jordao is like the Aspen of Brasil. It´s very high in the mountains, and the town is actually designed to look like a Swiss resort. It´s bizarre. We weren´t there for more than a few hours, including our concert, so there wasn´t much time to explore before we left for Argentina. When we were in Sao Paulo we really didn´t do much besides rehearse and perform. And it truly wasn´t safe to do much more than that in our neighborhood. After our concert there we took cabs to a pizza place, and there were strength in numbers. But I don´t think I´ve ever felt more uncomfortable in a city.

We arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina tonight in time to have dinner and then wander around the city a little. There is a sheet music store around here, and there are three pesos to the dollar, so I´m hoping to do some serious music (read: Piazzolla) shopping tomorrow morning. It´s so sad that we don´t have more than one day here. We perform tomorrow night, and then it´s on to Rosario, and then Uruguay. And then home!