We had a great weekend, performing the tour program for our hometown audience. Mayor Byron Brown declared it Buffalo Philharmonic Day in the City of Buffalo Saturday night, and not to be outdone, County Executive Mark Poloncarz declared it Buffalo Philharmonic Day in Erie County.
Approximately 2600 people came to the concerts on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. After Sunday’s concert, it was time to start loading out!
A 53-foot truck carried all of our instruments and equipment to the cargo terminal at New York City’s JFK airport. BPO Director of Concert Production Lisa Gallo and stagehands Charlie Gill and Sean Avery caught a 5:45 AM flight from Buffalo yesterday to meet the truck there. Much of the day was spent palletizing everything and preparing it to get on a cargo plane to Liege.
Sean and Charlie will be in Liege to reunite with it all and see it conveyed safely to Wroclaw in time for the full orchestra’s first concert on Sunday, March 18.
Yesterday also saw the members of the BPO wind octet begin their journey to Poland. They will finish up their travel tomorrow and have a day to acclimate and practice before their masterclasses and performances begin on Thursday in Luslawice (pronounced Loose-lah-veet-suh). The rest of the orchestra departs Thursday evening, taking a bus from Buffalo to Toronto, then flying to Prague, and taking another bus from Prague to Wroclaw on Friday.