It has taken me a while to write up about my trip to Montreal, but better late than never! As I mentioned in my last entry, I headed off to the Vancouver airport during intermission of the concert, in order to catch my red-eye flight. It was the only way for me to arrive in time for my rehearsal. Since the flight was 5 hours, and you add the 3 hours time difference, it became an 8-hour trip. I don’t remember much of that flight, as I was asleep for most of it.

Before I knew it, I was off to the Oscar Peterson Hall (located on the Loyalla Campus of Concordia University). It was a beautiful hall, with great acoustics. The piano was a Yamaha, which played alright. It’s always difficult to adjust in a very short time to a new piano, especially when there is no technician around to help you. I often wonder what life would be like if I could work with a technician for every concert. I was spoiled back in Saskatoon with Roger Jolly, one of the best technicians I’ve ever worked with. He taught me so much, to the point where we could spend hours talking about what could be fixed on most pianos.

The conductor was Maestro Iwan Edwards, who was exceptional. I spent only a 30-minute session with him in the green room, and then it was the dress rehearsal. We were both concerned about performing the Chopin Concerto No. 1 with only one rehearsal. Iwan was very encouraging, and we were ready to go. The I Medici Orchestra of McGill is an orchestra comprising of physicians, students, researchers and many more medical professionals. The brains, braun, heart and soul behind this orchestra is Dr. Ante Pajden, a pharmacologist from McGill. I quickly realized how hard he works in putting this orchestra together, as there is really no symphony office or management for an amateur orchestra. Here is Ante behind me playing the viola.

The performance went very well. There were times when we just played and let the music speak for itself. That is not an easy task with the Chopin, one one rehearsal. I was not as nervous for this performance as I was for Vancouver, but that was partly due to my exhaustion from the short turnaround. I didn’t have much excess energy to spare. The audience responded with a standing ovation, which was really touching. It was almost like I felt the applause was a job well-done for making it through this weekend tour!

It had also occurred to me during this trip how amazing it was to play with an amateur orchestra. As much as we loved playing together, these people had full-time lives outside of music. I spoke with the flautist, who was off to Sweden the very next day to give a lecture on climate change. There were also medical students from McGill (like UBC), who brought their instruments straight from school to the stage. Combining this experience with Vancouver, I have found so many other people who share a love of music and medicine. It’s encouraging to know that there is importance placed on a balanced life.

The next day I went to the famous Schwartz smoked meat place in Montreal for a well-deserved fatty sandwich! Thank you very much to Ante, Iwan and the entire orchestra for making my short stay so enjoyable.