| |||||||
|
Vienna Community Leaders Keller and Cullen: On a mission to take over the music world :o)
The meeting was a Josh-session because Joshua was in Chicago to give a concert that marked the beginning of a tour that will take off for Europe in May. It also became a jam session when I decided to drive down from Minnesota to join my fellow musician and CL for his final rehearsal. Afterwards, we jammed for over an hour. The private treat included works of Schubert, Gershwin, and Mozart, everything born out of the spur of the moment. We played piano duets, and Josh accompanied me on some of my favorite songs and arias. I can beat Josh in sight-reading, but he has the upper hand in practice time and the resulting precision. BTW, dear reader, do you know the difference between a concert pianist and an accompanist? The first is shear perfection and the latter consistently fakes perfection. Crossing the lines is permitted. And this is not an evaluation at all. In fact, concert pianists and accompanists have a deep mutual respect for each other's work and they are not competitors. They might even enjoy each other's concerts. Also along for the ride to Chicago was young Andrew, 8, pianist & GeoCitizen. Andy's favorite piece of music is "Für Elise" by Beethoven. He lives on a farm with three chickens, three German Shepherd dogs, three cats, and three younger siblings. Andy, Josh, and I have had frequent e-mail exchanges in recent months. Now we have met for the very first time! I don't know about you, but a first meeting between Internet buddies always creates this awkward "blind date" feeling for me. But there is a good chance we will repeat this very soon at my outdoor concert in Minneapolis at the lake in July. I'm sitting in beautiful Lincoln park on the day of the concert. Ah, I just heard a lion's roar from the nearby zoo! It's 42 degrees and windy (of course) on this nice April afternoon. I can't wait for the culmination of this visit. The concert is sold out, of course. It will be sensational! Hear for yourself by listening to the beginning section I recorded myself at the rehearsal. (The link is underneath the photo above. If you want to hear more, visit Josh's site at Vienna 1192.) Hopefully Josh's contact lenses will arrive on time. His mother had to send them express mail because Josh had forgotten them. He must have been too excited about meeting me. And right after the concert he has to fly back to Michigan to go back to school! I'm looking forward to my turn to perform internationally again. Later this year I will return to my hometown of Salzburg, Austria, for my annual visit. The concert hall there is already sold out for the "Salzburger Adventsingen," which just recently had its 50th anniversary. I started out as a yodeling shepherd boy 35 years ago. We'll have almost 40,000 people for 18 performances where I will play the organ. There have been tentative talks about a possible collaboration between Josh and me in the future to further surprise the music world. Check out both of our websites for updates. That's another thing we have in common: we keep our websites lively! Visit Josh at Vienna 1192 and me at Vienna Opera 4151. Be sure to bookmark our sites. Our audience is our biggest asset!
Both Josh, a Hawaii-born Michigan resident, and Florian, a German-born Minnesota resident, carry their professionalism into their positions as volunteer community leaders in Vienna, where they help homesteaders one-on-one, as well as through providing information through their writing for Vienna Online. This article is a surprise preview of Austrian Insights, Florian's regular column, which will normally focus on the real Vienna, from a real Austrian's viewpoint. The next column is slated for a June debut. | |||
