II International Band Seminar and Festival

After many months of work, worry, surprises and planning, the seminar has finally come. Gera has been running around since last week Thursday when the first directors flew in. There are three featured band directors this year.

The first to arrive was Miro Saje from Slovenia. For those of you who don't know (I'm ashamed to admit that I was one of them) Slovenia is the northern most country formed from what was once Yugoslavia. Here is a picture of Miro and Gera on a tour through the National Theatre.

The next to arrive was Joe Papas from St. Louis, MO and the last to join was Bert Langeler. Bert is Dutch by nationality but is currently living in Estonia.

R to L: Miro, Bert and Joe

All week long, the directors have been meeting with the two bands formed from the best musicians in the country. For those of you who don't know (and again I was one of the ignorant), a band is not an orchestra. A band is made up entirely of wind (wood and brass) and percussion instruments. At the end of just one week, each band is to perform two concerts.

The first concert was Friday night and was directed by Miro.

Gera and I got all dressed up for the formal event.

I wish I had thought of recording part of the songs so you could hear, but there are no words to describe how beautiful, enchanting, engaging and lovely it was to be in the audience. In addition to seeing first hand the final result of your husband's hard work, I think it goes without saying that it was a wonderful evening.

Here we are with the directors after the performance. Who would've thought that directing would work up such a sweat. You can really see his dedication and love for music.

After the concert, we attended the VIP reception thanking the sponsers and all those who helped in the production of the seminar.

One final group picture at the dinner.

As of right now, there are still two concerts left. Two directors leave on Monday and one leaves on Tuesday. Although it has been a great experience, it'll be nice to have my husband back again.