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| Konzerthaus. Photo courtesy of Terence Low. |
On the afternoon of 9 July 2013, together with the rest of the orchestra members participating in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Festival, I arrived at Wiener Konzerthaus to prepare for the SCL Festival Gala Winners Concert that would take place on the same day in the evening.
Each of us received a ticket that would allow us to enter the Wiener Konzerthaus. As I received the ticket, there was a brief moment of wishful thinking on my part that I had wished our orchestra could perform at the SCL Festival Gala Winners Concert. Yet, on the positive side, perhaps things do happen for a reason. I was feeling thankful that I have gained a lot of meaningful experiences from my participation in the festival.
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| Rehearsing the singing of the Festival Anthem. Photo courtesy of Terence Low. |
During the afternoon's preparation for the Gala Winners Concert, all the participants of the festival was led by Markus Obereder, the conductor for the event, to rehearse the Festival Anthem. It was uplifting to listen to Festival Anthem being sung.
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| Eduard Strauss. Photo courtesy of Terence Low. |
After singing the Festival Anthem, there was a lecture by Eduard Strauss, a descendent from Strauss' family. The title of the lecture was "A Journey into the history of the Strauss family and the Waltz". I do wish I was more energetic to remain fully awake throughout the lecture to assimilate the words of wisdom from Eduard Strauss. The late nights and the long day had in some ways worn me out. I was essentially listening to Eduard Strauss' lecture with lots of winks and mental rests in between.
After the lecture, there was an opportunity for all the participating groups to take a group photo at Wiener Konzerthaus. I am impressed how the organizers could get so many participants to come together to take group photographs.
After the group photographs, there was some time for the participants to either prepare for their performances at the Gala Winners Concert or to catch a light meal.
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| Konzerthaus. |
I went to a nearby eatery together with a few other members of the orchestra to enjoy a simple meal. I shared a Sacher-Torte and some servings of ice-cream with Rose M. The Sacher-Torte is essentially a chocolate cake that is thinly coated by hand with the best quality apricot jam. There is a coat of chocolate icing on the top. Sacher-Torte is usually served with a portion of unsweetened whipped cream.
After the short break, we headed back for the Konzerthaus.
It was a very eventful afternoon indeed!
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