03 April, 2010

Blogging in Utrecht

I can't keep up! I still owe you the end of the story of the Tehran Orchestra tour, but in the meantime I've been running off and having other adventures. As I mentioned, I was in Utrecht this past week, blogging the First International Harp Competition and Festival of the Netherlands. I actually wasn't there to play the harp but to write, write, write. It was an interesting change of pace for me; I'm not used to writing in a professional capacity, so I had to invent my approach as I went. The schedule of events during the festival was so dense that there was never enough down-time to write posts about each event I wanted to cover, so I took to writing copious notes and formulating my thoughts into sentences even as I sat in the concert hall or as I listened to the competition. On the days that I did that successfully, I would then already have a head start when there was a free moment to whip out my computer and type it all up.

During the whole week, I carried my office with me, in a large, heavy bag containing my computer, my huge-ass camera, and all the necessary power cables and USB cords. I ended up doing a lot of photography while I was there, which you can see the results of on the Harp Festival's flickr group. Because I was always either taking pictures or typing furiously at my computer, whenever Remy's mom (possibly my most avid reader) happened upon me, she would have me give her my camera and take a picture of me in action, so that I would have a least a few pictures of myself. Thus, I've ended up with this silly series of me at the computer all over the conservatory:


The last photo, actually, was taken by my new friend and colleague, Nike Martens. As soon as we met - at the reception before the opening concert - and she introduced herself as the official photographer of the competition, we knew we would be working closely together. I would steal many photos from her throughout the week, to illustrate the blog. I have come to greatly admire her work and wish I could take such excellent photos myself. I highly recommend skipping right past my photos on the flickr stream and looking at hers.

Unlike my pioneering blogging experience with Marta in Israel, I was part of a larger public relations team in Utrecht - not just Nike, but a whole group of people doing everything in their power to promote and broadcast the festival. It was amazingly inspiring to work with so many creative and talented people. Another great new friend that I made was the developer of the official competition website, Gert Wijnalda, who amazed me with his PHP skillz when he showed me around the control panel that he made for the organizers to edit the content of the website. It was amazing how open-minded and flexible everybody was. At the end of the day, we would unwind over beer and martinis at the bar across from the main competition building and brainstorm a handful of exciting new ideas before biking home for the night. This is exactly how the concept of my interview session was born, which could be seen on the live-stream following the performances of the final round.


Before last week, I had only briefly passed through the Netherlands a couple of times: I was in Amsterdam once with a tour group when I was only 14 years old, and then I was in Rotterdam with the Tehran Orchestra, but this time I finally had the chance to get to know the culture a little better. One particularly Dutch experience I had was biking back and forth to the conservatory every day from Remy and Merel's apartment, where I was staying. Everybody in the Netherlands has a bike, it seems, except Remy. :) There were four of us in the apartment (including Merel's brother) and only two bikes among us, so I would always ride on the back of the bike. Once I got used to the feeling of riding a bike without being in control of it myself (very bizarre), it was a great way to see the city! Another thing I love about the Dutch is how willing they are to switch their conversation to English so that I can understand. I was sometimes in a group of five or more native Dutch speakers, and just because I was within hearing range, they would speak entirely in English!

Paris is still home, but I miss Utrecht and all the beautiful people doing such great things there. I'll be back for the next festival, whenever it is!