Sunday night we went to Dvorak Hall and heard Christoph Eshenbach conduct his Holstein festival orchestra (like the Tangle wood orchestra) Mahler’s 5th Symphony. We were sitting on the 8th row, dead center. It was the most amazing experience of Mahler! Eschenbach conducted from memory, and every nuance was in him and expressed seamlessly by the orchestra (all 26 or younger!), and the hall responds with the faintest whisper in any instrument—ppp timpani, string pizzicato, etc.
I was on the edge of my seat. The whole audience was like one with the performers. It was truly a transcendent experience!
Even though there was no “Green Room” reception, I followed some people who were going backstage and found myself in front of Eschenbach himself!! Somehow I managed to speak to him words of gratitude, and ask if I could send him a score. He said YES, and to send it to him at the Holstein Festival. I gave him my card, so he could recognize the package, and mentioned that I had just been recording with the Moravian Phil last week. I’ll send him the Symphony as soon as I get home. Is there a chance he would actually look at my music????