We arrived at the Academy of Music and had a Q&A session with the students. They asked us to play, and we ended with a round of "Happy Birthday" for Ilyas, the cellist of the Al Farabi Quartet.
(Meeting with students of the Kazakh National Academy of Music in Astana, Kazakhstan)
Then we ate the most incredible Russian lunch at a fairy-tale looking restaurant. The borsch was perfection here. We had a Shostakovich Octet rehearsal in the afternoon with Al Farabi. It was starting to sound really good. It's interesting to hear the way Bagdat thinks about the piece. The Soviet influence in their country makes me think about the different insights they must have into his music. We had a reception at a local restaurant that Jim Kenney hosted for us in support of our project. He invited various people from the cultural community of Astana. It was a pretty big crowd of people, and the food was great. It's just so nice to spend this much time with our friends from Al Farabi Quartet. I'm really going to miss them when we have to leave.
- Susie
(The Phoenix and Al Farabi quartets at the Kazakh National Academy of Music in Astana)
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