Ottawa Trip

This past weekend Alberto and I made a trip to Ottawa. Friday we spent our time wandering around the city, to Ottawa U and downtown music stores in the off-chance we might meet a violinist interested in taking a look at one of the two new instruments we were lugging around with us. Generally, the day turned out to be a bit of a flop, though we did have the chance to explore the city. One point, however, really stood out in the day. As we were walking along MacLaren Street

Kun house

I glanced up at the sign on a large house. The name seemed familiar as I repeated it in my head before shouting out "Kun!" loud enough for passers-by to turn. We had stumbled across the company that makes very excellent shoulder rests, which we order from Maryland. We went inside and saw the small production team, including the receptionist who was carefully sticking Kun tags to every shoulder rest.

It was a bit exciting to visit Kun since it is so easy to forget that products have to be made somewhere by someone, when for us they just appear by magic through the mail. Unfortunately, Kun only sells in large amounts to its distributers, so I guess we'll have to keep ordering shoulder rests from Maryland.

The real highlight of the weekend was visiting the National Arts Centre Orchestra. A friend of a friend of a relative plays oboe in the orchestra and arranged for us to meet the string players backstage between the rehearsal and the performance. I was amazed at the friendliness of the musicians and how accepted we were amongst them. Alberto, who is much more used to gate crashing rehearsals than I am, was quite comfortable. I was a bit nervous about filling expectations but after a few musicians played the instruments and asked serious questions about the instruments and Alberto, I realized that perhaps we were in the right place. A big boost to our confidence was when Karoly Sziladi

Alberto outside the NAC (we forgot the camera earlier when we were at the rehearsal)

played one of Alberto's violins on stage during the concert.

Alberto and I would like to thank all the musicians at the NAC for giving us the time and the chance to show the instruments. Since we are new to the music scene here in Canada, we rely almost entirely on word-of-mouth and the kindness of musicians who take the time to take us seriously.