Lucerne

Next we traveled to Lucerne.  This is certainly one of the world's most beautiful cities. Here is a photo from my hotel room window!  You see the Reuss river, the old wooden bridge and, in the background is Mount Pilatus, the closest mountain to the city.

We played two concerts in the Kultur and Kongresszentrum Luzern (KKL).  The concert hall is new and beautiful, very similar to Miami's Arsht Center.

Like the Edinburgh Festival, the list of performers in Lucerne is like a Who's Who of Classical music.  It's easy to run into famous people on the street.  I've greeted Vladimir Ashkenazy on a street corner and run into Pierre Boulez in a subway passage.

This time I met up with a recent acquaintance with a Cleveland connection. 

Tom Miller is a bassoonist who was raised in Cleveland Heights.  He is in the center of this photo.  Jonathan Sherwin is on the left.

He studied bassoon with members of the Orchestra bassoon section.  Shortly after college he went to Europe where he won a position in Winterthur, Switzerland.  He and his wife raised their children in Scotland, so he maintains two residences.  They manage a bed and breakfast in Scotland and Tom plays in Switzerland during the season!

I went on some nice runs in Lucerne.  My favorite route skirts the lake, going by Wagner's house, Triebchen, then through a park and into a little village also on the lake.