Julie Thayer, French Horn, Houston Symphony, shares her personal thoughts and photographs from her time in New York. The Houston Symphony recently played Carnegie Hall to open the 2012 Spring for Music Festival.
New York City, musically speaking, is like a Saharan Desert watering hole. It draws life and vitality to it with magnetic force and gives much needed cultural sustenance to all who visit. As musicians, we are always eager to renew our sources of inspiration and going on tour is a sure way to do that! Playing in Carnegie Hall is an experience in and of itself; the Hall seems to have it’s own energy, like a pendulum suspended in midair waiting to be let go. It’s such an amazing feeling to be a part of that space and to contribute our performance to the building’s collective of memory. The orchestra played beautifully, perhaps harnessing some of our extra adrenaline to exceed even our own expectations. I believe we created a lot of positive momentum, which I know we will keep building in these weeks leading to our next adventure: Moscow! Thanks to everyone here in Houston who helped make our trip possible– performing in New York is certainly exciting, but nothing beats our hometown audience 🙂 -Julie Thayer, French Horn, Houston Symphony