May 24, 2009 - Half the symphony is here in Beijing! The other half of us was delayed a full day in St. Louis because their commuter flight couldn't leave for Chicago and missed their flight to Beijing; they will arrive this afternoon just in time for a concert at the Beijing Conservatory.
May 25, 2009 - Today we visited the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. We also stopped to see the pandas at the Beijing zoo. We then came back to the hotel now for an hour break before dinner and the concert at the Beijing conservatory.
May 26, 2009 - Today we visited the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square, learned how silk is cultivated and turned into fabric, and saw a demonstration of cultured pearl harvesting.
May 27, 2009 - Today the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchesetra gave a concert on the Great Wall of China. The weather cooperated in that there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
May 28, 2009 - So far, today was a travel day. We arrived at our hotel in Shanghai for a little rest before we did some afternoon sightseeing. The plan is to visit the Yuyuan Garden and Shanghai Old Town, then a harbor tour after dark. Keep checking in for photos later!
May 29, 2009 - This morning the group split up with some attending master classes at the Beijing Conservatory with some of the top string pedagogues in Asia. Others visited the Nanjing shopping district and a silk embroidery gallery while the rest stayed behind at the hotel to practice or simply get some rest. The afternoon was spent in rehearsal for our evening concert with the Shanghai Normal University Symphony Orchestra!
May 30, 2009 - We performed our final concert of the 2009 China tour this evening at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. Tomorrow we get to sleep in a bit before we return to Shanghai. We are very pleased with our performance tonight and wish you all could have been with us here.
May 31, 2009 - We have returned to Shanghai from Hangzhou and are back at the Galaxy Hotel for one last night. We visited the Jade Buddha Temple and a Jade museum this afternoon in Shanghai.
