Bonjour du Quebec!

Bonjour a tous!

Welcome to Académie du Domaine Forget de Charlevoix!

It has been another busy week of travel, practicing, rehearsals, and now school! (I almost forgot to write this post LOL!)

Let’s dive in!

Monday was my big travel day. Early morning, long flights, layover in Philly, and a basically empty plane to Quebec! I was so worried about not being able to speak French, but people here are so nice and helpful!

My drive to campus was breathtaking. Quebec is so colorful! My drive was right along the highway next to the St. Lawrence River. I passed by many waterfalls and other incredible feats of nature! There is an incredible suspension bridge spanning the width of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec City. There were so many things I wanted to stop and see on my drive, but time did not allow.

On my drive, one thing I noticed is that every house is its own work of art. It felt like I was literally driving through a storybook. Which one I don’t know, but I wanted to stop at every house. Bright colors dotted the sides of the road: white, red, yellow, pastels, etc. Between the clusters of houses and businesses was densely packed forest of green. I wish I could have taken a million pictures, but I was driving…

Domaine Forget is just as breathtaking as the rest of the countryside I drove through. I am so blessed to have spent the summer in such beautiful areas playing my violin and doing what I love.

This week at the Académie, we rehearsed for many hours with the Violons du Roy and the rest of the orchestre de chambre de l’Académie. In total, per day, we would have about 5-6 hours of rehearsal in the orchestra. The rest of the day I would spend practicing.

Being in a country that speaks a different language has proved to be difficult. While some instructions are said in English, much of the speaking done in rehearsals is in French. That being said, I have learned quite a bit of French relating to music. My stand partner this week, Veronique, has been so kind to explain and translate things during rehearsals so I understand.

Sunday was our first concert. The repertoire this week was a collection of pieces from Rameau, Corelli’s concerto grosso IV, and Haydn’s cello concerto in C. For this concert, we were lent Baroque bows to play with. It has been so incredible to work with such an amazing piece of wood and horsehair. I don’t want to have to give it back! One interesting thing about this music is that even though Johnathan Cohen was our Maestro for the week, he led the orchestra from behind a harpsichord. It was something I had never experienced before, but it was quite enjoyable. It was more difficult, but felt very natural, like playing chamber music. The concert was a success, and I could not have been happier with how it went.

I think that is all I will write for now!

Au revoir!