The Musical Life

I'm writing this here in Geneva in Fabrizio's apartment, while Fabrizio is out at the conservatory coaching a string quartet, and Michel is right next to me on the grand Kawai in the middle of the flat, playing the solo part to Beethoven's third piano concerto with a recorded orchestra blasting from the stereo.

That is to say, we are really living a fantastic life here, and have encountered probably the best workspace ever: fabrizio's apartment, where there are CD's lining all of the windowsills of the high, sloped ceilings, two floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with scores, abundant windows that flood light onto the score-strewn piano, and a view of the fashionable part of Geneva and of the Rhone from every room ...including the bathroom!

So we've taken this opportunity to catch up on some music things before we head to Paris for the last leg of our trip. We've spent our day here so far practicing and listening to music and occassionally wandering the streets. Last night, we had an extravagantly expensive Chinese dinner just under Fabrizio's flat. Imagine this - 80 CHF for the three of us! (That's equivalent to about 80 CND!) A meal like that in Toronto would have cost maybe 25. Ah well, it only serves to say that it really is a different standard of spending here in Switzerland, and

that it's profitable to know how to cook!

Tonight we'll be attending the opening of a new jazz club, invited by some of Fabrizio's friends, and then we'll meet some of his colleagues from the Geneva Conservatory. Hopefully, some museum trekking will happen too, and then tomorrow, Sebastian will join us here in the afternoon.

Now I have to go enjoy the rest of my time as a Genevois, before I become a Genevois-pas again!

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