"Our hosts at the George Enescu Festival could not have been more hospitable,"
wrote symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas on his internet blog.
Every music tour has its unanticipated mishaps -- and in Bucharest this week it was
the delayed arrival of the orchestra's instruments and concert attire, due to
air traffic congestion all across Europe as a consequence
of the Syrian refugee crisis.
But the audience -- inside Palace Hall and on TV -- was patient, and the
musicians from San Francisco were rewarded with repeated clamors
for encores.
An official photo-blog about the San Francisco Symphony's concert
appearances in Bucharest this week (on 6-7 September 2015) can still
be viewed here:
                       
San Francisco Symphony 2015 European Tour Blog
Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas was photographed with Princess
Lia and Prince Paul, from a branch of Romania's royal family:
Longtime residents of San Francisco may remember that Princess Lia
once lived in our City, as the wife of prominent attorney Melvin Belli,
now deceased
Media representatives in Romania were, of course, eager to interview Bucharest
native Florin Parvulescu, who now is violinist with the SF Symphony.
ALLAN CRUSE
09 SEP 2015