Where do I begin?It seems that my whole life is about “thank you”. I can’t even make music myself so I’m constantly finding it important to say, “thank you”. This trip is no different so here goes – thank you to and for the following:
1st and foremost, thank you to the person who most closely shares in my dreams. To the smartest, hardest working and most beautiful person I’ve ever met – my wife, Karen. She has been so responsible for this trip. No one has any idea the number of sleepless or sleep-deprived nights she has spent in preparation and during the actual tour. She is an amazing person and I will pray for all those
who were on the trip that you find someone in your life that you can talk with and work with like I have with Karen. It makes the journey so wonderful, albeit sometimes stressful!2nd I think we should thank Pat Pearson and Nic Meyer for their help and work in keeping track of everyone and organizing our moving from place to place, as well as for their musical contributions. The jazz band never sounded so great and it’s the first time we’ve had a choral aspect to the tour. All the concerts were well received, even those in smaller cities and in concert halls that were not used to hearing orchestras and/or jazz bands. With standing ovations in the major halls in Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai as well as enthusiastic receptions every place we played, the groups on this tour helped to expand MYA’s reputation as one of the premiere youth music programs in the world today!
Thank you to all the great chaperones, parents and alumni help, including all the people responsible to keep track of students as well as set the stage and pack the truck. It’s simple – everyone helped everyone – it was like a family where everyone was concerned about others and pitched in when it was needed. I wish you could have seen the care all shared for their colleagues.
A huge thank you to all the students, alumni and chaperones who played in the ensembles from Mr. Daugherty to the youngest member, from the violins to the percussion, from the coolest jazz to the beautiful voices to the sweetest string player – everyone contributed to the best musical tour we’ve ever had. And I never heard a “discouraging word”. No one complained about anything. Everyone dealt with the best and the worst of situations with class and appreciation.
I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention the financial support we received from the Illinois Arts Council, Northern Trust Bank, David and Beth Wang. This allowed us to keep the cost of the trip lower – in fact, much lower than any other 20-day trip to China and Korea than we have heard of. It also allowed us to help some students who we needed for instrumentation, as well as whose families have been part of MYA, and really wanted to go. but needed some assistance in making it possible.
Lastly, I want thank the parents of all the students who traveled with us. Thank you for raising such wonderful young adults, for teaching them about cooperation and for trusting us to have them in China and Korea. You cannot believe what excellent ambassadors they have been. Neither can you realize what excellent concerts we have given unless you heard them. They have gotten progressively better and the last two in Beijing at the Library and at the Seoul Concert Hall were truly professional level.
So thank you, EVERYONE for making this trip such a wonderful success!!!
