In February, I made my fourth conducting trip to Taiwan. This time it was to conduct Michael Giacchino’s score for Pixar’s Ratatouille. I really love Taiwan: the food, the people, it’s such an awesome place to go and hang out. The Philharmonia Moments Musicaux were fantastic.
I really enjoy doing these shows. They are a lot of work to study and prepare but I always learn a lot from really getting inside the score.
This trip also coincided with the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak. Seeing masks everywhere was not so strange, as people there often wear them, but there were a lot more this time; I would say 95% of people on the street had them on. In the rehearsals all of the strings had their faces covered, which was a very strange sight. I could not tell if anyone was happy or sad! We did the concerts and I had some meetings to discuss more in the future, however as you all know, everything is pretty much on hold now until further notice. But I can’t wait to get back there.
Before the show in Taichung
