Last Friday, I had the privilege of attending the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in Bailey Hall. I was awestruck by their powerful renditions of Mozart and superb playing skills. I was especially moved by the soloists whose performances conferred a lot of meaning even though they sang in Italian. The soloists reflected the orchestra’s baroque theme; the desire to express the meaning of words was of more importance than anything else. I was very interested by the contrast between the first soloist Christian Gerhaher’s bold, operatic voice and the second soloist Lorenzo Coppola’s elegant yet strong playing of the historical clarinet.

I also believe that this orchestra has rekindled my appreciation for symphonies. I stopped playing the violin in high school  (and therefore attended fewer “String Nights” in school) because of decreased time, and my watching of the first violinist Gottfried Von Der Goltz’s repertoire made me remember the amount of fun I had when I played.

Overall, I was very excited about attending the performance, and the orchestra exceeded my expectations. I am grateful that they visited Ithaca to play since they are from Germany. One question I had was how they were able to transport their instruments (particularly the basses) from one city to another. Do they travel by bus? If so, where do they sleep – it does not seem financially feasible for them to stay at a hotel every night.I hope there are more musicians such as these at Cornell! This was not only very satisfying and enjoyable, but also educational.