Principal Bassoon Bob Williams and English horn 
player Treva Womble get back on the bus after a quick 
lunch stop somewhere between Sarasota and Ft. Lauderdale.

DSO Head Librarian Hona Yoffe lays out music for 
the evening's concert at the Broward Center for the 
Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale.

A view of the impressive Broward Center for 
the Performing Arts from the rear of the stage.

Ft. Lauderdale audiences gave several standing 
ovations during the course of the evening -- once 
following Michael Daugherty's MotorCity Triptych and again 
at the conclusion of the concert.

After the final concert in Ft. Lauderdale, DSO President and Executive Director Emil J. Kang (left) 
and Maestro Neeme Järvi (right) toast to the successful conclusion of the Florida Sunshine Tour.

Making a final logistics announcement is TravTours 
Operations Manager A.L. "Trey" Carr III.  TravTours, 
a Palm Desert-based company that specializes in touring orchestras, was critical to the success of the DSO's week 
on the road.

Tuesday, January 23, 2001

Hello!

I'm writing this to you while on the bus to the airport.  We had a very satisfying tour in every way.  Good music, nice places to stay, good food and plenty of fun during the free time.  The best memory I have is of the party given by DSO Chairman Peter Cummings and his wife, Julie. What a magnificent and magical evening!  Everyone had a great time unwinding before the Orchestra had played even a note.  Maybe that's why the concerts went so well. 

Another nice memory is of the free day in Miami consisting of an early, long run on the beach followed by lots of sun and a delicious sushi dinner at our hotel.  I spent the week running as much as possible, away from the Michigan cold, snow & ice, trying to prepare for the summer triathlon season.  Nearly 50 miles! 

The weather couldn't have worked out better as far as our schedule was concerned.  In the early part of our trip, when we actually had some free time, it was warm and sunny.  Once the bus rides and daily concerts began it turned cold, rainy and windy and no one minded being on the bus for 4 1/2 hours.  It could easily have been the opposite, but we were lucky.

It was a wonderful trip in every way and though, as I write this, we're all still in Florida, I'm missing it already.

Jim VanValkenburg
Assistant Principal Viola

Excerpt from the Detroit Free Press

"So Long to Days in the Sun"

. . . Having finished Monday's concert with an encore -- this time a whooping version of the Act III Prelude to Wagner's Lohengrin -- Detroit Symphony Orchestra Music Director Neeme Järvi scooped up his scores with an impish flourish and waved bye-bye to the cheering crowd.

The audience at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts simply waved back and roared louder, but Järvi grabbed the hand of Concertmaster Emmanuelle Boisvert and led the Orchestra offstage.  It was a triumphant conclusion to the DSO's weeklong, five-city Florida tour, where standing ovations greeted the performances in every city.  

. . . By nearly every measure, the Florida tour, the DSO's most significant domestic tour in two decades, was a success.

The Orchestra, with violinist Joshua Bell along to perform Sibelius, played with virtuosity, emotionalism and an espirit de corps that led to excellent reviews.  Audiences went nuts over DSO Composer-in-Residence Michael Daugherty's MotorCity Triptych, heard for the first time outside Michigan . . .

Mark Stryker
Music Critic

On the way back home to Detroit, Maestro Järvi 
roamed the aisles of the airplane, chatting with 
musicians, including Concertmaster Emmanuelle Boisvert.