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I am writing this on the bus from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paolo – the ride seems never ending because we are travelling with half of the Parana Symphony Orchestra. A 6 piece rockband is sometimes an impossible task to bring together – but to put a symphony orchestra on a bus takes a lot of time and nerves. But let’s go back to the beginning.

Last week started rather uneventful – Robi was teaching, learning guitar, I was studying my Portuguese, there was a rather nasty blockage in our bathroom which I was cleaning a whole morning (nice…) and I broke some plates. Robi was happy with the girls who very diligently practiced during the Eastern break – especially Lu did a fantastic job on the piano. The girl really got the hang of it – despite the hardship at the beginning she became one of the best of Robi’s several girls. She is almost ready with her programme for the concert, they only have to fine tune her pieces. The whole music school was really surprised by her advancement – good teacher, good student. The violinists are also making progress although of course violin is much more difficult. But Robi gives them really difficult tasks – they are already practicing a little chamber piece together, all playing different lines. It is interesting to see how the four of them making progress – first Barbara was the best, now she has difficulties with playing clear notes. Natasha, who was not very good first is getting really better. But the key word is “PRATICAR!” (practice, of course). Some classes were canceled because the choir had two small concerts during the week.

Life from Wednesday evening became rather eventful though. About a month ago we learnt that HSBC is sponsoring two mega concerts by Andrea Bocelli and the marketing director had the idea to include Robi in the orchestra that plays with him. We had to give Robi’s CV, but for a long time, nothing happened. It seems that there were some problems choosing the orchestra because it was only decided very late. And on Wednesday night we got a phone call from the production company that Robi is in, we are traveling to Rio on Friday morning. Thursday resembled scenes from Mission Impossible – I was getting various pieces of information on the phone and by email from different people concerning flights, hotel, schedule and tuxedo renting. This latter was the funniest bit of the day – I was sitting, getting my manicure done (this is what women do here all the time, it is incredibly cheap and there are shops in every corner) when I started getting text messages about locations for renting a tuxedo. Finally at 6pm, just before they closed, we turned up in a shop that seems to be an institution in Curitiba. Lots and lots of tuxedos, suits and evening dresses are for rent. The shopkeepers were incredibly nice – the one that fit Robi was short but they fixed everything in 15 minutes. It was not cheap at all though. Before I get into opera land, let me talk a little bit about prices in Brazil.

If somebody thinks Brazil is a cheap country, forget it. Food is relatively cheap if you shop in supermarkets and eat in cheap restaurants. Drinks are also much cheaper than in Europe, although it is only true for local products. Anything that is imported is horribly expensive. Electronic goods cost more than twice as much as in Europe (we could almost make one flight ticket worth of money if we sold our camera), renting apartments is very expensive, hotels are not that cheap although budget alternatives can be found. The most expensive though is to buy clothes or any household items. Of course there is Chinese made, very bad quality stuff everywhere for very low price (although more expensive than at home) but anything that is remotely better quality is very expensive. Books and culture generally is also pricy – theatre and concert tickets are much higher than in Europe. Joining various courses though and learn things is relatively cheap especially if you enroll in a SESC course. It is a strange association that runs all sorts of different courses and activities including dance, language, sports etc. for very low price.

OK than. Let’s go to Rio. We took the morning flight and we were met by Adriana from Dancar (the production company) who has been our guardian angel. She is really cool and very kind, although she has problems with orientation. We gave her a hard time about taking us next door via a one hour extra ride to Leblon. Anyway, she took us to a very plush hotel overlooking the ocean in a very surprising area in Rio. It is called Barra and it is a new development with high rising houses, beautiful gardens and swimming pools. This is the area where HSBC built an Arena three years ago for the Pan-American games and as far as we understood the development around the games gave this area a kick. The HSBC Arena was the venue for the first concert by Andrea Bocelli.

The orchestra started rehearsing on the Friday with maestro Eugene Kohn. We later found out during a bus ride (through Leblon) that he has Hungarian origin – his grandparents were Hungarian. He is very famous and respected, he conducted the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Hungarian National Philharmonic amongst many other world class orchestras. Bocelli himself walked in the rehearsal and practiced some pieces with the orchestra. I have to say we both converted into huge fans of him – what a fantastic man! Of course we have known that he is one of the best voices of our times – and he does have a voice from heaven for sure. I am not a big fan of opera – and it is an euphemism here – but even for me every minute he was on stage (rehearsing or performing) was magic. During the soundcheck and rehearsal he was most patient, every question or wish of his was presented with utmost modesty. And he has a smile of an angel! Well, I guess he IS an angel who lives in the dark but shines like the brightest star.

With Bocelli in Rio de Janeiro

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The concert was beautiful especially when him and soprano Olivia Gorra came on stage. She is also fantastic and a great lady. After the concert finished Bocelli was surrounded by a lot of security and virtually there was no opportunity to see him or congratulate him. We were leaving the building just when he was ushered to his car – when suddenly some of his most devoted fans started singing an opera and literally sang him out of the car in order to take pictures and congratulate him. Robi was amongst the lucky ones who was able to stand next to him – here are the pictures!

Andrea Bocelli and Robi

As I said, now we are heading to Sao Paolo, the ride feels eternal but tomorrow the orchestra will have a day off and we will be able to see a little bit of this enormous city that is the commercial and cultural capital of Brazil. Next time I will write about the concert in Sao Paolo that will be in a park on 21 April, free for all, presented by HSBC. And I will write about Robi’s experience with the Symphony Orchestra and a little bit about cultural policies. Videos will follow!

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