Though the Philadelphia Orchestra's current tour of European festivals leaves little time for the players do anything but travel, rehearse, and perform, some of them believe they'll burn out, stress out, or suffer some other unpleasant consequence if they don't find a way to break that routine during their few free hours in any given city.
Counterpoint is one key to equilibrium. Several musicians are in training for athletic events. Some are collectors and hunt for local treasures. On Monday, a quartet of musicians headed for the Irish mecca of beer drinkers, the Guinness brewery, known here as the Guinness Storehouse.
They took their instruments with them.
"I was signing up for tickets for a tour of the brewery on the website, and there was something that said 'Perform at the brewery!' " said concertmaster David Kim. "They had a YouTube clip of some high school band . . . so I wrote and said, 'Hey! We're the Philadelphia Orchestra. We'd like to try and play there.' And they said, 'We'd be delighted to have you!' "
On Monday afternoon, Kim led a quartet consisting of himself, violinist Daniel Han, violist Anna Marie Ahn Petersen, and cellist Yumi Kendall into the top level of the brewery, known as the Gravity Bar, where visitors enjoy pints of Guinness and panoramic views of Dublin. They played the first and last movements of Schubert's String Quartet No. 14 ("Death and the Maiden").
At this venue, the Fabulous Philadelphians probably weren't on anybody's radar as they launched into the lively first movements of this most beloved of Schubert's string quartets. But within moments the crowd had quieted - some people looking entranced, others setting aside their harp-emblazoned glasses to take pictures of the unusual sight.
"This takes a little bit more concentration, I have to say," cellist Kendall observed. "And in the quality of the playing, everything is up a decibel level."
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