Finally, winter! While it's not as cold as last time we were here two years ago, we woke up this morning to snow in beautiful Vilnius. The winter wear we haven't needed so far can come out!

Philharmonic Hall, where we will give our concert, is on the right.

A fabulous reception and standing ovation greeted us Philharmonic Hall which has a really lovely acoustic. We had a little time to walk around this fascinating city under a light snowfall, before the regular drill commenced. The advance group walks to the hall...

Brian and Gabe check the microphone placement with the presenter. The concert was taped for radio broadcast in Lithuania.

US Ambassador to Lithuania John Cloud attended the concert. Afterwards he thanked us for our representation of the U.S. and of American music, and toasted our ongoing journey.

So - this trip to Europe ends tomorrow as we fly to San Francisco for a few days off before taking on the world premiere of Chen Yi's "From the Path of Beauty" written for us and The Shanghai Quartet.

We'll be back in Europe in August, which makes everybody very happy.

Here we are beginning a long day which got us to Vilnius around
10pm. A balmy 32 degrees Fahrenheit and no snow - very disappointing.

Our Hungarian debut was in the 450-seat (sold out) Festival Theater in the three-year-old Palace of Fine Arts - while the mighty Mahler 8 thundered away in the Bartok Hall above us. The audience in Budapest was very, very warm and responded with particular enthusiasm to Stucky's "Cradle Songs". They also seemed to appreciate the Ligeti set we did, and, we're told, our Hungarian was better than all right.

Our friends arrived this morning in Budapest to an unseasonably warm sunny day.

One of the things that happens at warm up is that Brian marks the floor so we can find our places for all of the formations.

Todd gives a pre-concert chat, translated into Hungarian.

It would have been great to have more time in Prague, but Budapest is calling (another debut for us).
There is always a moment of tension and potential drama when we fly, due to the different baggage allowances in Europe. (in principle half of what's allowed transatlantic. Our office does its best to deal with it in advance, but there's always a chance that the message hasn't got through.

Tour Manager Brian stands by ready to spring into action

We get through and Brian goes back to work on the next movement. We arrived in Budapest in the early evening.

It's still eerily warm for this time of year.

Our patrons had access to a number of things that are not on the path of the average tourist, including access to the St. Wenceslas chapel in the Prague Cathedral, and to the libraries at the Strahov Monastery.

Here we share a moment together to contemplate the most spectacular view of Prague from the Strahov Monastery near the castle

Another precious treat was a visit with Geraldine Mucha, daughter in law of Alphonse Mucha in whose house are a large number of paintings which are rarely if ever seen. Mucha painted incessantly and wanted to be thought of as a painter, but it is the posters that have captured the world's attention so far. Here we are with Geraldine - behind us to the right is the Sarah Bernhardt poster which made Mucha an overnight success.

After 30 years, we finally make our debut in Prague to a sold out Prague State Opera House, three encores and a standing ovation. That meant a lot.

Here we test the acoustics, about which there had been some concern - but there were no problems. There was also some concern about the size of the house - but it looks just right to us, compared to so many American halls.

The audience was with us from the start!

The evening ended with a dinner for us and our patrons on stage. It was a surprise to our friends, until they saw the curtain part and us waiting for them beside the tables. An enchanting evening
all around.

The patrons had a lovely morning seeing various corners and grand sights in Vienna, including the spectacular national library and the Spanish Riding School. Watching some of the horse's morning training session was followed by a private visit to the stables to see them and the tack room.

Our much anticipated return to Vienna’s Musikverein was a huge, sold out, three-encore success.
Performing in this hall for this audience is an indescribable thrill, and it was great this time to have friends from home in the house!

We arrive in Vienna after a scenic five-hour traiin trip from Innsbruck.

Our workshop in the Konzert Haus with 45 Viennese people who will come to the concert tomorrow was a big success and a lot of fun. We made them into a chorus and joined them to work, led by Matt, as we would work, on a piece by Thomas Tallis, and then "In the New Jerusalem." They were good!

After the workshop we walked in the balmy air to the Hotel Sacher to meet our16 friends and patrons for an inaugural dinner (including, of course, Sacher Torte) and catching up.

Among the group are five members of our board, other supporters, and an intrepid pair who are making their third trip with us. (Three is the number we've done so far!)

Our appearance at the Urselinensäle in Innsbruck (left) is advertised with an historic photo!

This little room has a fantastically present acoustic. It was packed with 250 shouting, stamping people (three encores), including an Italian choral group of 50 who had come in a bus from Valgardena, near Bolzano. They had seen us in Merano a few years ago, and followed us to St. Florians last summer. We set an all-time per capita CD sales record.

After last night's concert, we left Paris at 9.30 this morning for a five hour drive to Luxembourg, and into winter.

Paris had spoiled us with relatively balmy weather! There will be a lot of getting on and off busses in the next two days!

A quick lunch on the road..

Here we rehearse in the striking Salle de Musique de chambre in Luxembourg, which was perfect for our early music program featuring music of Gesualdo, Gabrieli and Desprez.

Paris under rainy skies is our first stop.

Rehearsing at St. Roch on the rue Faubourg St. Honore: a church we know well.

Meeting to discuss our departure for Luxembourg.

Brian and the Merchandise guys, Gabe and Adam, arrive early, as usual.