Petaluma is just north of San Francisco in the middle of the wine district! The concert was held in a historical church called Elim Lutheran Church. The room was quite intimate. I know I´ve said it before, but I will repeat it anyhow: almost all chruches in the USA have grand pianos! If we compare with Norway, the Nidaros Dome had their first grand piano a couple of years ago. And the music school in Selbu got their first playable PIANO in December. Grand piano? Naah, we don´t need that... Anyway, they had a nace Yamaha grand in Petaluma. The only thing that made it a bit strange was their policy of not moving it.. ever. So I was squeezed into the wall on the left side doing my performance. Getting the nice concert feeling and contact with the audience became a bit of a challenge. But it worked out just fine. I think this program is alot of fun really. I start the performance by playing a little bit of Grieg, telling about the background of the Norwegian culture, the Danish occupation, the world wars etc etc. When people go to a classical concert, they expect it to be dead serious. So I have a lot of fun watching them when I start playing Geirr Tveitt´s beer-music from Hardanger for instance. Then they are suddenly on the tips of their chairs.. "..haha, he´s playing about beer and stuff!" Fun.
I drove to Reno, NV the day after. It was a very nice drive with a lot of different landscapes. The first part was really gorgeous through the wine fields of north-west California. Nice and green. I almost get associations to Ireland when I drive around in the rural areas around the San Francisco Bay. I´ve never been to Ireland though... but I imagine it must be something like that. After that I drove through the flat lands of Sacramento, through the woods near Auburn (close to Grass Valley), and then up the hills of the Sierras. It´s a major climb through many miles to 7200 ft. About 2200 meters. And they have a alpine skiing resort on the very top! So there is some excitement to a ride like that concerning snow and everything. But there´s a difference between the woods of Selbu and the Sierras. The Sierras have a 2-3 fields highway with a constant 65 miles/hour speed limit. I got some snowfall on the summit, but nothing much really. I think Norwegians are pretty experienced driving in snow conditions compared to Californians. But sometimes it gets really bad over there, and they have chain regulations.
Then I arrived in Reno. And that´s desert! Wintertemperatures, some snow and desert. I performed at the Steinway Gallery, apparently the first Steinway dealer on the American west coast. So I didn´t have any problems with the instrument to put it that way! They had a wonderful store with their own recital hall holding 100 people. But in the actual store they had a Steinway D and another stage. And here they could fit 300 people! They also had teaching studios. So this was a really nice place for the pianists and the cultural life in Reno. Nice people too, both from the Sons of Norway and the Steinway Gallery. The recital hall was almost sold out and we were really enjoying ourselves. They had food and wine before, during and after the performance. We talked and had a nice time for 2 hours after the concert and I got some really interesting contacts. I´m pretty sure I will return to Reno sometime in the near future.
The drive back to the west coast of California went well. I had nice weather with some scattered clouds. I had my car washed at a Shell station along the way. It was interesting for me to see how this is done the American way. I just pulled into the washer. There they had an automat where you could choose program and payment. I chose the delux program, so I figured it might take some time. But this is ofcourse constructed in such a way that you don´t have to leave your car a single time. You put your car in neutral and push the start button. Then your transported automatically through the washer, bombarded by soap, water and rotating washing elements. Then you´re spat out in the other end after about a minute and a half. Very efficient!
So now I´m spending 4 days in San Francisco. I don´t have any performances until Saturday. So the plan is to practice at the Seamen´s Church and be a tourist.
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