BISQC Blog:

Free ice cream for all

Posted by The Calliope Quartet
Thursday, 26 August 2010

Hi everyone, C-strings here to give you the rundown of our day yesterday. We had an early start to our day at the Wild Flour Bakery in downtown Banff. We played right in front of the cashier to greet everyone with quartet music as they ordered their morning coffee. After playing the same pieces at all of our performances over the past couple days, we decided to change things up and add a movement of Mozart's "Hunt" Quartet, K. 458. The audience seemed quite receptive, and we were pleasantly surprised to see our friend Shannon there. At the end, each of us were treated to a banana chocolate muffin — a Wild Flour specialty. Don't miss out on these the next time you're in Banff!

After lunch we headed out to Johnston Canyon to reward the weary hikers coming out of the trail. There was a creek at the trail head where we played, and there was something magical about playing the soft moments in Bartók 2 against the sounds of running water. Lots of little kids were there to hear us as there was an ice cream stand a hundred feet away. It was always fun to glance up and find a gawking child with ice cream dripping down his chin. We'd like to send a special shout out to the lady who bought all of us an ice cream cone.

Round three took place at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise by the beautiful flower beds and stunning glacier in the background. A crowd grew on the lawns and benches all around us during the first half of our performance, and much of our captive audience followed us to listen to the second half. By the time we were done, we had our largest audience to date. We were glad to run into Christel Thielmann who is on faculty at the Eastman School of Music. You never know who you might meet on the road!

At the end of the day, we feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to spread the word about BISQC to so many people. The small taste that we're offering this week is only a little bit of what is to be experienced next week during the competition. Be sure to tune in!

Check back tomorrow!

Cynthia and Schuyler

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