It’s the proverbial “hump day” at IMFA. We are officially halfway through the program, and students are busily practicing, composing and rehearsing. The composers had a work day today, with a brief check-in this morning and optional “office hours” with me in the afternoon. Otherwise, they were free to compose all day long.

I decided to get some of my own work done today, including video editing and some score editing on Finale (music notation program). By mid-afternoon, I couldn’t spend any more time in front of my computer screen, especially with the beautiful Italian countryside just outside my window…so I took a long walk into Sistiana, the neighboring town on the other end of the Rilke path. Below are some photos from that journey.

Tomorrow we’ll perform a concert in the castle in Duino, and then head to Udine, a city about 45 minutes north of here, for a 5 pm concert.

The town of Sistiana is mostly above the cliffs, but there is also a beautiful bay, complete with marina and beach.

On the path that descends down to the bay, I found this beautiful little shrine.

Even Maria Rainer Rilke is not immune to crass commercialization…