Unlike last year, I arrived two days before the start of the festival, so I feel a little more acclimated to the environment and a little more caught up on sleep. Yesterday (Saturday) was a beautiful day, with a high temperature in the mid 70’s and sunny most of the day. I had some time to compose in the afternoon, and Spencer had a nice practice session. For dinner, we made a salad with fresh greens, tomatoes and cucumber from the TuttiDi, the local market on the main piazza in Duino, where we also ordered some pizzas and gelato. The remainder of our faculty and all of our students will arrive throughout the day today, and we’ll begin making music first thing tomorrow!

No Keebler cookies here…

A typical morning view from our common room in Duino, where we will have daily Italian lessons from Stefano.

Mendelssohn is heard in Duino