Bi-Monthly editorial
	July and August 2007 [2007-09-15] The summer months went by very quickly I really enjoyed all of my concerts. The venues were as different as the programs. Even though I was going back and forward between different musical styles and was changing my musical partners we were able to keep a very high level of music making. At the beginning of July I was at the Tällberg Forum in the beautiful Dalarna region of Sweden. This forum takes place every year at the end of June and the beginning of July. The theme has been for some years “How on Earth can we live together” and focused this year on Climate Change. I participated in a group full of scientists and energy specialists. I listened to John Schellnhuber and Hermannn Ott from Germany who enlightened me and frightened me with the prospects for the future of our planet. Ms Nicky Gavron, the deputy mayor of London spoke about very interesting initiatives that cities all over the world are taking to decrease the carbon imprint of cities. She and Hermann convinced me that decentralizing energy providers was one of many solutions to reducing our carbon imprint on the planet as well as giving us, the citizens some control over the situation. The head of the Swedish Energy Company, Vattenfall seemed not to agree but was quite content with his company’s initiatives in favor of the environment. I was not as convinced as he. Love Derwinger and I performed our present recital program in two Swedish festivals, in Järna near Stockholm and in the south of Sweden near Karlskrona, in the town of Lyckå in a beautiful old church. Sometime concerts take on a life of their own and magic happens. This was one of those occasions. Off to Pamplona, Spain for more Blues with Magnus Lindgren and some great tapas the next day, we were lucky to miss the running of the bulls by one day. Two choir concerts in France with the Gustav Sjökvist Kammerkör followed in the magnificent cathedral of St Riquier and further south to Saillant near Brive with a repertoire of Mozart, Gounod and Negro Spirituals. We traveled from St Riqiuer to Brive by bus and this was a pleasant alternative to airports and all the problems of security, late flights, missed connections and lost baggage. Back to the Blues in beautiful Ohrid, Macedonia. We listened to Macedonian musicians after the concert and ate good food from local produce. It was sad to see the smoke coming from the mountains as we traveled to and from Skopje on the way to the airport. The forest fires that swept through southern Europe had also touched Macedonia. My recital in Murcia in one of the best acoustics in the world was a part of the third centennial celebrations of the Murcian artist, Francisco Salzillo. The day after the concert I visited the exposition and I was very impressed with his work. He was a complete artist who even designed the clothing for his famous, painted sculptures of the lives of the ordinary people of his time. We stayed in Spain but as this was the height of the vacation time, the airports were filled with families and groups on vacation. We arrived in Mallorca and found an audience in a garden setting thankfully more interested in music than the beach. For an entirely change of venue, Mozart arias in a wonderful old church in Gstaad, Switzerland. The quiet and the coolness of the mountains was a welcome contrast to the heat in Spain. But I was to return for two unforgettable concerts in a museum in Segovia and the Monastery of Samos with Bandart, a conductor-less orchestra formed by musicians who want to make music together for the sake of their art. The leader is Gordan Nikolitch who is also leader of the London symphony Orchestra. This was a wonderful way to end my season with the highest standard of music making. I do look forward to working with these dedicated musicians again very soon. Vacation with family meant picnics on small islands and walks in the woods and of course the ubiquitous crayfish party. Best regards BH
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