Taiwan Tour, Day 1

MuChen and I arrived in Taiwan yesterday and met up with Jennifer and Ting in Puli to start our tour! This morning we rehearsed then played our program at National Chi Nan University. The audience of college students, young children, faculty members, and others was very attentive and welcoming. After we finished playing, we had a fun Q&A session on stage with one of the facutly members of the school. He asked us about our purpose and origin as a quartet, what string quartet playing is like, and how many hours a day we practice.

Besides playing a fun concert, a highlight of the first day of tour has been our interactions with the kids at the concert and at MuChen's parent's music school. MuChen got swarmed at intermission by a group of kids that knew her. As the tall white guy of our group, I have received stares, some humorous Chinese names ("Foreigner," "English [speaking] guy"), and polite requests to sign autographs. Below is a young artist's sketch from our concert this afternoon. Needless to say, we are all feeling the love here in Puli and are very excited to share our music with this community.

- Seth