Joel Garten2013-05-21T23:32:30-04:00Joel Gartenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/index.php?author=joel-gartenCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Joel GartenGood old fashioned elbow grease.Claudia Chan: Up-and-Coming New Music Pianisttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22127182012-11-30T10:34:00-05:002012-11-30T10:34:24-05:00Joel Gartenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-garten/
Having studied piano at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music with John Perry and David Louie, she is continuing her piano studies in Cologne and traveling the world performing a repertoire of new music, with a particular interest in the work of composer Unsuk Chin.
Unsuk Chin is a Korean composer who, of late, has been showered with awards and recognition around the world. Chin was heavily influenced by the work of György Ligeti, who was her teacher and mentor.
Claudia Chan's interest in Unsuk Chin is centered on Chin's Piano Études, which Chan believes are the new benchmark of contemporary classical music. She is working on recording the world's second recording of all of Chin's Études.
Chan will be playing a concert on December 7th at Toronto's Music Gallery, with violinist Véronique Mathieu, with a repertoire including the Canadian composer Brian Current, Unsuk Chin's Études, American composer Elliot Carter and Korean composer Isang Yun.
I sat for an interview with Claudia in Toronto.
Joel Garten: Tell me about Eckhardt-Gramatté competition.
Claudia Chan: It is a fantastic competition that runs every year, alternating each year for piano, strings and voice, which I won in 2010. It is a great competition because you are asked to play repertoire only from the 20th century, and it really challenges performers to choose repertoire that they wouldn't regularly otherwise. As well, 50 percent of the music you choose has to be Canadian, which is another important aspect, because then you go out and discover Canadian music. We have a connection with the Canadian Music Centre, so we can go and use their extensive resources. When I entered the competition, I already had a very strong interest in contemporary music, thanks to the encouragement of my formative teacher, Elaine Kruse, in Ottawa, who had a strong connection to the Canadian Music Centre and the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects. I was fortunate to win that year. An exceptional part of the competition is that they set up a tour for the winner. My tour was 14 concerts across Canada and a recording with the CBC, as well as the opportunity to teach young performers through master-classes. Through that tour, I was able to play for a lot of new audiences, and I also got to work with Canadian composers, including Karen Sunabacka, whose piece, Curlicue, I gave the Canadian premiere of in each of those 14 cities. The experience was a big boost in my career and helped me to solidify my interest in contemporary music.
JG: What was it that attracted you to contemporary music?
CC: For me, that wasn't really the question, rather it was, "What doesn't attract me to contemporary music?" It is great music. There is good and bad music in every period of time. Contemporary music is just music from our day, and there is a lot of good music from our day. It is, of course, a different language than more traditional music, and it takes a lot of time and dedication to get used to that language. One can't just play one piece and expect to feel comfortable and communicative in the idiom. Just as in Beethoven sonatas, you can't just play one, you should try and play many sonatas, and know the historical context too. One must learn to understand Beethoven's "shorthands," as it were, how he uses specific musical ideas to signify the emotions involved. It is the same with contemporary music. There have been traditions and shorthands established in the last few decades that are necessary to know before one tackles a piece of contemporary music. As for the historical context -- that's the easy part -- we're living in it! So I find you must give this music (as will all music) the time and dedication to master the technical challenge -- technique for the piano has just evolved so much. Once you understand the language, you see how much you can communicate through this music.
Whenever I play mixed concerts, for example, a classical sonata alongside contemporary music, I often have people come up to me afterward and say, "I really want to learn more about that contemporary piece you played, I was very interested." And that for me shows that if we choose to put the time into it, and choose to make the effort, contemporary music can be very powerful.
JG: What kind of repertoire are you playing now?
CC: I have played a lot of the standard modern composers, like Boulez, Berio, Carter, Ligeti. Now I am also trying to move towards playing more works by living composers. This is probably a product of my recent move to Germany. There, the general definition of contemporary music is much closer to music written in the last decade or two, and there's a very strong community of young composers, which is very exciting for me to see. There is something different about working with someone who is living, and whose score and music is still a living, changing product. That is why it gives me great pleasure to work with people like Unsuk Chin, Toronto's own Brian Current, Hans Thomalla (a German composer I met in Darmstadt this year, whose Piano Counterpart I will premiere in Canada next year), and Alice Ho, whose solo piano piece Aeon I premiered last year, and with whom I'm working on a new concerto.
JG: What are you doing with Unsuk Chin's music?
CC: The first time I heard Chin's music was last year, played by the Ensemble Intercontemporain of Paris. I heard it in a concert that was full of new music, and all of it was quite good, but her music just jumped out at me. So I looked up Unsuk Chin, and I realized that she had written this set of piano Études. She has meant to write 12, but for the time being she stopped at six. So I looked into the Études, and when I started working on them, I realized how masterfully crafted they were, and what wonderful music they were. I decided I wanted to make it my next project to record all six of these études next year, after performing and touring them in Europe and Canada. The reason I wanted to record these is because they signify another benchmark in piano music. We've had the Chopin Études, Liszt Études, Debussy Études, we've had many, many benchmarks when we are talking about developing pianistic technique. We've had Ligeti's Études, who was Chin's teacher, and now we have her contribution. They are very concise, very short pieces, but they are so perfectly crafted. When you play them, you have the feeling that nothing is missing. I want to work on them to get them to the highest level possible so I can share them with a wide audience. I think the level of difficulty in these pieces might hinder their ability to be heard.
JG; So you have met with Chin, and worked with her?
CC: Yes, she lives in Berlin and we met in France last year. She doesn't talk a lot about her musical history, but when you play these études, you can tell this is someone who really, really knows the piano at a very high level, to even be able to imagine the sort of technique involved. And it works -- everything works. When I worked with her, she was very gracious. The first thing she said when she heard me play was "Wow! Bravo! How can you even play this piece?" as if she was surprised. Her writing is very specific and well-notated, even her tempos. One thing I found while working with her was that as specific as she wants the details to be, she also doesn't want any humanity to be lost. Even when we see something so detailed in notation, there is still a responsibility to make it personal, to make it understandable. I think that's something we must remember as interpreters of contemporary music, that professionalism and notes are one thing, but we have no less of a responsibility to interpret and communicate as when we are presenting standard repertoire.
JG: What are you playing in your Music Gallery concert on Dec 7th?
CC: It is repertoire that I love. I am doing four of the Chin Études, Carter's Caténaires and Brian Current's Sungods. I am also playing another great Korean composer, Isang Yun's, Gasa for violin and piano with Véronique Mathieu, as well as Fragments by American composer Derek Johnson. In addition, Veronique will be presenting Pierre Boulez's Anthèmes. It's a fantastic program, and I'm very excited to be working with Véronique again after first playing some Lutoslawski with her in New York City a few years ago.
Dec 7, 2012, 8 p.m. at the Music Gallery, Toronto www.musicgallery.org
Emergents recital with violinist Veronique Mathieu. Solo works from Unsuk Chin, Boulez, Carter and Current, as well as duo works from Isang Yun and Johnson
Be sure to read Garten's profiles of Esprit Orchestra conductor Alex Pauk and new music pianist Vicky Chow.]]>How An Orchestra Found Success With an Oil Companytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20842362012-11-13T00:09:19-05:002013-01-12T05:12:01-05:00Joel Gartenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-garten/ Esprit Orchestra, Canada's premiere ensemble for the performing of new music. Strenuous indeed, as the beads of sweat dripping from his face after last month's Esprit concert attest. His is a very physical conductor, having studied baton technique in Tokyo's Toho Gakuen School of Music, and he is passionate about the commissioning and performing of new works for the orchestra.
He had his start in new music as the founder of Array Music, a performing and composing group active in Toronto, which at first began to meet in his apartment. He soon had the ambition to start a new music orchestra. Through a stroke of good luck, Pauk's partner Alexina Louie sat beside an executive of Suncor, the oil company, at a gala event.
The Suncor executive was reflecting about his company's charitable giving; they were concerned they were not able to directly fund the creation of new works by artists. Louie immediately recommended he talk to Pauk, who convinced the executive that funding a new orchestra that would commission music was the best way to go. Armed with seed money from Suncor, Pauk launched Esprit, and for the last 30 years the orchestra has been commissioning and performing new works by Canadian composers.
I asked Pauk what was distinctive about Canadian music. "What is distinctive about Canadian music is that there is a sense of artistic freedom here," Pauk said, "Canadian music composition is not weighed down by centuries of history and slotted into certain pervasive schools of thought, such as in Europe where you have the Boulez school or the Stockhausen school."
Another distinctive element of Canadian music, according to Pauk, is that composers tend to blend diverse stylistic elements as desired or needed, everything from Romantic to minimalist -- and everything in between.
When he first started out, he chose his repertoire from an unlikely source: a score sale at a music store in Vancouver: "I went to Ward's music," says Pauk, "and they had all these oversized scores in the back that weren't selling. Of course they were scores by the likes of Stockhausen, which were simply being sold, especially not next to the scores of Beethoven and Mozart that were on sale in the front of the store. So the store owner sold all these great scores to me for next to nothing, and those were the scores I began to perform." Today, about 75 per cent of the works he performs with the orchestra are Canadian, and many of them are world premieres of music he has commissioned.
He chooses his repertoire for the orchestra by exposing himself to all kinds of new music, and he also receives scores in the mail and has musical relationships with composers, and those friendships sometimes stretch to decades. "There are certain composers, such as John Rea and Chris Paul Harman who I have such a long musical relationship with that I have seen their music mature over thirty years, from when they were just young composers to now when they are the established leaders of Canadian music."
With new music, it can be an intense process, which sometimes includes a mad dash to the concert. "There is a work I am performing in concert in two weeks, and I just received the final score from the composer today by email. By tomorrow I should have a printed copy on my desk, and then we have to rehearse it with the orchestra. But once a score comes in, there is an intensity and energy that comes forth," says Pauk.
One of the bright young stars of Canadian music is composer Zosha Di Castri, whose work Pauk will conduct in Esprit's March 28, 2013 concert. When he first heard her music, he thought something really remarkable was happening in her work, so he immediately programmed an orchestral work of hers. Since her Esprit performance, Di Casti has been chosen by the music publisher Boosey and Hawkes for their New Voices program, which is a collaboration with Michael Tilson Thomas to nurture new musical voices. The New Voices program will commission two new works from Di Castri, to be performed by the San Francisco Symphony.
Pauk's affinity for composition carries over into his choice of repertoire for concerts. "Every concert, and even every season, I view as compositions on to themselves. There is a certain ebb and flow to the pieces I choose for each concert, and the concerts often have themes. The last concert, the Tuning of the World, had an R. Murray Schafer piece that related to sound ecology, an Alexina Louie piece that related to the cosmos and a Iannis Xenakis work that related to whale sounds."
The Esprit Orchestra's next concert, on Nov 18 2012, will feature four works. The first is a work commissioned by Esprit and written by composer Chris Paul Harman, entitled Cilla, which is based on the 1960's pop star Cilla Black's music. Harman's composition superimposes Black's music, which will be played over a stereo system, with orchestral music.
There is also a newly commissioned work by Bruce Mather, which is a microtonal piece. Performing the work there will be a group of five instruments which will be microtonally tuned, meaning the notes they play will be tuned to be in between the standard tones you hear in music. These five instrumentalists will be accompanied by the rest of the orchestra which will be tuned in the traditional manner. It is a compositional concept the Mather has honed for years
The showpiece of the next concert will be a composition by Pauk entitled Musiques immergées. It is made up of three components: recordings of nature, including water, birds, fire and other natural phenomena; an electro-acoustic track made up of an assortment of artificially created sounds; and music that the orchestra will perform live.
These three audio streams will move in and out during the course of the work, so that one emerges and another disappears, hence the title Musiques immergées. Alongside the music, there will be projections of photos by the photographer Edward Burtynsky. Says Pauk:
"Over the years I have been interested in Burtynsky's work, which looks at humanity's relationship to nature," says Pauk. "So when I was putting together this work that related to natural sound as well as human produced sounds, I thought Burtynsky's work was a great fit.
We approached Burtynsky's staff about collaborating, and they said they didn't just want it to be a slide show, so they recommended we bring in the experimental film maker John Price. Price took Burtynsky's work, along with some of his own film and produced the visual element you will see on the screens as the music plays."
The last piece on the next concert's repertoire will be Concerto For Flute and Orchestra by Marc-Andre Dalvabie, performed by soloist Robert Aitken, Canada's legendary flutist of contemporary music.
Does Pauk have any advice for aspiring conductors? "I say go out and get some friends together who are musicians and just conduct a work. There are many academic training programs as well, and another way in is to go and watch performances. Today there are so many performances you can watch online, it is a great gift. But most of all, get some friends together and conduct whatever you can, that is the best experience you can have to start."
Esprit Orchestra's next concert is entitled "Exquisite Vibrations" and will take place Sunday Nov 18, 2012, at Koerner Hall in Toronto, Canada. For more information or to order tickets, please visit http://www.espritorchestra.com/
Joel Garten's next performance of his piano compositions is Nov 27, 2012 at the Musideum in Toronto. Visit www.joelgarten.com for more information. This article was also published on The Beauty of Life: Joel Garten's blog. ]]>New Avant Garde Classical Music Composed and Performed During Hurricane Sandytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20541022012-11-06T13:56:33-05:002012-11-06T13:56:43-05:00Joel Gartenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-garten/
There were pieces of metal siding being blown down the street outside, clanging around in the wind. And the trees were shaking violently. But in my warm studio, I was at peace and composing up a storm of my own.
I have been composing and improvising on the piano for more than twenty years, and I often get inspiration from that feeling that is a mixture of both energetic passion and meditative contemplation.
Here are two recordings from that night. Like most of my music, they are very avant-garde works, which are influenced both by the classical minimalist Morton Feldman and as well by the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett :
The first recording is me improvising a new work on the piano. I am playing the keys of the piano with my left hand, and with my right hand I am playing on the strings of the piano with an Indonesian gamelan mallet.
I learned Balinese music in Bali many years ago, studying with an elderly gamelan master. I still had the rubber-headed mallets from the gamelan instrument I learned there, and often use them to play the strings of the piano.
Here is the live recording of that piece:
I use all sorts of implements to play on the strings of the piano, including paint brushes, chop sticks, miniature drum sticks, as well as my hands and fingers. I particularly like to use different types of brushes on the strings, using each different type of brush to create a subtly different type of sound.
Here is a video of me performing on the strings with some implements (from October 20):
The second recording of that night is a longer improvisation which is solely played on the keyboard, and both more contemplative and more intense. I am exploring some new ideas that have come into my music in the last few days, as well as feeling the energy of the weather outside.
Here is the live recording of that piece of music:
After I had recorded the new works, I uploaded them to SoundCloud, a new sound-based social networking website that is considered the Facebook of sound, and is very popular among new music artists for sharing music. Within a matter of minutes my new works that were inspired by Hurricane Sandy were up on the internet, and people were listening to them, while the hurricane was still going on.
That night, very late, I wandered into the streets to walk home. It was frightening to walk down the street, the trees were being blown around so violently. I was afraid of being hit by a branch as I nervously walked down the street, watching the pieces of metal siding being blown about. I made it home safe and sound, as my music was being heard around the world.
Joel Garten will be performing a concert of his piano improvisations on November 27, 2012 at 8pm in Toronto at the Musideum on the main floor of the 401 Richmond Buidling.]]>Artist Profile: The 'Mix Tape' New Music Pianist Vicky Chowtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19379902012-10-08T09:40:24-04:002012-10-08T09:40:53-04:00Joel Gartenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-garten/
A crushed fly on the keyboard was the only casualty of Vicky Chow's recent concert in Toronto. She plays with such intensity that the poor fly, which was seen flying around the concert space, got smushed into a key on the keyboard as she played, as she announced to the astonished crowd after the piece.
Flies aside, one of her innovations in concert performances is to introduce the concept of the 'mix tape.' During her school days at Manhattan School of Music, her classmates and her would trade mix tapes which they gave to each other as secret Santa gifts. She loved the experience, because she would open herself totally, without prejudice, to the music her friends put on the tapes. It was a great way to encounter new music and broaden her horizons. Nowadays, she takes this concept to her concerts, where she presents a new music 'mix tape' program of mostly shorter works that would otherwise be difficult to program, all of which share similar musical ideas. During a recent concert in Toronto at Gallery 345, her 'mix tape' which she performed included short works by Morton Feldman, John Cage and Ligeti alongside five pieces by living composers, most of which were composed in the last one or two years.
I sat down with her for an interview in Toronto.
Joel Garten: What kind of projects are you working on now?
Vicky Chow: There's so many exciting things that I'm a part of that right now and I feel like I've been jumping from one thing to another the past few months. I want to share it all with you without boring you too much! Anyways, I was just in Italy for the soundRES festival where they had a John Cage Centennial celebration. I got to perform the Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano by the sea! It was quite magical since the sun was just setting and as the piece went along, the stars starting appearing. Next I'm traveling to Krakow Poland with the Bang on a Can All-Stars for the Sacrum Profanum Festival. From there I directly head to Detroit for New Music Detroits 5th annual new music marathon called "Strange Beautiful Music V" held at MOCAD. They have an eclectic line-up of artists including Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond all the way to the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble led by composer Bill Ryan.
As far as long-term projects, one of them is with composer/artist Tristan Perich. He will be writing an evening length work for piano and 1-bit electronics which will be premiered at Roulette in Brooklyn in February 2013. If you don't know Tristan's work, you should check out his first two albums titled "1-Bit Music" and "1-Bit Symphony."
JG: What is it like playing the music of a living composer, rather than someone like Bartok? Do you approach it differently?
VC: The great thing about playing a living composer's music is that they are here and you can ask them questions. It's a collaboration. Sometimes the works are still in progress and I can suggest things. Most of the time they already know what they want so it makes it even easier for me to interpret if they already have a sound they are looking for. For others, the process is about finding the sound together.
JG: When you play, are you most interested in the beauty of the music, the ideas behind the music or the technical aspect?
VC: I like it best when it is the combination of all three. It's unpleasant to play a piece that is simply technical.
JG: When I came in to meet you for the interview, you were playing a work by Ligeti, which I told you was very beautiful, but which you said you weren't sure if you were going to perform in the next concert because technically you felt it was a bit sloppy. So I am wondering, would you ever play a work that you felt was really beautiful but you were playing it a bit sloppily?
VC: If I think a piece of music is ready to be performed, then I'll perform it. If I accidentally hit wrong notes and make mistakes in a performance in the heat of the moment of this or that, I don't really care about it. However, if I'm making these mistakes because I simply haven't figured it out yet, then that's a different story and I'd be hesitant to present it. But in the next concert, maybe I'll throw the Ligeti etude back in there. I'll see how the program is going!
Also, with a classical background and training, this pursuance of note perfection is the standard. You have pianists who can play the most ridiculous passages without breaking a sweat and it is amazing. But if they mess up or miss a rhythm when they are performing, and therefore aren't perfect, that is where their mind is through the whole concert. But beauty in music is not always found in perfection of notes and technical capabilities.
JG: It's a real unfortunate thing in classical music, a real obedience to the ideal of technical perfection, and you know, folk music doesn't have that, and also modern visual art has totally abandoned that view point. And so we consider it great that Jackson Pollock can drip paint on the canvas, but on the other hand a modern classical performer has to be so exact, and nail every note or whatever. It's a real problem. I also approach this topic from my own point of view. I am an improviser, and in my music I have my own quirky technique and I feel that if not everything is perfectly technically attuned, it is okay, it is really part of the music. It's kind of like in an Ikat weaving where not everything is 100% lined up in the pattern, but that is part of the essence of its beauty.
VC: There is a vein in classical music where music is overly notated and controlled but when it comes down to it, 99 percent of the listener isn't paying attention to whether or not you nailed that quintuplet over a span of 11 sixteenth note beats. Your goal as the performer is to make music, not play like a machine, even though it is quite impressive when one can see this happen. I'm not saying it isn't important but rather that it is a combination of technical accuracy with the ability to tell a story and create a world within a sound. The most successful artists refine their technique so they can express themselves without any hesitation. These small conquerings are very personal and when you get it right, it's very rewarding.
JG: What about the philosophy or concepts behind the music, do you get very involved in that?
VC: Yes and no. It depends on the piece and the story, but it is definitely important to know where a piece of music is coming from and why it was written. It helps you understand the mood and sensibility and spirit of the music.
JG: What is it like to play Morton Feldman?
VC: It is very meditative. It is beautiful. I get the same feeling with John Cage as well. Feldman and Cage allows you to stop and listen, to really enjoy being in the space you are in and opening up your ears -- that's how I feel when I play their music. For me, it opens up a lot of possibilities and endless opportunities. I get a similar feeling when I play Philip Glass. It is probably some of the most difficult music to play because it takes so much mental focus and discipline to be still.
JG: What is the process for you to prepare a new piece for concert?
VC: It depends on every situation. There are times I spend endless sleepless nights stressing over a piece because its that difficult. I become too obsessed and I can't sleep and that's all I'm thinking about. And there are times where there isn't that challenge. I'm trying to find a healthy balance. I have a repertoire that I know that I am comfortable with and then I'm adding one or two new pieces every concert, so I'm constantly adding to the program.
JG: So when you are in that obsessive space, how do you get out of it?
VC: I won't get out of it until that performance is done. In some ways it is a negative way to approach to music, building up all that anxiety, but also, in some ways, I enjoy being in that crazy space where I can't think of anything else but that.
JG: What is the most challenging work you've ever played?
VC: The most recent one is a piece by Evan Ziporyn called 'In Bounds.' The way I describe it is like a two-part Bach invention meets Balinese gamelan with a bit of funk. That was the last piece I was obsessed about. The syncopations are always changing at different times between the hands. Once you've got that, a third voice enters and then a fourth So in the end you're playing a four- part fugue or something. I always joke to Evan that he's gotta write less complex music. [chuckle].
(Interview condensed and edited)
Be sure to catch Vicky Chow in concert:
October 16th, 2012 -- The Stone, New York, The Music of Virgil Moorefield http://thestonenyc.com
Bang on a Can All-stars http://www.bangonacan.org
November 19-20-Vilnius and Riga
Australia November 2-7 -- Sydney Opera House and Melbourne
December 4th, 2012 -- Music on Main -- The Cellar, Vancouver, CANADA - John Cage Sonatas and Interludes -- http://musiconmain.ca/
This article was also published on Joel Garten's blog: The Beauty of Life.]]>Your Guide to Cheap, European Flightstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.18381232012-08-30T00:00:36-04:002012-10-29T05:12:04-04:00Joel Gartenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-garten/
Europe's Schengen agreement has gotten rid of customs at the border, and with this ease of travel has come a number of low cost airlines. Ryanair is the most popular, in fact it is one of the largest airlines in the world based on number of international travelers. The airfare rates are often seriously reduced. For example, a recent search showed a one-way fare from Santander, Spain to Pisa, Italy to be €12. But one shouldn't confuse it with a normal discount airline you would find in North America. There are numerous quirks.
First off, everything is done on the cheap on Ryanair. That begins with the logo, which looks like they spent ten minutes and ten dollars creating it. Before boarding, you must check in online and print out your boarding pass on an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper. If you don't, they will charge you €60 to print your boarding pass. I know, ridiculous! If you are traveling while you make your booking, make sure you have access to a printer to print out your boarding pass.
Ryanair is often fastidious about baggage. They allow only one -- and they mean one -- piece of carry-on baggage, including any purse, laptop bag, etc. And they can be pretty tough about ensuring your carry-on luggage can fit into their size requirements. This can be a real hassle, as I learned on my first Ryanair flight when I had two bags (not knowing the rule) and was charged €60 to gate check the bag. All checked luggage (that you pay for in advance when you check in online) costs €15 or more, and extra fees apply for additional luggage over one piece. At different airports they can more or less fastidious about their carry-on rules (some even allow you to take an extra bag of duty free), but it's worthwhile planning ahead so you don't get hit with extra fees.
Another quirk is that they do not have assigned seats, so you must line up in advance of the opening of the gate to boarding to get a seat. When they allow you on board, everyone scrambles on to the plane like a herd of sheep and tries to get whatever seat they want. I would suggest that to make the whole thing more pleasant, you should upgrade to priority seating for only €5, or buy an assigned seat in one of the first two rows for €10. It is well worth it.
Other quirks include lack of seatback magazine compartments -- they hand you a booklet of in-flight reading. This must really cut down on airplane clean up times and lower their turnaround times. In fact, they claim to have the best on time record of any airline in Europe.
Other little quirks abound: The bulkheads are plastered with advertising; they have no in-flight entertainment; they constantly try to up sell you on their website and in the flight.
And be warned, while the fares are cheap, there are little extras that can bump up the cost of the fare, such as a €6 administration fee on all filghts, the cost of in-flight meals, etc.
Another big consideration is that they occasionally fly to airports that are nearby major destinations, such as the Milan airport, which is actually in the nearby town of Bergamo; or the Paris airport, which is really in the city of Beauvais more than an hour away.
If flying with Ryanair, make sure you know which airport you are flying into. In my experience, even though they fly into secondary airports, the secondary airports are well equipped to get you to the major city you intend to travel to. For example, when I flew into the Charleroi airport, they had half hourly buses for an inexpensive fare to get me into the center of Brussels, Belgium. Another handy airport is the Pisa, Italy airport, from which I took an hour long bus ride to get to the center of Florence.
Another major quirk is that Ryanair doesn't have its fares published on the popular airfare search engine www.kayak.com. That means when searching for cheap airfares on Kayak, the cheapest option -- which is often Ryanair -- doesn't show up. You can search their fares on their website www.Ryanair.com or you can use the discount airfare search engine www.edreams.com. Also note that Ryanair is not a connecting airline and takes no responsibility for missed connections or checking through baggage to other airlines.
All in all, it is a quirky but very inexpensive airline, and the leg room is not that bad at all considering how cheap the fares can be.
Other super discount airlines in Europe include the delightfully named Wizz Air which serves eastern European destinations, and Air Europa, which functions more or less like a regular airline.
Potentially the best thing from Ryanair, in fact, is its hotel search engine, which can offer deeply discounted rates in many cities, and can be found at www.RyanairHotels.com .
Happy Flying!
This article was originally published on Joel Garten's blog: The Beauty of Life.
Be sure to check out Joel's travel tips for Venice, Florence and Toronto!]]>Planning a Staycation? Five Great Summer Outings in Torontotag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.17665032012-08-16T07:21:22-04:002012-10-16T05:12:28-04:00Joel Gartenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-garten/ 1) Berry picking at Whittamore's Farm
A great summer outing is to visit this farm that is set up to allow you to pick your own berries and vegetables straight from the field. It is great fun to go out into the fields and pick to your heart's content. I particularly like picking raspberries. There are a number of different things you can pick, such as strawberries and peas. Check their website to find out what is available. Your picked produce is weighed on the way out and it is fairly inexpensive. I bought 10 pounds of green peas for only $20 and left very happy. Note that they don't weigh you, so you might take a few nibbles as you pick, despite the big signs at the cashier that proclaim No Eating! With all the different nationalities of people who come to pick it is a veritable United Nations of berry picking.
Tips for picking raspberries: you know a raspberry is ripe when it is a reddish color and comes off in your hand when you go to pick it. If you have to pull too hard to get it off the plant, it is not ripe. Another tip is to avoid the very dark red ones, they are over-ripe and can end up a mushy mess in your picking box. They offer picking boxes for sale for only $1 at the farm, and a rope to tie the box around your stomach to keep both hands free for picking.
2) The Guild and Scarborough Bluffs
Scarborough is not known for its beauty as a city -- it is mainly a suburban agglomeration east of downtown -- but it has an astoundingly beautiful coastline on Lake Ontario called the Scarborough Bluffs. The high sandy peaks that lead down into the blue waters of Lake Ontario are remnants of a much larger lake that existed during the glacial periods. One of the nicest places to see the bluffs is at the Guild Park, also known as Guildwood Park.
Here there is an added bonus, as the park is home to a great collection of architectural remnants -- parts of 19th century buildings that were relocated to the park from downtown Toronto. Most of the architectural remnants reached the park in the 1970s when numerous beautiful bank buildings in downtown Toronto were demolished. In the park you can wander around Greek-revival marble columns and arches and carved reliefs, among many other architectural features. A forested path leads to the bluffs where you can take in great views of the water.
3) Sugar Beach
One of Toronto's newer parks, Sugar Beach, is east of the main waterfront area in downtown. It is next to the Redpath Sugar factory, and the design plays off this delightful association. Pink umbrellas and white beach chairs sit on an artificial beach of light pink sand overlooking Lake Ontario. It is a fun design, and you can also walk along a boardwalk to another little park called Lower Sherbourne Commons with its artificial river. A very relaxing, enjoyable place to spend a couple of hours.
4) Kayaking Lake Ontario
Another beautiful, relaxing outing is to go kayaking in Toronto's harbour. You can rent a kayak or canoe at Paddle Toronto. You can rent a single or double kayak, which I prefer over the canoe -- they are easier to steer and don't take much (if any) previous skill. With the canoes you have to know what you are doing or take a lesson. It's great to take an outing into the Toronto Islands and see a spectacular view of the city skyline. It can be a bit pricey, but you can buy a book of coupons to use for several outings at a reduced rate.
5) The Leslie Street Spit The Leslie Street Spit is in the far east side of Toronto's waterfront. It is an idyllic point of land jutting out into Lake Ontario, and the long road along the spit is a favorite for rollerbladers, walkers and cyclists. It is beautiful, with wildflowers, trees and ample wildlife, including many varieties of bird, cute little bunny rabbits and even a small colony of coyotes (rarely seen, and no danger to the average visitor!). Such a pastoral natural setting against the blue of the lake is a dreamy outing from the city. Most of the land is actually created through landfill, and dumping of cleanfill along the spit still occurs, growing the size of the spit every year. Along the spit you can enjoy views of downtown Toronto and the harbour.
Be sure to check out Joel's travel tips for Venice and Florence!]]>Ten Tips for Travelling in Venicetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.17253422012-08-01T07:33:57-04:002012-10-01T05:12:03-04:00Joel Gartenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-garten/
Here are some tips to help you enjoy your trip to Venice.
You might be surprised to find out that the main island of Venice has no cars or motorcycles. There are simply too many canals and narrow winding streets for them to be of any use. That means the best way to get around is the vaporetto, which is the Venetian water bus.
A system of boats, the vaporetto is by far the easiest way to get around the city and a great way to see the beautiful palazzos lining the Grand Canal. A ride on the vaporetto is one of the greatest attractions of the city and is quite easy to figure out how to use.
The main line is #1 and it goes up and down the Grand Canal and ends in the Lido (another island that has a beach). Each ride of the vaporetto costs €7, but you can buy the TRAVELCARD, which is available in timed tickets (from 12 hours to 7 days) that offer unlimited travel. I recommend you get the TRAVELCARD for however long you plan to be in the city. Though a bit pricey, the ease and freedom of going on the vaporetto whenever you like is a great boon to travel. You don't think twice about taking it only one stop, and you can also take it simply for the sightseeing on the boat, which is great if you snag a seat at the front or stand along the sides of the boat.
Be sure to pick up a map of the vaporetto system, which is available at the main tourist info spot in front of the main train station. You can also print one out here. Line #1 runs every 10 minutes until evening and less frequently until midnight. There is also a line #2 that goes up and down the Grand Canal and functions like an express bus, stopping at fewer stops.
Some vaporetto docks go in both directions; some stops have separate docks for each direction. Each dock has a sign showing which lines are served by that dock and in which direction. After you use it a couple times it is pretty self-explanatory. You can buy a TRAVELCARD card here at the Venice Connected site, along with many other types of discount cards, including wifi passes and parking passes.
2) Get the Museum Pass
A great way to save money (and occasionally time, as it allows you to cut entrance lines) is the Museum Pass. It allows a single visit to 11 museums in Venice, including the Correr Museum, with its fabulous painting collection, and the Doge's palace, with its enormous reception halls. The card is available at any of the participating museums for €20.
3) Get The Chorus Card
Another card that is a great value is the Chorus Card, which allows free access to 15 churches, and includes a handy map of most of the churches and sights of Venice. The card is available at any participating church and costs just €10. Note that it does not cover every church in Venice -- some are free, and some have their own separate entry fee.
4) Bring a GPS
Venice is an extremely confusing tangle of narrow streets, winding canals and small bridges which can leave you baffled and lost. I recommend bringing a GPS, which is a real help and can make getting from point to point a breeze.
Many people now have GPS on their cell phones. This is one option, but make sure to find out if your cell phone GPS uses data to fix a position or download maps. If so, find out how much that data will cost while roaming in Italy. Beware! The data may add up to hundreds of dollars if you are unaware.
Another option is to use an automotive GPS which you may have for use in your car. This has its limitations as well, as many automotive GPS units have a very short battery life, which can leave you stranded an hour into your trip. Check the specifications of your unit to see how long the battery will last, and set it to "pedestrian" setting. Of course, also make sure you have maps of Venice on your device.
The solution that I rely on is to use a handheld GPS unit. The device I use is the Garmin GPSMAP 62, but there are other similar devices on the market. It has a nearly 24-hour battery life, it is reasonably easy to use, and I downloaded a map of Venice off the Garmin website for only $10 (see the "in the city" section of their map site). I was able to navigate the streets of Venice easily -- including looking up nearby locations such as an ATM -- though the maps do not contain the vaporetto stop locations. A problem with the device I use is there is no touch screen or keyboard, so it can take a while to input addresses or scan around the map using the buttons.
5) Stroll Piazza San Marco in the evening
The Piazza San Marco (or St. Mark's Square) is one of the most beautiful sights in Venice. Unfortunately, it can be clogged with tourists during the day. I love to visit San Marco in the evening, around sunset, when many tourists have left and the dark blue of the sky is set against the sloping rays of light of the sun illuminating the pinks of the bricks of the Doge's palace. It is a great time, as well, to walk along the waterfront out of the heat of the day.
A couple of time saving tips: leaving the square and turning left (when facing the water) you can find a water fountain behind some benches where you can refill your water bottles for free. If you keep going in the same direction along the path along the water, you will find a public WC open until 9 p.m. (which can be a real life saver!).
6) Save on Lunch
Food in Venice, as in the rest of Italy, can be very expensive. Rather than eating in a restaurant, I highly prefer going to a local supermarket and stocking up on some prosciutto, parmesan, arugula and chocolate and having a mini picnic (I also lost a lot of weight on this diet, but that is the subject for another article!). This tactic can save you quite a lot of money and time. It can be tricky to find a supermarket in Venice, but two chains that have several locations are called Billa and Coop.
7) See 18th-century Venice
By far my favorite museum is the Ca Rezzonico, the museum of the 1700s in Venice. It is housed in an extraordinary palazzo along the Grand Canal, with room after room of frescoed ceilings, many by Tiepolo, filled with decorative art treasures, many in a thrilling Rococo style.
Nearby is the tiny but very charming Casa Goldoni, included in the Museum Pass. It is a restored mini palazzo with a beautiful courtyard. Upstairs, three rooms made up to look like a party in the 1700s had just taken place. It's very cutely done.
8) Start with a dose of Baroque when you arrive
If you arrive in Venice by train, very close to the train station is the Santa Maria di Nazareth Church or Church of the Scalzi, an amazing Baroque church that is a great jumping off point to visit when you first arrive.
9) Take the boat to and from the airport
If you are staying on the main island of Venice, a great option for getting to and from the airport is to take an airport boat. These are operated separately from the vaporetto (which does not go to the airport) by a company called Alilaguna. They operate on their own schedule, with spiffy water buses that take about half an hour from the city to the airport. The cost is about €15 per person, and tickets can be bought on the boat or in advance at the main tourist office. Note that the stop is a five to 10 minute walk from the airport, and the Alilgauna service stops at only some of the vaporetto stops, using the same docks. Click here to get more info. A private water taxi, on the other hand, can be very expensive.
10) Avoid the sun and the summer heat
During the summer the heat can be unbearable, and just a few minutes in the sun can leave you sweaty and wilted. I highly recommend, if you are in town during the summer, to take it easy and stay out of direct sun as much as possible during the time between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. You can walk around some shaded side canals, go to a museum or simply hang out at your hotel for a couple of hours. Being out in the intense sun and humidity in the middle of the day can leave you drained and make it hard to enjoy the rest of your trip. So feel free to take a siesta to get the most out of your trip.
Bonus Tip:
Hotels in Venice can be very expensive and heavily booked up. To get the most out of your trip, try to stay on the main island (either side of the Grand Canal), rather than on the Lido, which is not nearly as beautiful. One website that can be of help finding a place to stay is www.Ryanairhotels.com -- the hotel search engine of the Ryanair airline. It is an excellent website that looks through multiple booking engines and can find great deals. Another website I found useful is www.booking.com. Make sure to try a few different hotel websites, as not all of them show every availability.
Enjoy your trip to Venice!
This article was originally published on Joel Garten's blog: The Beauty of Life. If you have questions about travel in Venice or in Europe, contact Joel Garten through Twitter www.twitter.com/@joelgarten or comment below. Be sure to check out Joel Garten's 10 Tips for Travel to Florence as well!
]]>Ten Tips for Travelling in Florencetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.16658292012-07-11T14:55:34-04:002012-09-10T05:12:03-04:00Joel Gartenhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-garten/
I recently spent a week in this graceful city, taking in the architectural and artistic treasures. Here are a few tips to help you enjoy a trip to Florence:
1) Take it slow, don't rush from site to site.
There is an overwhelming number of things to see -- churches, museums, gardens and monuments.
The real key to enjoying Florence is not to get overwhelmed, but rather to take it slow, and to develop something like a leisurely stroll through the city. Fortunately, everything is concentrated into a very compact central area, so it is easy to go from one site to another. So go slow, don't rush from one place to another, take time to take in the architecture and atmosphere. For example, in the Palazzo Pitti, spend time absorbing the beauty of the palace itself, rather than looking at each one of the hundreds of paintings stacked from floor to ceiling.
It is far better to wander around strolling through town from place to place, taking in the beauty and grace, looking at the charm of churches and palaces and gardens, stopping to admire a masterwork here and there. If you don't have time to see everything, it is better to miss a few things and to truly enjoy yourself.
2) Uffizi card
One of the best deals in the city is the Amici degli Uffizi card. You can buy the card in the Uffizi Gallery. (Ask at the museum where you can buy it so you don't have to wait in line.) The card costs €60 per person, less for families and students. It allows free and unlimited access to five State museums in Florence and it is valid to the end of the calendar year. Best of all, it allows you to cut the at times huge lines for the Uffizi (home to Botticelli's Birth of Venus) and the Accademia (home to Michelangelo's David). With the card you can go straight into the shorter lines for those with reservations. With the power of free admission and shorter wait times, you can enjoy the relaxed stroll I recommend, dipping into the Uffizi to see a few paintings here or there, stopping in at the Bargello Museum to see a couple of Donatellos, then wandering down to the Boboli Gardens for a relaxing time looking at the view over the city from a park bench.
The Uffizi card is best if you are spending a few days in the city, as it allows multiple entries to the museums, so you can return a couple of times to the Uffizi Gallery, for example. Taking in the whole Uffizi at once is a lot, as there are so many paintings, so being able to return a couple of times is a great plus. Another benefit is being able visit the Boboli Gardens several times, which is a refreshingly wonderful thing to do.
If you are only staying a day or two in the city, it might be a better deal to get the Firenze card ( €50 ) which allows only one entry to each museum over a 72-hour period, but covers a much greater variety of sights (up to 50 at last count, as well as use of the public transit system).
3) The Baptistery
The Duomo, along with the bell tower next to it and the baptistery right in front of it, are together some of the most beautiful buildings in Europe. While there is a lot of emphasis put on the Duomo, there is not a lot of attention paid to the Baptistery, which is a shame, as it has an incredibly beautiful interior. Its entire huge ceiling is covered in dazzling mosaics that date from the 1200s.
The entrance to the Baptistery is by one of its side doors, but first you need to buy a ticket. The ticket office is located in a building across the road to the right of the Baptistery, if you are looking with your back to the Duomo. (There is also a handy WC in the ticket office building.)
One of the nicest things about the Baptistery is that three nights a week it is open in the evening, until 10:30 pm, even though this is not advertised anywhere. During the evening opening hours you can buy a ticket directly at the side door. The Baptistery is beautiful and quiet in the evening and you get a very clear view of the mosaics without glare from the windows.
4) The Boboli Gardens
The Boboli Gardens are classical Italian gardens, with statuary, manicured lawns and topiary. They are a quiet and beautiful retreat, and a short walk up the main walkway leads to a romantic panorama across the city. The Gardens are located in the Pitti Palace complex, which is a quick walk across the river Arno from the Duomo. The walk from the Duomo passes over the beautiful Ponte Vecchio, an ancient bridge over the Arno River lined with jewellery shops.
5) Visit a couple of house museums
There are two beautiful house museums near the centre of town, the Bardini Museum and the Horne Museum. The Bardini Museum (not to be confused with the Bardini Villa) is a collection put together in the 19th century by an art dealer and preserves a wide assortment of paintings, sculptures and decorative arts from the Renaissance. It is housed in a beautiful palazzo and each room is painted a different shade of blue. The Horne Museum is another house museum, decorated to replicate the look of a Renaissance palazzo and has a rich collection of paintings and decorative arts. It is very atmospheric and it is worthwhile spending some time just taking in the beauty of each room.
6) Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio is Florence's original town hall and is replete with gilded ceilings and art treasures. There are room after room of frescoes and gilding, including a room with Bronzino frescoes.
One of the great things about the Palazzo Vecchio is that it is open everyday until midnight and in the evening there are few visitors so you can have the place to yourself. The Palazzo Vecchio also has a number of innovative tours offered including a tour of secret passages. These tours must be booked in advance.
7) The Duomo
You should absolutely spend time enjoying the exterior of the Duomo, it is dreamily beautiful. During my trip, I enjoyed looking at it many times a day. It is especially beautiful around sunset when it is illuminated against a deep blue sky.
During the morning there can be incredibly long lines to enter the Duomo. The best way to avoid these lines is to visit in the afternoon. Nevertheless, in general the interior is not as beautiful as the exterior, though it does have an impressively frescoed dome and intricate floor mosaics in marble. If you are cramped for time, you might decide to skip going inside the Duomo and go to the churches I recommend below.
Note that at the Duomo, as well as all Florentine churches, you are officially required to wear clothing that covers your shoulders and knees, though I never had problems wearing standard men's shorts that didn't cover my knees. The guards at the door can sometimes be picky though, especially for women wearing hot pants.
8) Churches to visit: Santa Maria Novella and Santissima Annunziata
There are many churches in Florence, and many of the smaller ones you might come across wandering through the city you can enter without any admission fee. If the front door is open, it usually means the church is open, though there is often a second set of doors just inside the outer doors that are usually closed. Feel free to open the second of doors and go in and look around. If there is a mass going on, though, it is best to limit your visit to a quick (and silent) peak.
Two of my favourite churches are the Santa Maria Novella Church and the Santissima (SS) Annunziata Church.
The Santa Maria Novella Church is close to the main train station (and in fact the station is named after it). It has a beautiful exterior, clad in marble, though not as stunning as the Duomo. The interior is what really shines at this church. It is a huge open space, with chapels graced by beautiful frescoes.
The SS Annunziata Church is located in a beautiful arcaded square. It is an enormous church with coloured marble columns and gilded ceilings and over-the-top Baroque side chapels.
9) Download a schedule and plan for Mondays
There is a very handy schedule that shows all of the major museums and sights in Florence and their opening and closing times. You can download it for free on the Florence Tourism website at this link : click on "Main Museums and Monuments of Florence: Opening Times" to download it.
You should know that the Uffizi Gallery and most of the Pitti Palace are closed on Mondays, along with some other sites, so it is best to plan ahead if you will be in Florence on a Monday. On the other hand, the Museum of the Orsanmichele Church is only open on Mondays. The church was formerly a granary, and the museum, on the upper floors of the church, has extremely high ceilings and is home to a collection of Renaissance statues that once lined the outside of the building.
10) Save on lunch
Food in Florence, as in much of Italy, can be very expensive. Rather than having a meal at a restaurant, I recommend buying some snacks -- such as some prosciutto, arugula and parmesan -- and enjoying a mini picnic as a way to save some money. There are several small grocery chains in the city, one of which is called Conad.
Bonus tip
You can visit Florence's smallest museum, the Bigallo, through the tourist information office across from the Duomo. It comprises two tiny rooms filled with paintings and frescoes. Access is granted once per hour during the day.
Enjoy your trip to Florence!
*This article was originally published on Joel Garten's blog: The Beauty of Life. If you have questions about travel in Florence or in Europe, contact Joel Garten through Twitter www.twitter.com/@joelgarten or comment below.
