Be Happy

It has been raining heavily in Chiayi City over the past few days and today, too, it is pouring. The corridor outside of the University Hall at Chiayi University captures the voices and music behind closed doors accompanied by the rain beating down on the stone floor.

Throughout the morning, sectional rehearsals - breakout rehearsals by instruments - are taking place in different classrooms. Teachers can be heard persisting, chiding, and encouraging. Members of the orchestra are responding, playing over and over again the same phrases until perfect.

In one classroom, violinist Mr. Thanos Adamopoulos, long time AYO faculty member, coaches the violin section. Keep up the energy, don't let it wane, he directs. "Be happy to play, do not play sad!"

The orchestra's ubiquitous artistic director Mr. Richard Pontzious drops in to visit the section. He sits, listening and making observations. Then suddenly his attention shifts.

There's an emergency that must be resolved immediately. The concert hall's air conditioning has failed; the heavy rain from the day before had caused this. The orchestra would have to be moved to a different room for its afternoon rehearsal.

Logistics challenges such as these are daily fare for the trusted stage team. Under the leadership of general manager Mr. Keith Lau, however, solutions come quickly to save our day.