• About Jeff von der Schmidt, the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble & LA International New Music Festival

Sound Travels with Jeff von der Schmidt

~ A blog about new music, travel and food

Sound Travels with Jeff von der Schmidt

Category Archives: Travel

Hwy. 128 & the Redwood Vineyards of the Russian River Valley

22 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Anderson Valley, California wine, Healdsburg, Russian River, San Francisco, Travel, Uncategorized

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Armstrong Redwood Grove, Global Climate Action Summit, Golden Eye Vineyard, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. Jerry Brown, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Highway 128, Navarro Vineyards, Penny Royal Farms, Rise for Climate March, San Francisco, September, Toulouse Winery

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Navarro Vineyards in the Anderson Valley on Hwy. 128.

The combination of late summer and early autumn make September a beautiful time of the year. Our ninth calendar month admits seasonal blur by stubbornly retaining its seventh month name (from the ancient Romans, whose year had ten months beginning in our March). A returning temporal and psychological equinox, often both the Rosh Hashanah New Year of the Jewish calendar and the Autumn Moon Festival in Asia occur in September. Mirroring a farmer’s almanac, we journey from one state of mind to another as fruit and leaves ripen and fall.

I’m also thankful to my parents for making September a now indelible part of my year. This month of change includes, within less than ten days of each other, the memorial day of the death of my father and the anniversary day of the birth of my mother.

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Black Cardamom & Star Anise at the Đồng Xuân Market in Hà Nội

08 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Farmers Markets, Food, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Minh Dam Quang, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Black Cardamom, Dam Quang MInh, Dong Xuan Market, French cuisine, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, India cuisine, Paris, Tet Lunar New Year 2018, Vietnamese Cuisine, Vu Nhat Tan

ED0A4C84-59BD-4F54-9C21-FC9A2EB3ACA6

The alley leading to the Đồng Xuân Market.

There are elements of Vietnamese culture that invest significantly in symbolism. Colors. Numbers. Days of the week. Seasons of the year. Phases of the lunar cycle. I-Ching astrological fortune tellers play important and still visible societal roles. Your given name has a deeply considered poetic meaning.

And the cuisine of Việt Nam?

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Forest Chants & Mountain Walks With New & Old Friends in Kyoto

21 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Buddhism, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Japan, Kyoto, Music, Travel, Uncategorized

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Buddhism, Enrakuji Temple, Gregorian Chant, Guanyin, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine, Kyoto, Maki Takafuji, Mt. Wu Tai, Ohara, Sanzen-in Temple, Seiryu-den Observation Deck, Shogun-Zuka Temple, Shomyo Buddhist Chanting, Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, Travel, Walking Meditation

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Meeting Maki Takafuji for the first time at Seiryu-den in Kyoto.

The city of Kyoto can be a paradox. The functional train station, workaday streets and boulevards, the normal comings and goings of its citizens, the overall grey quality of most of the recent architecture, all can elicit a potentially ambivalent response. Kyoto is a UNESCO World Heritage City with an extraordinary endowment of timeless shrines, temples, mind boggling handicrafts, legendary ceramics, world class tea and sake production, the legendary home of Noh and Kabuki, and maintains all the splendor of the once ancient capital of Japan. At first appearance, however, these wonders seem very hidden, as if the greatness of Kyoto is itself wrapped in a confusing furoshiki of the modern world.

But whereas the Vatican in Rome is housed in the magisterial architecture of the Renaissance, the sibling city for Buddhism in Kyoto is an ongoing interaction with nature. You will experience more open doors framing a view of nature in a Zen Temple in Kyoto than any Catholic Church in Rome.

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The Eternal City of Huế

07 Saturday Oct 2017

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Buddhism, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Ancient Ensemble of Hue, Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Anthony Bourdain, Buddhism, Dam Quang MInh, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Hue Citadel, Kodo Drummers, Lan Huong, Perfume River, Sado Isalnd, Thien Mu Pagoda, Vu Nhat Tan

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Eternal Việt Nam and the Sông Hương, the River of Perfume, in Huế. Photo by Lan Hương.

It has been eleven years since I visited the city of Huế, considered the Vatican of Vietnamese Buddhism. Despite the horrific battles fought here in 1968 during the Tết Offensive, a calm spirituality infuses the area. You glimpse this on the long highway road from Đà Nẵng. Sandwiched between busy shops and food stands are more Buddhist temples that I could count.

The language is different. The cuisine is different. The atmosphere is different.

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Welcome to Sound Travels!

28 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Contemporary Music, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, LA International New Music Festival, Southwest Chamber Music, Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam

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Anthony Bourdain, Bill Clinton, Chasen's Restaurant, Food, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Jeff von der Schmidt, Julia Child, Kaiseki, LA International New Music Festival, Tambuco Ensemble, Tomasso Restaurant, Travel

2017-05-24 10.34.42

A big thank you to all my blog readers around the world!

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog, all 22,347 of you, from every continent on Planet Earth!

Let me start my post with gratitude to my Top Ten Countries, grouping them in a geographical if not statistical order. Those readers start, naturally close to home since I live in California, with the United States and Canada. Southeast Asian friends and travelers to Việt Nam, Singapore and Malaysia are big readers and then, perhaps, journey to the inspiring Old World of England, Germany and France (which is becoming new again in the 21st century), looking for tips and ideas from my posts. People interested in the vibrant life colors of Latin America join in from Brazil and México. All in all, our readership is in over 150 countries from every continent around the globe.

After almost four years and 115 posts, it’s time for a little upkeep. Let’s welcome my new blog name of Sound Travels!

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Périgueux & A Most Beautiful Farmers Market in France

25 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Food, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Music, Paris, Perigueux, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam

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Cezanne, Chasen's Restaurant, Dalton Trumbo, Dordgogne, Food, French Food, Gregory Peck, Hector Berlioz, Humphrey Bogart, In Search of Lost Time, L'Essentiel Restaurant, Lauren Bacall, Marlon Brando, Perigueux, Proust, Travel, Truffles

2017-05-27 10.18.45

The delicious red strawberries at the Saturday Farmers Market of Périgueux.

With an apple I will astonish Paris. Paul Cézanne

The impressions of the sights and smells of cuisine, of tea, of sweet and warm baked madeleines, of savory asparagus, permeate the towering pages of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. The still life paintings of Paul Cézanne helped shift perception in the visual arts to a new way of geometric seeing, the French translation of still life, nature morte, a telling Gallic metaphor for a symbolic death. The musical fruits of Erik Satie would astonish a dismissive public when he wrote Trois morceaux en forme de poire.

Cuisine, with all its timeworn clichés, still defines France.

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A Few Berlin Stories & A New Hall for Pierre Boulez

13 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Arnold Schoenberg, Christopher Isherwood, Composers, Contemporary Music, Diplomacy, Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Kent Nagano, Music, Paris, Travel, Uncategorized, Vienna, Vietnam

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Arnold Schoenberg, Berlin, Caspar David Frierich, Checkpoint Charlie, Christopher Isherwood, Daniel Barenboim, Daniel Liebeskind, Edward Said, Frank Gehry, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Holocuast Memorial Berlin, Kent Nagano, Pierre Boulez, Pierre Boulez Saal, Reichstag, Silke Hilger, Travel, Universal Music, West-Divan Orchestra, Yasuhisa Toyota

2017-06-07 16.49.00

Enjoying Caspar David Friedrich in Berlin

Berliners love to talk – with a blunt directness which is both rude and friendly – and even in their grumbling there is a note of pleasure. Christopher Isherwood

I’ve benefited from a good dose of internal California breathing space after visiting Berlin last month. The city was long overdue for me to experience and this was my first chance. And my lasting impression is not of monuments, museums, concerts or one of the best bus systems on the planet. No, my memory remains fixed on one thing.

Charming, grumbling, and usually laughing Berliners!

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Who Knew? Chez Janou and 80 Types of Pastis in Paris

16 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Buddhism, Composers, Contemporary Music, Food, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Japan, Kim Ngoc Tran, Kyoto, LA International New Music Festival, Los Angeles, Minh Dam Quang, Paris, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Ancient Ensemble of Tonkin, Asia, Buddhism, Chez Janou, Dam Quang MInh, Food, French Food, Gilbert Nouno, Guangxi Arts Festival, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, India, IRCAM, Munich Biennale, Paris, Pastis, Pierre Boulez, Travel, Vietnam

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Jan at Chez Janou.

Invariably, when one searches the internet for restaurant reviews of places to go in Paris, the general observation includes a few “rude service” comments. Personally, I’ve never experienced what they’re talking about, but that might be because I have a decent amount of French. I’ve always found Parisians pretty easy going if you just say “Bonjour” when you walk into a restaurant or a shop. You aren’t the first tourist they’ve ever seen. Smiles always help you.

Jan and I are in Europe for planning meetings for next steps for our Hà Nội New Music Ensemble in Việt Nam. Things are moving forward, for while we’re in Europe, my Vietnamese colleagues have concerts in Hà Nội with the directors of the Münchner Biennale and then tour to the Guangxi Festival in Nanning, China. By dividing our resources we’re getting ready for an ambitious future.

Allow me to share with you where a Parisian friend recommended we meet for dinner? And the staff is friendly and fantastic. Feel free to make your own reservation!

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Nine Chapters of the Rain at the Manzi Center with the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble, Friday May 5

01 Monday May 2017

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Composers, Contemporary Music, Diplomacy, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Kim Ngoc Tran, Music, Nguyen Minh Nhat, Paris, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Asia, Bela Bartók, CBS News, Hanoi, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, James Nash, Joan Huang, Manzi Art Space, Ngo Tra My, Nguyen Minh Nhat, Nguyen Thien Dao, Nguyen Truong Bang, Paris, Peet's Coffee, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Vu Nhat Tan

2015-10-29 20.13.35

The Hà Nội New Music Ensemble will be at the Manzi Art Center on Friday, May 5.

2017 is the Year of the Fire Rooster. Which means that, if you appreciate the worldview of Asian lunar astrology, it’s a time used best for ambitious planning and strategy. Political events will demonstrate obnoxious “Cock-a-Doodle-Doo’s!”, from missile tests launched by Pyongyang, protest marches in the United States, Brexit negotiations between London and the EU, or another divisive election, this time in France. Add the element of FIRE to your alarm clock and you’ll at least understand the shared global anxiety about coming events.

However focusing, perhaps nervously, on these incendiary realities misses the best opportunity provided by the Year of the Fire Rooster. There is no need to panic.

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The Markets of Mérida and Valladolid with a Glass of Xtabentún

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Chichen Itza, Cobá, Food, Merida, Mexico, Music, Paseo de Montejo, Travel, Tulum, Uncategorized, Uxmal, Valladolid, Yucatan

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Achiote, Apoala, Casa de Los Venados, Food, La Chaya Maya, Merida, Mexican cheese, Mexico, Sosa Xtabentun, The Coffee Bike Station, Travel, Valladolid, Xtabentun

2017-02-12 11.39.38

Happy to meet the owner of Pescaderia La Tempesta in Mérida.

“…poor México, poor United States, so far from God, so near to each other.” Carlos Fuentes The Crystal Frontier

“Hola, amigo gringo!” The friendly fishmonger of Pescaderia La Tempesta looked at me kindly as I was admiring his catch of the day at the Mercado Lucas de Gálvez in downtown Mérida, the capitol city of the Mayan Yucatan.

“I’ll hire gringo immigrants when La Naranja finally drives you loco! Come here, put on an apron and visit my shop.” Little did my new friend know that I’d grown up in a white apron, working for my parents in our family restaurant. I was not a fish out of water.

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