Farewell from the Eggners

Since we were in Hawkes Bay, we had two very different days: yesterday a great Eggner-Trio-expedition-car-ride and today a relaxed concert day.

After enjoying an excellent fish for lunch in Napier we had an amazing trip to New Plymouth. Kiwis: be proud of your incredible beautiful country - the "forgotten world" was especially unforgettable!

Arriving safely in New Plymouth we three guys decided to celebrate the near end of our CMNZ-tour in an incredible delicious restaurant: it was altogether a superb "yam":-)

At our concert tonight in New Plymouth, it was such a pleasure to enjoy the huge audience and the numerous youth. Susan [New Plymouth Concert Manager] you did so well with that!

In the meanwhile we are so sad that our tour happened much too quickly ...everything happened much too suddenly ... time passed by too fast.

Thanks to you all, the audience, the whole staff at CMNZ, our friends ...we are so much looking forward to playing for you again!!!

Yours,

Christoph

The Eggner Trio

Christoph's update

Well, in Austria we have a saying that morning hour puts gold into your mouth. We felt this on the 23^rd of March, when we were picked up by Diana (many thanks for that, Diana!) at 6.30am from our hotel in Wellington to be driven to the Avalon studios to play a “late-night-tango” composed by Astor Piazzolla at 7.15am :)

The interviewer, Brendan Pongia, is a very nice guy and we enjoyed talking with him a lot …as we saw the kitchen in the studio, we immediately had witty ideas to make a video-clip that is about cooking and making music!

On the way back to Wellington we experienced a traffic jam and made jokes about the drive this afternoon to Palmerston North which would be shorter than the way back to the Intercontinental :)

By the way: thanks again a million Diana for your driving up to “Palmie North”: you saved us 10000k of energy for the concert there. It was a great concert for us there: I guess it was a very famous kiwi-pianist [Michael Houstoun] who shouted an extremely loud BRAVO at the end of the concert…so it was a must for us to play an encore and we had a lot of fun!

Arriving late at night in Wellington again, we slept as long as possible the next day till our rehearsal at the Wellington Town Hall in the afternoon. Our evening concert there, recorded by RNZ was a fantastic feeling for us (again!). Well, after that it was time for having a great party time with our Wellingtonian friends.

The same day we had to catch our aircraft at 11am for our Auckland concert with RNZ Concert on board again. After arriving there we had our second emergency fire drill within two weeks in NZ: while having lunch in the food-court of the Crowne-Plaza we had to evacuate the building like we did in the Intercontinental in WellingtonJ: we feel absolutely safe here in NZ. :)

The concert that evening in the Great Hall of the Auckland Town Hall was really like playing in the “Gewandhaus”, the famous European concert hall it was built after. During the reception afterwards we met a lot of lovely “new persons” and also a lot of “old friends”… even some ones from Australia were there!

The next day was for recreation: thanks James for letting me practise 6 hours in your amazing museum! :)

We then spent an unforgettable evening at Alastair's house: thanks a million for your inspiring society!

On Sunday, 27^th of March Florian was our great driver to Hamilton: the concert there was joy from the first to the last note…"Hamiltonians": be proud of the acoustic you have in your Gallagher Theatre!

Well, somehow today we enjoyed so much the lovely weather while our scenic drive from Hamilton to Napier thanks to Florian! The concert here went very well in the Municipal Theatre which was new and a big surprise for us! After the performance we had a lovely chat and a fantastic supper with the CMNZ staff from Napier: you all are gorgeous!

And right now I am sitting in an amazing Art-Deco-Five-Star-Hotel in Hawkes Bay and finish that blog for you while sending my best cheers to you all!

Yours Christoph

Eggner Trio on tour

The Eggner Trio are currently winging their way around the country, and delighting New Zealand audiences with their energy and passion. Cellist Florian Eggner recounts some of their experiences so far ...

Tuesday 15 March:

After a 23 hour flight we finally arrived in Wellington at about 6pm. That night we had a fantastic dinner and tried to catch some sleep afterwards. At 1.40 in the morning, there was a massively loud alarm going off in the hotel and a voice was telling us to take the nearest fire exit and leave the hotel immediately. 2 o'clock in the morning: it was raining and all hotel guests including us were standing outside the hotel, half naked, me and my cello. 3 o'clock: we were all allowed to go back into the hotel and finally catch some sleep.

 

Thursday 17 March:

We played a benefit concert for the Christchurch people in Wellington and were very happy to raise more than $16,000. (Thanks Chamber Music NZ for making this happen.)

Friday 18 March:

Today is our Dunedin concert. Right now I am at the airport and waiting for our plane to come. We already have more than two hours delay! We hope to be there in time. 14.30: Arrived in the hotel in Dunedin and are looking forward to tonight's concert. Weather is GREAT down here.

Saturday 19 March:

Had a beautiful journey from Dunedin to Invercagill. Beautiful landscape everywhere and nice sunny weather - just great to drive through.

Monday 21 March:

The sun is shining and we are having one of the best Pad Thai ever! Just another great day here in New Zealand.

Friday 25 March:

We arrived in Auckland at 12.00pm. We had some lovely lunch here and wanted to go back to the hotel to have a little nap before the concert starts. FIRE ALARM again? But this time we could go back to our rooms much earlier and still get some rest.

Saturday 26 March:

We have a day off in Auckland? YESSSS