Finally, we landed (or I landed, more exactly, since Sonja is stopping in another location) in the Hotel Belgrade. The room is rather small, yet it doesn't lack anything (a bigger soap bar would be desireable, though) and it is as clean as any hotel room in the world, and quite modern in its functional decoration. Immediately thereafter, we took off to rehearse the last piece of the program with Almir Meskovic, excellent local accordionist. This was my own transcription of Goran Bregovic's tango "Ausencia"(you can listen to it in its original version by Cesaria Evora here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXfzyc92EuI). I though that Sonja's idea of including a local talent in the concert was a perfect match to my own idea of including some tune that would bridge between tango and the serbian-bosnian world, so I did the transcription for violin, accordion and piano.

I had myself some typical Serbian food, went to get some rest (of course, I didn't) and at 7pm they picked me up to go to the concert.

Running a litlle bit ahead, I must say that I didn't play in a way that fully satisfied me. Part of it was the toll that the lack of sleep and the travelling had taken on me, but part of it was the strange design of the concert hall, with a very low ceilling at the stage level, and a very short stage. This led to me having to stand unusually close to the piano, and sounding as if I was playing into a shoe box (although professionals from the audience assured me that the sound came clean and neat). From another side, the crowd was really numerous (the hall was packed, in fact) and enthusiastic. One of the local professors, Irian Yashvili, happens to be the sister of my own teacher in Russia, and she attended the concert. Overall, everybody seemed happy with the program, and as an encore we did an improvisation (!) on sequences from Piazzolla's "Libertango" with Almir.

Now, in a couple of hours, I will be teaching a masterclass in the Music Academy.