Painting Red Square

Danny; Moscow to Kaluga to Moscow, 6/28-29/13

We are on the train from Yaroslavl to Moscow this morning, a four hour trip heading back to perform an outdoor concert with the Moscow Symphony. We are returning from an overnight stay in Yaroslavl where we played on a Jazz cruise that took us down the Volga river towards the Caspian Sea. I'll be writing about that a little later, in the mean time let's get back to Red Square.

We walked from the Bolshoi towards the Kremlin and Red Square. You can see the old KGB building at the end of the street in the previous picture.

The Parliament building

the walls of the Kremlin and the portal into Red Square

One of the many beautiful churches the we have seen, this one by the Red Square.

One of the great Marshals that is a hero and instrumental in defeating Napoleon in the war if 1812

The guys walking along the lined parade route towards one of the recognizable buildings in the world.
It was built during the reign of Ivan the Terrible and when it was completed, he thought it the most beautiful of all buildings. He had the eyes of the architect gouged out so that it could never be duplicated anywhere else.

We also saw Lennin's tomb and the eternal flame.

I really felt like a tourist here in the same way I feel when I visit Washington D.C. There are many similarities between the Mall and Red square, but even more between the people who visit both places.

a grotto built using parts from earlier walls and antiquities of the area.

The beautiful gardens near the Kremlin. Russians love flowers.

Moscow at night is stunning and beautiful, we walked on into the night and reveled in all it's magnificence and wonder.

White Knights

Danny; Moscow, 6/27/13 Evening:
After our rehearsal my percussion student and friend from Mannes College the New School for Music, met us at our hotel and drove us into the center of Moscow. Andrey gave us a tour of some great and famous cultural locations.

This is Moscow Conservatory that produced some of the greatest composers and musicians in the world. Tchaikovsky is immortalized in this statue outside the school.

Andrey has been studying percussion here as well as attending Mannes. He is going to San Francisco conservatory this Fall.

We ran into a trio of his conservatory friends playing some great folk tunes outside a cafe on the promenade near the Bolshoi Theater.

Bolshoi means big in Russian and that's an understatement for the size of the famous theater that is the home to probably the finest ballet company in the world, the Bolshoi Ballet. This whole area has so many theaters and cultural institutions that are legends here and internationally. In my first blog I this trip I mentioned that one I the reasons the US sent out Dizzy's 18 piece band on the first Jazz Cultural Diplomacy tour was because we could not compete with classical groups like the Bolshoi.

Some skaters showing off their skills outside the theater.

A fluid shot of Cotton Eye Joe Ravo.
the whole area reminds me of Lincoln Center an the Fountain except on a much grander scale.

The "small theater" next to the Bolshoi.

The fountain an one of the great Moscow hotels in the background.

One of the smaller theaters that housed the Russian Orchestra Festival this year.

Andrey and my fellow comrades headed of the see Red Square and the Kremlin.