Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra 2009 Asian Tour

PSO principal oboe Cynthia DeAlmeida poses in front of a car parked in front of the hotel which awaits a wedding party. Celebrations here can have Western trappings, but may also include surprises, like firecrackers!

Violist Tatjana Chamis gets ready to board a bus to the hall, armed with a bottle of water. Musicians got used to keeping drinking water with them at all times on this trip.

A local guide gets ready to put a label in the bus window. The orchestra required at least three busses to transport the nearly 150 people to and fro.

A bin of lighters and matches sits outside the airport security gate, testament to airline regulations, and forgetful smokers!

Timpanist Tim Adams sits in a reverie at the airport.

The intake of one of the engines on the plane the PSO took from Beijing to Shanghai.

Traffic in Shanghai moved slightly more efficiently in Shanghai, but the air was hazy here too.

Astonishingly high overpasses in the center of town takes traffic soaring across neighborhoods, and then plunges down to go under one of the main rivers here.

This sculpture stands outside the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, dwarfing the traffic around it. Is it a satellite dish? An epee? A shishkabob skewer?

A clarinet reed is adjusted on the mouthpiece before being tightened down by the metal band, called a ligature.

The workings of the clarinet pose a maze of parallel levers, carefully adjusted to raise and lower the cups which cover the tone holes of the instrument. The underside of the cups are filled with pads which seal the tone holes. Any leaks can cause changes in tone and pitch of the instrument.

An arsenal of timpani sticks stands ready for the concert. Players collect and construct sticks with business ends of various sizes and textures. Hard sticks produce a brighter, sharper attack.

A bright smile from contrabassoonist Jim Rodgers.

A violinist tunes, twisting the peg to adjust the pitch of a string. To make the peg stay in place the player presses inwards while turning. The pegs of violins, violas, and cellos work on the same principle.

Bass pegs are completely different – they are metal screw mechanisms attached to the sides of the peg box. While one does occasionally see a bass with the simpler pegs of the smaller cousins of the string section, the mechanical system here makes fine adjustment of the massive and long strings of the bass much easier.

A pair of students waits at a bus stop. Text messaging is popular here, too!

Workers take a break, their simple hand cart laden with pallets a contrast to the luxury sports car parked behind them.

The doorway of an old house. Tiny and crowded, many of these old homes have been cleared away to make room for apartment buildings.

Deities in The City Temple of Shanghai. Each of these has a specialty, such as Health or Wisdom.

Ellen-Maria Willis, Adam Liu, and Alison Fujito look over the main altar of the temple. The air here is hazy from burning incense, the smoke of which is said to carry the prayers of the faithful to heaven.

Red prayer ribbons are adorned with the names of supplicants and fastened before cases containing the various deities.

Visitors rub their hands on this large bell and then on their bodies to remove any afflictions.

An impressive array of silk fabric is on display here at in a local shop.