by Keiran Campbell
The next few days are a whirlwind of vivid sights, smells, and experiences, as we wake up the morning after the Incheon concert and drive straight to Daegu, which is about 4 hours away by bus. Along the way, we make a quick stop at a rest stop for coffee and snacks. Some are unfamiliar to me, like Eopo (fried fish jerky), but others are very familiar, like one of my favourite snacks, Hodugwaja, which is a walnut-shaped pastry filled with sweet red bean or mung bean paste. You can easily find these and other traditional Korean sweets at home in Toronto very close to Trinity St. Paul’s, at Hodo Kwaja, 656 Bloor Street West. They are especially lovely to have on a grey winter afternoon with a big cup of coffee.
We don’t see much of Daegu, as once we arrive we head straight to the hall for our warm up before the 5pm concert. All goes very well, and afterwards we are treated to a wonderful dinner of Korean barbecue by Eagon Concerts representatives. I am told that Daegu is often referred to as “the Texas of Korea” because of the hot summer temperatures and relatively conservative politics, but based on my very limited experience in the neighborhood of our hotel, I would almost be more inclined to call it the “Las Vegas of Korea,” since restaurants, lively karaoke bars, amusement parks, and even casinos (attached to our own hotel!) abound.
The next morning we load up our bus and head to Busan, Korea’s second largest city, which is world famous for its fishing industry. The city is nestled in dramatic, rolling hills, and spills right onto the beach. We arrive around lunch time and immediately go to a fantastic seafood restaurant, which is quite the experience. Before entering the upstairs dining room, we all remove our shoes and leave them by the door, and then we tuck into a feast consisting of flounder sashimi, various pickled vegetables (some from land, and some from sea!), a delicate fishbone soup, and some of us even try still-wriggling octopus sashimi! After lunch we take a quick tour of the world-famous Jagalchi Market, a large hall with a dizzying array of fresh (think still swimming) seafood. We pass by rows and rows of tanks containing crabs, mussels, clams, eels, octopi, squid, tuna, and all sorts of deep-sea fish that I’m sure I haven’t seen before. My favourite part of the market is that there are restaurants upstairs ready to cook and serve up anything you might buy.
At 5pm we play our third show, and the audience seems to love it—the audience can’t get enough of Rachel, as their roar is quite overwhelming after her last encore! Some of the orchestra goes out afterwards for a fabulous fish-soup dinner, and some choose to stay in and rest, as it’s been quite an exhausting two days!
Keiran Campbell was drawn to the cello after he stumbled across one in his grandmother’s basement and was baffled by its size. Once he turned 8, he began taking lessons—on a much smaller cello—in his native Greensboro, North Carolina. After studying extensively with Leonid Zilper, former solo cellist of the Bolshoi Ballet, he received his Bachelors and Masters at the Juilliard School, working with Darrett Adkins, Timothy Eddy, and Phoebe Carrai. Keiran also spent several springs in Cornwall, England, studying with Steven Isserlis and Ralph Kirshbaum at Prussia Cove.
Join us at Brilliant Baroque
Wish you were on tour? Tafelmusik and Rachel Podger bring the music of their South Korean tour home to Jeanne Lamon Hall with Brilliant Baroque, January 31-February 2, 2025.
Tour generously sponsored by
