Karen Woods

One of the joys of travel is the opportunity to meet people from different walks of life.

A visit to Chicago’s Symphony Center to hear Yo-Yo Ma and the city’s  renowned orchestra (the third best in the world, according to my guide book) was also a chance to talk to some fascinating Americans.

There was a party from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Four parents, sundry chaperones and a marching band of 88 high school musicians. They’d driven 12 hours overnight in a bus to take part in a competition and were taking in a concert during their trip to the Windy City. All still full of beans despite their journey.

And I discovered a rare beast, an old-style US radical, proud to call himself a socialist in a land where the word ‘libera;’ is usually used as an insult. We had a marvellous conversation about Obama, Mayor Daley, David Cameron and Chicago’s plans to privitise its water supply (We’ve already done that in the UK, I told him). We talked of corruption, big money and class consciousness. How refreshing. How honest.

And the concert? Well, it started with an excellent work by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas and finished with Shostakovich 6. And Yo -Yo?  Well, he was lumbered with  a cello concerto (called Cello Concerto) by the famous Uzbek composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky. The usual confection of discordant noise with copious use of percussion. Such a shame. Yo-Yo sat on the stage and produced a variety of notes. We all clapped politely. Actually, some of the audience went into a surprising frenzy of whooping and hollering. Maybe they were all exiled Uzbeks? But the master should have played Bach….