If you’re a fan of travel guru Rick Steves, then you likely know he’s an accomplished pianist. So maybe it’s not terribly surprising that the Washington State-based writer, podcaster, television presenter, tour operator and all-around travel advocate will perform with the the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in March.
However, Steves won’t tickle the ivories during the two performances of “Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey,” the evening of Saturday, March 11 with a matinee on Sunday, March 12 at the Bradley Symphony Center, 212 W. Wisconsin Ave.
“It's a show where I get to take people on a musical tour around Europe, stopping in in six or seven different countries,” Steves says. “I get to be the tour guide and for each piece I introduce the piece and put it in a historical context, and then the screen comes down and we have beautiful images from that country as the orchestra plays that piece.
“What I'm illustrating, we start off with ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,” and I remind people how all our hearts kind of pitter-patter when we hear something close to our culture like Aaron Copeland or John Philip Sousa or ‘America the Beautiful.’ And then I remind people that every country has that same kind of musical patriotism.”
The musical and informational tour will encompass Norway, Italy, France, the Czech Republic and other favorite travel destinations. The music, Steves says, will focus on the Romantic Era in the 19th century.
That, he adds, is, “when romanticism was the natural cheerleader of national movements.
“And in the end, we just celebrate Europe's passion for self-determination and freedom with Beethoven's ‘Ode to Joy.’ So it's just a real fun concert. I've given it all over the country, and it sounds like we've got a couple of enthusiastic crowds that are going to gather together for two concerts in Milwaukee.”
Is Steves is disappointed he won’t get a chance to play with the orchestra?
“Oh, no,” he says with a laugh. “That would not be good.”
But, despite his modesty, Steves’ musical past is deep, having played in the band at college and given piano lessons.
“My first trips to Europe were going to Germany to visit the piano factories with my dad, who imported pianos,” he added.
Still, Steves is passionate about these performances with American orchestras.
“I'm also a historian and I just love how we can open ourselves up to the same thrills that the Czech people get when they hear ‘Smetana’ or the Viennese, the goosebumps they get when they hear a Strauss waltz or the Norwegians when they feel the beauty of the Fjord country coming through in the music of Edvard Grieg.
“I get to stand on stage and give people the context for this piece, and it's amazing how that little bit of good tour guiding, especially with the images they're going to see, gives the next piece powerful context. And it's just a real way to gain appreciation for music, especially during the Romantic Age. Creative directors and symphonies love this and it's been a popular show.”
The show is a logical extension of Steves’ decades of not only urging people to travel and dive headlong into other cultures to meet people who can lead them to a broader, more open-minded international consciousness, but also of demystifying the practical side of travel and making it seem much more do-able to many, especially those with limited budgets.
Never one just to present a list of popular tourist attractions, Steves has always encouraged traveling "off the beaten path" – meeting people, staying at independent hotels and inns run by locals, dining at family owned restaurants and appreciating history, art and culture.
The MSO show can help us deepen an appreciation for other cultures and to feel a kinship with people whose countries also fought for independence and treasure freedom.
“That is exactly my goal,” he says. “And it's just a fun-loving way to remind Americans not to be too ethnocentric, be open to other cultures.”
Details on tickets, performance times and more for “Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey” can be found here.
During his visit, Steves will also appear at an event in support of Milwaukee PBS at Dominican High School, 120 E. Silver Spring Dr. in Whitefish Bay.
On Sunday, March 12 at 7 p.m. Steves will give a 90-minute talk – called “European Travel: Beyond the Familiar” – about the current travel situation in Europe.
“It's going to be a very practical and entertaining update on what's going on in Europe right now post-COVID and with the war in Ukraine and so on,” Steves says.
“And also just how to have an economic and efficient experience, but also how to have the most vivid experience. What do you do to really have transformational travel, to get the value of travel?”
Ex-Fabula will also be on hand collecting short travel stories from audience members. Some of the stories will be shared at the event.
Tickets can be purchased here.
“Whenever I'm in town, I like to help out with the local public television station,” Steves says. “So this is a fundraiser for Milwaukee PBS. I'm really thankful to have public television as a platform so I can share my passion for Europe.”
Steves notes that he’s spent more than 100 days a year in Europe for the past 40 years and has never run out of new and exciting things to see and do. This summer, he’s headed to Poland and Iceland to film some new episodes.
“I've been there a lot in the last six months. My latest thing is long distance hikes on venerable trails in the Alps,” he says, “and that's a lot of fun. Also, barging on the canals of Bergendal.”
But, Steves says, his talk here will focus heavily on the travel realities of the moment and how to best prepare for them.
“How to travel during the pandemic, as I'm sure we'll be dealing with a little bit of COVID going forward in 2023,” Steves explains. “People do have to understand that there are new ways to travel and there's also going to be huge crowds. How to deal with crowds, because crowds are a big problem.
“The importance of planning a smart itinerary to give people the ability to turn their travel dreams into smooth and affordable reality. Not my travel dreams for them, but help them know that there's many different ways to enjoy Europe. And if they just equip themselves with good information and expect themselves to travel smart, they can.”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He can be heard weekly on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories.
