2004 European Tour

Kit Cafaro and cellist Bob Cafaro enjoy a mother and son moment outside the Stadhalle in Braunschweig, Germany before a Philadelphia Orchestra performance.

My mother Kit always wanted to experience an overseas tour by The Philadelphia Orchestra and this was the year to give her that gift; a truly unique reward of child rearing. To anyone who may ask why a member of the Orchestra would bring their mother on tour, the answer is simple. I wanted to quit the cello beginning in eighth grade and my father was ready to give in and let me have my way. Yet Mom saw one step further and put her foot down. With angelic patience and perseverance, she ignored my immaturity and whining by following a mother's instincts. She refused to even consider the possibility of quitting the cello. Each day I play the cello now, the precious gift she worked so hard to preserve is deeply appreciated, as my youthful foolishness would have thrown it all away.

Is it difficult sharing a room with Mom on a 20 day, 8 country, 10 city European tour with a demanding performance schedule of 14 concerts? For starters Orchestra members and guests are allowed one suitcase each with a 44 pound weight limit, and one carry on bag. Serious advance efforts were made to ensure Mom complied by packing light, but when I somehow lifted her suitcase onto the check in scale at US Air in Philadelphia they informed us the suitcase weighed 73 pounds! This did not even include her 3 carry on bags we have somehow managed to bring on every flight, with one weighing in at almost 30 pounds. Relief came when Paris airport security lightened our load by confiscating a corkscrew from a Mom's carry on bag!