What's fun about going on tour? Sherry Sylar, Associate Principal Oboe, talks about her experience touring with the New York Philharmonic.

How long have you been with the New York Philharmonic?

16 years.

Of all the touring that you have done with the Philharmonic in that time, do you have a favorite tour?

I believe my favorite tour was to India. I think it was in 1985. It was only the second tour I had been on with the Orchestra. We were greeted by elephants and snake charmers. We got to meet Mrs. Gandhi (Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India). I was intrigued by the whole country. I got to see the Taj Mahal . It was just a really neat tour, during which, unfortunately, our English hornist Tom Stacy's father passed away. But because of that, Tom had to return home, and I moved up and played the big English horn solo in Copland's "Quiet City". This helped to make it a very memorable tour for me. We were also doing the New World Symphony, another piece with an important English horn solo. And this was all within six months of joining the Orchestra!

Now the Philharmonic is getting ready to travel to Europe again. Which of the cities are you looking forward to the most?

Oh, let's see. . . . I am happy to say, my brother is coming on this tour with me. He's four years younger than I am, and he has never been to Europe before. So I will enjoy every city, because I will be seeing them for the first time all over again. I have been to Europe at least 10 times, and after that many tours one tends not to go out as much, having done so much sightseeing before. But this time I'm going to go on the Amsterdam canal boat; I'll see the Eiffel Tower, and do all those things again. My brother especially wants to visit Auschwitz in Poland, when we visit Warsaw. That will be a somber and sobering kind of experience.

For you, what's the most fun about going on tour?

I enjoy seeing new cultures. And my fondest thing to do is to eat new foods. I go out in pursuit of the food of the country. That is what I really love. Cooking is my hobby, so I look for cooking utensils, spices, that kind of thing. When we're making music it's really, really neat to be part of such a great group and to watch the response of the people from different countries, and to see how much our music is appreciated in other countries throughout the world.