Happy Christmas

A Festival of Carols in 2' video - go on, have a look; Last chance to see in apt times!

We had a lovely time in Belgium pre-Christmas... the last three concerts were as good as the first... in Scherpenheuvel, Ternat & Bruges.
All with the splendid lights and sound of Koen Dilliën, our most excellent guide through these four concerts...

Also wonderful to have Chris Hatt on piano, as well as all of his gorgeous family on tour with us.
It was definitely a crescendo towards Christmas, with each concert/venue being better than the last... but all three were great.

Glorious Scherpenheuvel, Terrific Première in Ternat, and the beautiful Stadsschouwberg Bruges to finish... (the city below, and the theatre above!)

As ever in Belgium we were looked after brilliantly by all & enjoyed our food before and after the concerts.

And suddenly we find ourselves post-Christmas, having a jolly time in the cabaret venue, The Pheasantry on the Kings Road, Chelsea.
Still some room for a small one tonight and tomorrow should you wish!
Already had two excellent nights; Chris Hatt still with us; and it is great to exercise the pure cabaret muscle, and leave the serious (but of course beautiful) Christmas pieces behind...

Two more concerts and then let 2017 begin!

Champs Hill concert, In Tune & Belgian tour starts

Festival of Carols in Two Minutes Vienna video is HERE
Go on - have a wee look!

We went to a wonderful party...
At the home of the glorious record company, and of course David and Mary, we performed in the lovely hall here surrounded as ever by great art, with a terrific piano (played terrifically as ever by Chris Hatt), an evening of Christmas jollity.

Of course, a lovely room to sing in, and a hall packed to the rafters - a new experience; to record an album in a room, and then go back six months later to the same room and perform a vast amount of it to an audience!

My dressing room was invaded by this little chap... he wasn't after my socks luckily!

A splendid afternoon at the BBC in the company of Sean Rafferty and the Team at In Tune...
Four songs from A Song for Christmas & two bits of interview too!  Chris Hatt was there too!

You can listen again here: Starting at 1'25"
(Of course the other guests were all marvellous too!)
We sing:
Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!
A Festival of Carols in Two Minutes
Nativitie
&
Twelve Days to Christmas (from She Loves Me)

Sean was as ever professionalism itself and a delight to chat to.

Then it was up early the next morning for the Eurostar to Belgium (thank goodness we're not flying anywhere at the moment!) and a 2PM concert at Vilvoorde.  The audience were well up for a Christmas afternoon and great fun was had by all.  Elke and her team looked after us very well.
We also were joined, as we shall be for all of these gigs, Koen on sound and lights; a splendid addition to the team and how excellent he was! (In fact he is hard at work as I write to make sure Scherpenheuvel is an equal success...)
Here is the beautiful Scherpenheuvel Basiliek (that is not a giant snake, for any Harry Potter fans)

Three concerts until Christmas; Scherpenheuvel, Ternat and Bruges... then after it is our four nights at The Pheasantry on the Kings Road, Chelsea (27th-30th Dec)... have you bought your tickets yet?

A Busy two weeks

Phew...
...the last fortnight has been busy...

We started in late November in the splendid Voice Mania Festival in Vienna, where we performed a 'mitsing' concert as we have previously in Bayreuth...
Hearing a room of Viennese singing Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus with us was especially tremendous in the very home of Classical music!
But they loved everything else too... seemed to know London's Burning round already! - and sang Oh Susanna (Foster) as if they were from Alabama!
Lovely to be back once again, and looking forward to many returns!

We also chased around the city doing some filming... we cannot say much more about that yet... but we will very soon... we also filmed in London the following week... all to be revealed anon!

Then it was a sojourn to Germany.
We started with three nights singing in a beautiful arts centre-cum-restaurant situated in a grand old Post Office - don't think low-ceiling British, think art gallery, in Pirmasens!
Three lovely evenings of good food and Christmas jollity...
The first made all the more glorious by our luggage having been sent to Nuremberg instead of Frankfurt... just a few hundred miles out.
In general we're pretty lucky with luggage going astray and have previously had to borrow clothes when one bag has gone missing... all four of our bags not appearing has only happened once before...
So we did a vast majority of the first night in our own clothes. no-one minded, and many thought this was an elaborate joke!
...and here we are (we looked better for 68% of the time!)!

But the three nights there were a delight, it was good to be still for a while!  We were treated very well and shared lots of lovely food!

Sonja - who runs the place - and Tobi the technician were terrific (& he even helped our doing a wee bit more filming - splendid chap!)

We had a little drive to Hameln (where the rats fled from) - just the five hours - for a 6PM concert in the theatre there... our third visit & a lovely place with excellent technicians with imagination and skill.
And we were joined by Chris Hatt at the piano - hotfoot from helping to prepare a new production of musical Chaplin in Belgium... very pleased he could fit us in to his schedule.
We had a delightful evening singing many of the tracks from the new CD - A Song for Christmas in case you missed it! - for the very first time live...
...and here's a review (in German, but all should get the gist!)

We finished early enough to have a wonderful meal in our hotel, just a few hundred metres from the theatre (always a joy)

And then whilst fine dining is in the mind, we had the delight of performing in the Church in the grounds of the Michelin-starred restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Great Milton, OXON.... they run a few evenings before Christmas coupled with music and readings...
We were paired last night with the hilarious John Sergeant, who read some terrific pieces... from Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole and Richmal Crompton's Just William; to a letter home from WWI and the Grosmiths' Diary of a Nobody... delightful to meet him again, we met last year at the Royal Albert Hall Bloodwise gala.
The night before us, my old school choir were performing, Trinity Boys Choir, and it was lovely to get a cheery message from the Director of Music as we arrived (via the organisers!)

We sang even more music from our new album and the atmosphere in the church was Festivity itself... we were joined by the excellent Paul Plummer - great he had time to come down from Glasgow and share the evening with us; always a delight to work with.
Having heard music from Germany, Belgium, Britain and France, & the title song of our CD - A Song for Christmas AND had three singalong carols, the people left the church with Let It Snow! on their mind... even tho' it had indeed been sunny and pretty warm all day!

Merry Christmas one and all...

German tourette

Three splendid evenings on a mini tour of Germany...
Illingen (Saar), Langenau and Lahr...

The first two evenings were an outing of our Dinner for 4 show which was a Feast in all manner of musical styles... from Monteverdi's Lamenta della Ninfa to Jason Mraz's I'm Yours...
...with a few references to Dinner for One - the New Year comedy classic that the mainland Europeans know so much better than we do... (do have a look, if you do not know it, fellow Britains!)
We were returning to both places & it was as ever lovely to meet old friends - excellent to introduce the new group to everyone.

We met our first snowfall of the season too... which was fun; even if it did put at least an extra hour onto all our drives over the four days!

The third evening was an a cappella nacht, organised as ever with aplomb by Peter Martin Jacob; we met two groups who are old friends and colleagues vocaldente, who we met previously in Vienna (as part of the Voicemania Festival - where we are again next week); and also the lovely medlz... four young ladies from Dresden... Excellent to see them all again... and to sing Stand by Me as a massive encore altogether at the end of the night... marvellous.

And then at the end, we experienced a new airport...(yes, simple things etc)... Karslruhe Baden Baden was a good experience... although the power points were only available in the kids play area...

Bayreuth Mitsing #2

Another glory... one of our periodic concerts in a brewery!
Hooray!
This was another Mitsing evening where the audience join in in most of the songs... what fun it was - again...

Herzogkeller was a fantastic venue with a very welcoming atmosphere (and of course splendid beer!)...and lovely ever-attentive staff.

A large crowd appeared ready to sing, and accompanied us in varied styles and songs... We sang together (amongst other things) Yesterday, Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus (in 4-part harmony), Simon & Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence, two songs from America's deep south - one of those in German! -  and Jason Mraz's I'm Yours...
Phew!

Some old faces (well, not old exactly, but seen before by us!), as well as new friends... chatting afterwards with enthusiasm and joy.  Also we were able to have some of the lovely local beer... what excellence...

We also had the first opportunity of selling copies of our new CD - A Song for Christmas - and people bought them too!

In the hotel afterwards, Wagner borrowed Chris's phone for a few calls... (tho' he wasn't very talkative!)

More Germany at the end of this week... details on our site, but we are at Illingen, Saar; Langenau & Lahr... Thursday-Saturday.

Burt Kwouk Memorial

Another moving chapter in our adventures in Memorial singing... and this one a bit of a reunion...

This time the man to be celebrated was the actor Burt Kwouk... he was a great fan of barbershop; and so for this gig we were not really the London Quartet as we had to be all-male (sorry, Sarah-Ann!)... also we were asked to be five-part by the arranger & old friend of Burt's, Kenny Clayton.
To add to the changes, Chris is at home awaiting the birth of his and Stephanie's firstborn (good luck!)...

Thus we were in fact a remarkable line-up of Cantabile - the London Quartet old and new...

Richard Bryan  counter-tenor
William Purefoy  counter-tenor (a member in the early 90s)
Steven Brooks  tenor
Mark Fleming  tenor
Michael Steffan  bass-baritone
...an ensemble that had never sung together before; although the music business being as small a world as any other, everyone knew each other!

We accompanied friends of Burt in a piece written by Kenny; friends including Barry Cryer, Harry Hill & Paul Ryan...

Of course, as with all such occasions, it was uplifting, moving, as well as full of joy... Burt's wife, Caroline spoke beautifully & his 'best bits' were also shown on film...

We may have spent some time in The Lamb & Flag afterwards... what larks!

German Summer Sunshine

Two terrific nights in Germany... surrounded by lots of wonderful singers and artists!

We did these two particular gigs in the same way three years ago...& it was great to be back.

First to Fritzlar... in the North! (quite near Holland)
In the old town... in the open air...
We had a fabulous time; singing Beatles, Mills Brothers, Hi-Lo's, Manhattan Transfer, 16th century Pavane by Thoinot Arbeau & Adele; as well as instructions as to how to make Tea set to the National Anthem... a glorious German text by our old friend Rainer Wallraf...
Both nights a great joy and success....

As so often, we met old and new friends!
The brilliant Sebastian Fuchs who we worked with in Bayreuth last year, did a fantastic double act with Tobias Wenger aka Wall Clown .. a tremendous act which has had huge success in recent years; at the Edinburgh Festival too... quite breathtaking... Sebastian provides the sound track (with his mouth only!) and Tobias - with the aid of a camera turned through 90° - acts as if can float in mid air and defy gravity... as you can see both Tobias' antics on the floor, and a screen with everything the 'right' way up, it is a mesmerizing display of physical comedy...
Amazing!

This blurred photo gives you a slight impression of their genius!

....and from The Netherlands we met another excellent vocal group, The Junction - two guys and three women with high energy, cool arrangements.... singing jazz, pop, classical and a Catalan folk carol (their Soprano is from Barcelona!)

Great to meet Isa, Margriet, Joyce, Paul & Henk! (& we saw them the next day too...)

At the end of the gig, all involved, including our agent Peter Martin Jacob (a splendid bass, of course), joined together to all sing I'm Yours by Jason Mraz

Then it was down to Friedrichshafen (quite near Switzerland) - three years ago, we got stuck on a train with track issues and arrived with a few minutes to spare... this time, we took the car - surely nothing could go wrong - we got stuck in one traffic jam, and then stationary behind an accident for 1.5 hours... what joys... this time we arrived with 3/4 hour to spare... so a slight improvement.

We were in a Zelt... during Festival time on the banks of the lake...

So we shared the stage with The Junction once more & also with Swiss group BLISS ... five guys with sharp-suited confidence and humour too! Classical parodies, A splendid Swiss version of the German National Anthem to Prince... glorious!

Here they are once the jackets came off halfway through their set!

Super also to meet Claudio, Lukas, Matthias, Tom & Viktor!

Then we had a glorious lake crossing on a ferry... on the way to the airport to go home... ferry does not seem too splendid to the English ear... but here it was beautiful!

Sarah-Ann looking wistful in the early morning light...

Dawn

Champs Hill Christmas CD Recording

Marvellous few days recording our new Christmas CD at the exquisite Champs Hill in Sussex.... (The record label already has our Songs of Love & War).

Two days down & one to go (19 pieces done & 8 left!) - you will get a list soon!

Here we are having lunch in the gardens ... well, here is Sarah-Ann & Chris x 2 (both Hatt & O'Gorman varieties!)

Our old friend Andrew Mellor is in charge of making everything sound splendid (he has been involved in three projects with us before); wonderful to have the brilliant Chris Hatt play the piano (he is already on our Songs of Cricket CD) & we also have had Paul Plummer coming down and further honing everything to splendid proportions (with his excellent ears)!

What joys - as ever, we are endebted to David and Mary & all the Champs Hill team...

Hoorah for it all...

More news (& even sounds!) when we have it ...

Eskişehir - more delight in Turkey...

An excellent, if very brief, trip to Turkey for a festival of Cabaret and Comedy at Eskişehir (in between Ankara & Istanbul....); the name means Old City in Turkish, and it is thought to be at least 4,000 years old:- sadly we only had a few hours there!

The trip started with a wonderful flight which took us over Istanbul; amazing sights out of the window.
Then on to Ankara - where we stayed - looked after by the wonderful Ece ['thank you' x].  We had a few hours there, and some lovely Turkish food, before we travelled to Eskişehir.
A brilliant audience of all ages (lots of young people as half the population is students) gave as good as they got... and joined in Lion Sleeps, did all actions required for Money, money, money & provided a rhythm section for Rolling in the Deep!
In fact they were happy with all that we provided, from Henry VIII to Adele & from Oranges & Lemons to Instructions for making Tea properly (tho', it has to be said, all the tea that we were indeed offered in Turkey, was delicious!)

All in all a splendid time was had by all; it would be tremendous to come back to Turkey... and spend more days there.
Thank you Firat, Ece & all at Euphrates Artists for inviting us.

Lovely people in a lovely country...

Highs in the Low countries...

Four events in the Low countries... all ending on a high!

We started our journey in Veghel, NL; a new destination for us... excellent to have more gigs in Holland, where we have had so many splendid experiences over the years...
We had a lovely evening of Harmony and Humour, and the audience were very happy to hear it all... some having known us for decades... great to be back.
They Rolled in the Deep with Sarah-Ann especially well!

Next we were off to Trevianum, a school in Sittard, invited by our old friend, Gertie Weerts to celebrate the long 'reign' of Lou Harings (Headmaster) there!
We were a surprise (Lou knows us from concerts we have given in the area & at the school in the past)... and we were sent on to 'replace' the London Quintet who had performed the night before - a group of five teachers including Gertie!  All in the best possible taste of course...
Lou was indeed surprised!
Good to celebrate a teacher who has had such a long and great influence over school and pupils.
Thank you, Gertie, for inviting us to share in the occasion.

Then it was BE time for Showtime in Mol and Deurne, where were returning after a year or two...
We were joined for these two shows by our old friend and pianist Paul Plummer... he now resides in Glasgow and is a lecturer in opera at the Royal Conservatoire; brilliant that he had time enough to spare for us in his busy schedule.
Both venues were terrific & looked after us splendidly... (it always seem we end up talking about food in Belgium!) - the meal at Bistro Opera in Mol was excellent, as was the meal created by Lesley at Deurne backstage... all glorious.
Thank you!
...and of course there was the terrific Belgian beer to enjoy too!

...and the concerts were also good!  Our songs from Broadway, West End, Holly- and Pine-Wood went down very well... and we had a great time...
...people love California dreamin'.
We love the Guys and Dolls medley, particularly as it is in the West End once more...
...& the Laurel & Hardy dance - especially fun to do!

Here's an arty photo of Cant - TLQ with Paul Plummer in a hotel ceiling....
Enjoy!

Beautiful Barcelona & Marvellous Mallorca

A glorious few days in Catalunya; Barcelona, then Palma de Mallorca...

Quite brilliant cities to spend time & lovely sold out audiences too! Thank you La Caixa for inviting us back!

Mont Juic

La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona old town, more other Gaudi than you could shake a stick at:- including the magnificent Palma Cathedral...

Terrific food & blue skies/sunshine.... also the brilliant CaixaForum buildings themselves...
Here's the Barcelona one (a refurbished tile factory, we think!):

Difficult not to shower this blog with gorgeous photos... but we have been having a splendid time!

The concerts were both terrific, with audiences full of enthusiasm & enjoying out Catalan/Mallorcan speaking... All very happy joining in with rhythmic joy with Sarah-Ann's rendition of Rolling in the Deep (Adele).

Hoping very much to come back as these places deserve a very high level of exploration!

Many happy memories of previous visits abound... especially of our children over here...

After these sunny glories, it is off to The Netherlands & Belgium... as ever details on our site...

but Veghel, Mol & Deurne.... here we come!

PS: Very much enjoyed visiting this station in Barcelona...

(...for those of a Dutch/Flemish-speaking inclination, I assure you this word simply means 'idiot' in English; nothing more crude is implied....those of a nervous disposition, need not try to work out what I might refer to in this paragraph...)

Palladian splendour

A delightful evening with WOM at Ditchley House, OXON.

WOM = Women on the Move; a group of influential ladies who met around the UN in New York in the noughties & have been meeting regularly ever since.
We were invited by Lady Penny Holmes (we met her and Sir John when he was UK Ambassador to France 2001-6)....
Other members of the group are Nane Annan (wife of Kofi) & Lady Anne Greenstock (wife of Sir Jeremy) as well as women from India, the USA, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Austria, Luxembourg... a very global meeting!

Ditchley House is a wonderful mansion which was a secret refuge for Winston Churchill during WWII; and after being bought by Sir David Wills became in the early 60s a place continue/foster good Anglo-American relations, & has since encompassed dialogue between the nations of the whole world... especially since Sir John and Lady Holmes have been in charge.

But enough of serious purpose... we had a lovely afternoon and evening... started by walking the Holmes splendid labrador, Maddie...

...and then a glorious dinner at which we sang twice... including a special version of New York, New York celebrating the retirement (and final homegoing) of Babli Sharma (wife of the outgoing Commonwealth General Secretary, Kamalesh)... she was gracious as we discussed her life!

A fine evening of bonhomie (bonfemmie?), good food, and delight.... & they liked our singing too... how splendid!

Some discussion ensued of our joining other dinner parties around the globe... what can I say? what a terrific idea!

Next stop Barcelona; then Palma, The Netherlands & Belgium...

... to say farewell for the moment; here is the lake at sunset...

Going Dutch in Groningen

A triumphant return to The Netherlands in the north... at Groningen...
We were making our sixth visit to de Oosterpoort - a wonderful arts complex... and indeed it was great to see our old friends Irene & Remke there too!

We gave a performance of Showtime - with the splendid Chris Hatt at the piano, taking a night off from Billy Elliot in the West End.

From the start - having been encouraged to join in our Money, money, money dance! - the audience were with us, and being wonderfully enthusiastic and fun.

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, Kiss from a Rose, Guys & Dolls, Happy, Route 66, He's a Tramp, Over the Rainbow, & Skyfall all flashed by & we finished off with the Comedian Harmonists' tongue-twisty, Wenn ich vergnügt bin muss ich singen, as Groningen has a German-speaking part...

A delight to be in Holland again... we are in Veghel on March 10th next month (this time singing a different show, Harmony & Humour) - click away to find out more!

But first we are in Oxfordshire for a private function, and back in Barcelona & Palma de Mallorca; and afterwards more Belgium and some Turkey.... all details on our site!
What larks!

Capital joys in Madrid

Marvellous Madrid... brilliant to be back at CaixaForum singing in another amazing architectural marvel; this time in central Madrid.

The green section on the right is a living wall, which was much less bushy when we sang at the opening of this venue!

Here it is at night:- (it's all flora!)

CaixaForum venues are always splendid, and this was as splendid as when we first came here; a wonderful auditorium with brilliant staff....

And a willing, enthusiastic and fun audience too!

Some hours to wander about Madrid were also a tremendous glory... there was all this...

Kew gardens (sort of) amidst Atocha Station:

...and even a Banksy (or so it seems):

We're back in Spain (Barcelona & Palma de Mallorca) in March.... but The Netherlands & Belgium & Turkey too in the next few weeks... as well as some recording...

Hooray!

Zaragozan beauty

In the wonderful city of Zaragoza....
...we last performed in this city, at the University, at Christmas in 1991 - that's a while back...

As with many previous Spanish excursions we are here at the behest of CaixaForum (The social arm of La Caixa Bank, based in Cataluña) - all banks in Spain have a social aspect, providing exhibitions, concerts and concert halls and other support all over the country...

Splendid to be in Zaragoza & to perform at the amazing floating building below:

A wonderfully enthusiastic and full crowd greeted us, and accepted our journey from Henry VIII to Adele, via Monteverdi's Lamenta della Ninfa & Tiger Rag... and they enjoyed our talking in Spanish (and maybe even understood us), as well as our singing of La Panaderita - the tale of an alluring woman Baker...

Zaragoza is a splendid place to visit & we had time to see the tremendous, huge Basilica in different lights & weathers... Here are three (the first with Chris in the foreground)!

All glorious - we have come to Madrid now; we have a little time to look around - hooray! - haven't been here for a few years; and then another concert tomorrow, in another excellently-architectured building... more pictures to follow!

¡Adios!

We open a newly-renovated venue...

To Diepenbeek (east Belgium, as you wish to know) to be the first to perform in a newly-refurbished venue.... and plush it was ... (as were our lodgings the night before too!).

It was a Sunday AM concert at 11 o'clock - a slight shock to the system, but as we were treated so well... all marvellous!
...and followed by a drinks reception - what could be better!

As ever our Belgian audience were a delight; joining in where necessary and clearly enjoying a relaxing Sunday AM in the concert hall.... & not throwing things when we gently insulted one of the men in the audience (all in the best possible taste, as Kenny Everett would have insisted...)
They particularly loved California Dreamin' - naturally!
Our hard-working Belgian agent, Thomas Van der Spiegel was there and telling us of how many more Belgian concerts we could expect next season - hooray! - & we still have Mol and Deurne (11th & 12th March) to come in this season (both Showtime)....

Classic lit-church look of a corner of Belgium... (lovely):

Thank you to Nele, Kim and all who looked after us and helped to make the trip splendid!

We're off to Spain next - where we have not been for a little while... which will be terrific!

German New Year... & we saw SNOW!

A splendid start to 2016...

Two return visits; to the beautiful spa resort Bad Kreuznach, and to the wonderful Dreikönigskirche in Dresden.

It was a game of two halves; tho' the first half must have felt a lot longer for one of us...
Sadly, having spent a lovely pre-New Year in Germany, Sarah-Ann & her husband got food poisoning; so when we met up with her at the airport, all was clearly not well!

So the London Quartet, became for one night... The London Trio!
Sarah-Ann recovered well, thank goodness, but needed an extra day of rest...
Mike played the piano for a few numbers and we swapped parts around in others (it's very good for the brain, you know!)... and somehow we got away with it!
The good people of Bad Kreuznach were even afforded the glory of the German première of Sigh No More, Ladies by a certain Mark Fleming, not heard outside my house since 1988 - the music just happened to be in my bag, guv!
Other surprises included singing Greensleeves from our Great British a cappella Songbook... hooray!
But we did a whole concert... we passed time with good company, instructed them on proper tea-making, told them the rules of cricket, insulted a man in the audience (& flattered a woman) and sang like a broken record... and finished off with can You Feel the Love Tonight?  All in all, a recognizable TLQ gig!

The audience were supportive and kind... and delighted we had come; & of course wanting Sarah-Ann to get better soon!
Thank you Dominik for your support in general, and also your excellent photocopying services...!

So the next day, we were delightfully able to do the programme as expected.... Dinner for 4...
We were in the lovely Three Kings Church again, and all went very well.

The picture below shows the small section of the original church which is the centrepiece of the new...

A great building in which to sing, with an audience of happy, joyful people... at the apt moments, joining in lustily (The Lion Sleeps Tonight; Rolling in the Deep; Money, money, money) & in reverential silence (Tallis, Bach, Richard Rodney Bennett).... glorious...
Rounding off with Wenn ich vergnügt bin, muss ich singen in full tongue-twisting style...

Great start to the year... (Glad Sarah-Ann's well again!)

We flew home from Prague (good to see another country); which meant we did finally see some snow... but only a wee bit!

Off to Belgium again at the weekend... a Sunday AM concert (11AM) at Diepenbeek.

Oh, and by the way, splendidly, they still had some Christmas ham at Bad Kreuznach! (Looks like Mike has already had a nibble...)