NLC London & Bergen

Two excellent gigs in the last few weeks.
We were invited by a friend of ours, Rupert Preston-Bell, to perform in the National Liberal Club - it was born with political affiliation (started by Gladstone), but is now for the liberal-inclined rather than the political! - and a fine time we had too.

A great early evening concert, allowing people to get home or eat out after - a very convivial evening was had by all.  We had a splendid audience in the David Lloyd-George Room & enjoyed it all tremendously.

Then last weekend, we had a terrific trip to Bergen - our first outing to Norway.
We were part of the Festival of Song run by the Bergen Opera, and shared a concert firstly with the wonderful Janie Dee - even singing and dancing He's a Tramp with her - what a privilege; accompanied brilliantly by Stephen Higgins at the piano.
...and also in the Nachspiel after this show (this is a bonus gig event after), we sang with the brilliant Edvard Grieg Kor - singing together Richard Rodney Bennett's Fanfare.


It was an excellent trip - fantastic to work with Janie - such a star! - & also to work with teh Edvard Grieg Kor - a glorious 8-part ensemble, who sang a great Jonathan Rathbone arrangement of Yesterday quite beautifully, led by their MD & old friend, Paul Robinson.

A marvellous trip to Norway was topped off by a boat-trip around the fjords on a fabulously sunny day, piloted by another old friend (and manager of EGK) Simon Kirkbride.

Glory

And tonight we are back Live at Zédel - at the Crazy Coqs in central London - with Chris Hatt (fresh from the #Hamilton pit) and once more singing He's a Tramp with the excellent young Mhairi Angus.

Exciting times... more London dates at Zédel, the Pheasantry & The London Library and more...

Holt delights

A marvellous evening in Holt, Norfolk on a beautiful sunny day.
Very hot in our suits!
Unusually all members of the group had their family with them - what larks!

The splendid Holt Festival invited us back in year 11 - we performed in year 1 - and we sang in the Parish Church of St Andrew the Apostle, Holt.
A wonderful acoustic in which to sing, and our classical repertoire shone in there - Bach, Byrd, Henry VIII, & Anon all sounded splendid.
The jazzier stuff also worked well.  We sang Yeh, yeh - presaging the arrival on the last night of the festival of the great Georgie Fame, as well as The Singers Unlimited version of My Romance, Billy Joel's Lullabye and Anthem from Chess.

Our old friend Tony Britten had invited us the first year, and he was there again to introduce us; tho' other splendid people now run the Festival.  We were treated wonderfully.

A heavenly summer day in Norfolk, followed by an evening in the pub - what glories!

Lots to look forward to:
A rash of London gigs in the Autumn (National Liberal Club - 10th Sept., Live at Zédel and The Pheasantry - both twice), as well as a return to Bayreuth and our debut in Norway (Bergen) as guests of the Edvard Grieg Kor...

FEB in DE in March, then London

Marvellous times in this most interesting of times...
Three great concerts in Germany, discussing... Full English Brexit!

Wilhelmshafen, Friztlar and Wangen im Allgau (a mere 1333km all told!).

The good people of Fritzlar were splendid enough to provide this for us - as we know no contractual arrangement between UK & Europe is possible without a backstop - great that ours was so close, just over the road from the venue!

All three were a great success, and fully emotionally charged - we were of course keen to say that whatever stance anyone in the UK takes over the 'B' word, no-one wants us to be anything but friends - we definitely felt the love in the room.

We were of course treated wonderfully by all three venues as ever - great food and splendid comforts.

This was our sixth visit to Wangen - we first came in 1999 - what a great joy - wonderful to see Maria and Alfred once more - still in charge!

All in all a lovely trip around Germany on the eve of Brexit (tho' here we are still in limbo!)

We chased home for a small intimate function at The Garrick Club - very good to be inside these hallowed walls - glorious - great to support those who keep The Theatre alive and kicking in the UK.

We even sang a piece with words by Garrick himself (music by Thomas Arne) - The Beer-drinking Briton - a huge privilege.

The last two months

Two months hence, all this seems far away!
We had a second lovely evening this year at The glorious London Library in St James' Sq. - singing at a fundraiser at the behest of our old friend Tim Rice, surrounded by a wonderful collection of writers.
On this December eve., we were joined by Rick Wakeman, doing amazing things on a keyboard whilst standing up!
Marvellous readings from Sinead Cusack & Robert Powell - a starry evening it was!

Then it was back to Belgium - Oosterzele & Nieuwpoort, for seasonal fun with the splendid Chris Hatt joining us on piano, having taken a couple of days off running Hamilton in the West End - we are honoured!

A little later, we performed in Sint Willibrorduskerk, Heusden in two beautiful evenings of christmas loveliness joined by Exsultate choir, an orchestra & Bruno Sprengers conducting.
Great to have a chance to work with larger forces; expanding our arrangements to fill the church with joy.

Thanks to Bruno and all the other musicians - we had an excellent three days just before Christmas.  We were homeward bound on Christmas Eve - via lovely Belgian beer on The Grand Place down in Brussels.

Just after we were with more showbiz royalty, Gaby Roslin on Radio London; she invited us on her show to discuss our gigs at The Pheasantry, Chelsea, once more with Chris Hatt.
As ever, a great experience, with friends old and new.

Looking forward to seeing you all again soon,

Mark, Mike, Chris & Billy