The London Quartet

Great posters of our time #1

2012-03-02T00:37:00.003Z

Not great quality - apologies - but can you spot the deliferate mistale (© Terry Jones & Michael Palin)?
How do you translate mélange?

Then again, our bland is pretty wonderful...

Trinity Examiners

2012-02-25T00:57:00.001Z

Splendid evening in a Birmingham hotel...
Entertaining a large group of Trinity Examiners, who are in the middle of a conference.
Never have we had such an attentive audience... we were expecting a written report at the end... very much hoping a positive one!
Their singing in Lambeth was especially good; although I did naughtily tell them that we tended to get a better response in Germany...
We thought it rather likely, as this was a meeting of musicians, and lo, two of us met old friends here... one of whom said she would help us get to The Czech Republic; she and I toured Czechoslovakia 22 years ago!
Hoorah!

World Première... in Croydon

2012-02-10T01:09:00.001Z

Just went to a World Première of an opera written over a hundred years ago.

Croydon [great town] composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor is being celebrated in that fine London borough as he died 100 years ago this year.
My old friend Jonathan Butcher (conductor) has resurrected the piece with Surrey Opera (as the first part of year-long SC-T fest) - two more nights at the Ashcroft Theatre if you are game! - 7.30pm on Friday and Saturday... splendid...
An old Cantabile friend, Chris Cowell, helped re-write the libretto of the show... it was the weak libretto which was probably the reason that the thing was never put on when it was written.

Should the idea of a faux Norse saga, Thelma, stir your loins... get to Croydon now!

Belgian weekend

2012-01-30T01:04:00.001Z

Stayed in a hotel for two nights opposite a rather grand building in Leuven.... subsequently found that this was the prison...
Luckily got no closer...

As the lovely Eurostar people are striking today, we had driven over via the Chunnel...
Two life-enhancing evenings in (slightly parky) Belgium... in two more picaresque Belgian towns... of which we realise, there is a neverending supply...

Firstly we provided the final event of an a cappella day in Ternat... lots of groups performed before we did, in various venues... sadly we missed them, as we were sound-checking/travelling... but then we provided the closing concert at 10pm... great atmosphere; lots of singers, and a cappella lovers in evidence... wonderful.

Then in Tienen today [well, yesterday] joined by Paul Plummer at the piano; we had a masterclass with three groups of singers at the local music academy... and then they joined us on stage tonight, during our Best of British show... wonderful... they each sang a song of their own [also accompanied by Paul]... Remember Me, Oh Happy Day & Rutter's All things Bright & Beautiful; as well as joining three of us in accompanying Steve's solo in The LUMBERJACK SONG... totally fantastic.... along with mountie hats and red and black costumes... a splendid thing in a lovely evening... Those young people may never be the same again!

Great to have the entire of the Weerts clan from The Netherlands at the gig... terrific to see them all together... and now, all as tall as each other!

Three Westmalle trappist beers (dark) - and some takeaway food - have helped the evening to a gentle close...

What a fine Blog!

2012-01-23T16:49:00.000Z

Apologies for showing off... but when someone is this kind...

Nice blog here

Thanks, Fearn

Itzehoe, DE

2012-01-23T13:47:00.002Z

Yes, we managed to get to Itzehoe (nr. Hamburg), and once more B.o.B. triumphed!
Beautiful theatre - especially on the inside... great lighting & sound.

Flag-waving as keen as ever.... We think this show is motoring now; we must do it some more!

We got back to the airport [Paul Plummer went off early for his train... he has an audition in Germany somewhere! Good luck!]... and now we are home.
Next it is the Belgian incarnation of B.o.B.... once more with PP.

Rottweil

2012-01-20T23:27:00.000Z

Well would you believe it? We come to Rottweil & see not one dog... but lots of cats! All very friendly... Mike not especially happy as he is allergic to them, but they seemed to know to leave him alone. Three cats at the venue (er... only one in the restaurant!) and one at the hotel!
Bijou venue... the Badhaus... a wonderful restaurant (we had two super meals there) as well as a performing space... and B.o.B. was alive and well again! More flag-waving honorary Britons were created!
Up early as we take an early am flight to Hamburg and Itzehoe - tonight's crowd were most amused that this was our next stop!

Mannheim

2012-01-20T00:40:00.003Z

Hang on, what country are we in?
Ah yes.... it's Germany.
Great evening at The Capitol, Mannheim... we have another three-date B.o.B. {Best of British} tour... Rottweil & Itzehoe after tonight...
Everyone dutifully waved their Union Flags and sang along to our Land of Hope and Glory [only with parodic words by the great Anglo-German powerhouse partnership, Julian and Maggie Forsyth].
I haven't mentioned yet that on this blog that we owe a lot with this B.o.B. show to the Forsyths, who created most of the verbiage between the songs and wrote the new parodies... a brilliant team - we worked with them in Spoliansky's Send for Mr Plim at Battersea Arts Centre a few years ago (wonderful show)... they have helped us create a show which sends us up as a nation, but also asks questions of the Germans too... mainly... Why do you think we are like this... and are we truly so - and you like all this pomp and circumstance stuff, don't you? ...and other such rhetoric. Lovely stuff... dead clever (and going down well with people)...
Thanks, Julian and Maggie!

We tried out the theme tune to Morse tonight... no-one had heard of it... hmmm... we'll try a bit more before chucking it...

We are accompanied by our old friend, Paul Plummer for this tour, and for next weekend too... great to see him.
Oh, and late-night kebabs were had...

Estonia/Russia tour end

2012-01-18T07:33:00.003Z

Wonderful tour.
Lovely reception at the Janni Church here in St Petersburg.... just in the airport, waiting to get a flight home.

Receptive to all, the audience were great - left in stunned silence at the end of one of my Russian introductions (probably awe)... but they laughed in all the right places at everything else, so something must have been right!

They liked our rendition of the only Borodin male quartet piece (he was born here too) - four guys serenading the same woman!
The Estonians enjoyed our Estonian folk encore too... last week.

Very fine tour up north... and the mild winter helped! Coming in summer would also be fantastic!
We were looked after splendidly...

Blood Church, St Petersburg

2012-01-17T11:35:00.000Z

Fantastic trip to the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood - amazing walls... absolutely icon/mosaic-covered; into every nook, cranny and dome another picture is crammed.
Phenomenal history - somewhat like the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour rebuilt in Moscow in the 1990s (Stalin had got rid of it cos it spoiled his view!) - it had an interesting 20th century... Looted after the Revolution in 1917, closed in the 30s, used as a refuge when Leningrad was under siege by the Nazis in1943-4, then used as a vegetable store!
After 27 years of refurbishment, it was open to the public again in 1997. It never was a consecrated public-worship church, and thus it is now as it ever was, a monument to the assassinated Tsar Alexander II, and a Museum of wonderful Mosaics.

So... a concert tonight!

St Petersburg

2012-01-16T19:34:00.001Z

There will be more... but here are a couple of pics.... The Winter Palace, at least the symbolic starting point of the October revolution... so many fabulous buildings here!

...and our names in Cyrillic - we've seen it before in Moscow a few years back, but it still fascinates...

Old Bobby

2012-01-16T19:28:00.003Z

Richard [or Bob as his parents know him] found his very own tipple in the 24-hour "Supermarket" - which sold only chocolate, crisps and drink!

It's... Old Bobby with Old Bobby!!

Mike got a taste for vodka in the restaurant... and will be resting more all evening...

Tartu, Estonia

2012-01-16T19:24:00.003Z

...was, of course, as cool as the other Estonian stops... Tartu is another University city [one of the oldest Universities in Europe - 370+ years old], and the second city of Estonia, with another splendid concert hall.

We had such a splendid time here in Estonia, and hope to come back... perhaps in the Summer!
Tiiu, Enno & Liis looked after us wonderfully.

Our luxury (ooooooh!) bus at 6am (uuuuuurgh!) got us to St Petersburg Baltic station in time for lunch and to be shown to the Eesti Kontsert HQ at the Janni church here.
Then we were helped through our Russian intros... the Estonian has gone so well, now we must learn to swallow... our tongues! [Pride's gone already...]

Now let's explore...

Beautiful pictures

2012-01-15T20:19:00.001Z

Whilst trying to find out why a picture of another group of four appeared on TV screens advertising our concert in the concert hall in Tartu, Estonia this afternoon, we happened upon something much better!

The wrong group were referred to London Quartet in an article, as they are four people who live in London... they are The Official Secrets Act - however amongst google imagery we found these pictures from a concert in Canada at Pointe Claire last summer, which are splendid for us to see... we need an artist at all our gigs!

Paula Becker is she...

Snowy Tallinn

2012-01-14T15:11:00.002Z

Gateway to The Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral, and the church itself... & of course that famous scene from many a Mediaeval City, the old gatehouse with snow-plough & McDonalds behind...
Wonderful [if cold] day in Tallinn Old Town.

Pärnu, Estonia

2012-01-14T00:33:00.001Z

We are being spoilt out here... another fine hall in which to sing - this time in Pärnu...
Still understanding our Estonian (!) - and especially tickled tonight by ribald comment on Richard's hormonal imbalance... what larks!
...and we experienced an Estonian supermarket [another genius ida of Enno's] for snackage on the trip home... very economical, and good too; tho' Mike is not sure he will try the dried croaker fish again...

On to the second city of Estonia [population: 100,000] on Sunday...
We have Saturday to explore Tallinn (where we have been staying all the while)...

Jõhvi, Estonia

2012-01-13T11:16:00.001Z

Wonderful concert hall in Jõhvi with fantastic acoustic - it is very new; only in its 7th year.
We were very near Russia... where of course we will be in a few days' time
Another warm audience, laughing at our jokes in Estonian!
All wonderful....
After the concert Enno, who is driving us about here, took us to a 24-hour Georgian restaurant {Artur} which was splendid - my son thought the food would be off by now, as he was thinking of historical period rather than geography! - I had a sparkling water on Mike's recommendation which others felt seemed a bit like a trip to the dentist... but I enjoyed it!
On to Pärnu tonight...

Aitäh! (for reading this)

Tallinn concert

2012-01-11T21:08:00.000Z

Splendid concert hall here in Tallinn; wonderful to sing in, and with a full house appreciating our Estonian - and understanding it! - hooray... & our Estonian folk song went well too...
We performed our show, from Madrigal to McCartney... indeed, Madrigalist McCartney'ni

The overnight snow turned to slush, which was a shame, but everyone still turned up...
Hope to explore Tallinn & Estonia a bit more, now the concerts have started... (we do have a day off)... However, on to Jõhvi tomorrow.... which only has a population of 11,500 {Tallinn by far the largest Estonian city with 400,000; the country as a whole - 1.3m.}

Best of British (German) reviews

2012-01-11T10:08:00.002Z

Bad Kreuznach newspaper review

Bad Kreuznach radio review too - (scroll down a bit and you'll find it!)

B.o.B. flourishes...

Baltic Times

2012-01-10T21:28:00.000Z

We have arrived in Estonia, and we had a stop-off at Riga, Latvia, thus we have already sampled two Baltic States...
Not too cold here in Tallinn, delightfully... tho' a reassuring amount of snow is on the ground; they had thier first snow here right at New Year, instead of the normal November [last winter there was heavy snow all through October to April]...
We saw our concert hall for tomorrow night looking splendid, and with a huge poster of us on one side... & we met in the restaurant the guy who played there tonight [sadly we arrived too late to see him perform], Ukrainian guitarist Enver Izmaylov.
So all systems go for our first Estonian tour... just got to get those introductions in the mind yet...
But for now...

Haus der Springmaus, Bonn

2012-01-09T07:51:00.003Z

B.o.B. tour #1 in January now finished...
As ever a joyful reception at the Haus der Springmaus in Bonn
Die suppe was as good as ever...

We were only here last in March 2011, but another full-haus enjoyed B.o.B....
Especially their opportunity to join in clapping, stamping and 'banging the big bass drum' in Flash, Bang, Wallop...
Marvellous.
Chris and Sian's wee boy sat through the whole gig... only having a solo moment when Richard said rhetorically, 'But what about me?' ... Curtis duly laughed! And he cooed amiably during our Lullabye!

At airport early to try to get a fullish day at home...
All systems go for first trip ever to Estonia... tomorrow

Bad Kreuznach, DE

2012-01-08T00:15:00.002Z

Hoorah - another great B.o.B. night...
Richard had a splendid moment, introducing our pianist as being the MD of Billy Hatt, which was nice... He is of course the MD of Chris Elliot.
Germany is being good to us - another packed house, and more jollity... they were especially delighted with our selection of British TV themes.
The theatre is in the midst of the rather glorious Sympathie Hotel Fürstenhof - the panoramic view on the site does it justice... I even walked up high and saw it all from above this afternoon.
Sadly we do not have lots of time to spend in their Wellness Centre - all looks great!
Had a good later evening in the hotel bar with Carole, her (and our) friend Birgit and, of course, Billy Hatt and family too...
On to Haus der Springmaus, Bonn to see more old friends...

Hoechst, DE

2012-01-06T23:36:00.001Z

Our second outing of our Best of British show [for Germany] went off very well. A sold-out theatre at Hoechst provided a very supportive audience.
Chris Hatt was with us on piano, and he has brought his wife and son with him on the trip. Sadly the boy is nocturnal at the moment, but Chris and Sian both look good on it... and he is a happy little chap, as well as gorgeous, natch.

Carole is with us too for two days, visiting old friends in Germany, as well as seeing new songs from us!
CDs were flying away... Cricket included!
Two more nights, Bad Kreuznach and Bonn [Haus der Springmaus!] - next two days... then three more dates after our Estonia/Russia trip.

The B.o.B. show is on the road!

PS: all together now, one last time.... I'll have a pee please, Bob
R.I.P. Bob Holness

Frankfurt (Oder) with orchestra

2012-01-02T23:52:00.001Z

A delightful repeat of last night, only this time at the orchestra's home here in Frankfurt (Oder) - formerly Frankfurt an der Oder - once, we realised tonight, a Hanseatic League City of much greater import than nearby Berlin... sadly the Nazis (in choosing this as their last stronghold pre-Berlin) and the Russians clubbed together to destroy 97% of the place in WWII.... only a very few Middle Age buildings are left.

We will see more Hanseatic League wonder when we take our first trip to Estonia, next week!

Our concert was followed by a splendid time in Fratelli's - one of the few restaurants which the Maestro recommends, which tonight was full of musicians.

Now we have a date for our return - August 2014; how splendid... and we might record together too... fantastic.

Quick drive to Berlin, then we fly home.... but then - back in Germany on Friday...

Auf wiederseh'n...

Potsdam with orchestra

2012-01-01T21:51:00.001Z

Excellent and highly enjoyable concert with the Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt, and maestro Howard Griffiths MBE.

Full crowd once again - must find out what is in the German water! - all set for a jolly New Year's concert - the 1st of 2012.

Lovely to sing the chorus parts for the joyful Blue Danube, as well as Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffman and our own Hush Macushla with orchestra (we are used to doing them with piano).

Great to exercise our orchestrations of the Comedian Harmonists favourites, Mein kleiner, grüner Kaktus & Schöne Isabella von Kastilien, and to expand our string-quartet-accompanied version of Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You (arranged by the great Gordon Langford) to full strings. We also sang our a cappella faves, Caravan, Strangers in the Night, The Lambeth Walk and The History of Western Music.

The orchestra also had their own flourishes with more Strauss plus JoséPablo de Moncayo, Gordon Jacob, Geronimo Gimenez and ArturoMárquez - all fantastic.

Howard seems to think we should do all this again sometime; well, let's start with tomorrow... and then think of more opportunities!

Dresden & Jena

2011-12-31T14:21:00.000Z

After an excellent second rehearsal with the orchestra for the 1st and the 2nd, we travelled to Dresden, for a concert in the beautiful Dreikönigskirche
It has a beautiful Baroque altar [well, 4/5ths of same] which along with the back wall and the tower was all that was left by the RAF in 1945; then the Russians destroyed a bit more.... after much fundraising from all over the world, it was finally reopened as a church in 1990... clearly the damaged altar is a wonderful and moving monument. There is also a frieze along the back wall which looks original.
The church was full to bursting, and they were in a mood for a New Year's concert... even happy to rattle their keys about in Sleigh Ride.
A lovely evening - and even Bine from Die Medlz came, which was nice...

And tonight we have been in the Volkshaus in Jena - another packed house... an early concert, pre-fireworks... they are starting up in earnest now... Wonderful place to sing in, and a delightful, and seemingly delighted crowd... lots of CDs spread amongst Eastern Germany over the last two days.
We were looked after splendidly, and were given lots to eat.. what more could one desire.

Happy New Year!

PS: Thanks to Dr Wok in Jena for my lunch today, tho' did you have to put sugar in my green tea?

Frankfurt (Oder)

2011-12-29T12:48:00.000Z

First rehearsal with Howard Griffiths and the Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt this morning went very well... everyone gorgeous! ...and with a Harp and a third trumpet tomorrow will be even more so.

We have two New year concerts on the 1st and the 2nd in Potsdam and Frankfurt (Oder) - we last worked with Howard on some New Year concerts in Zurich with the ZKO near the end of the last Millennium - clearly Steve has got younger, but the rest of us agreed we looked good on it!

Also bumped into the illustrious Hilliard counter-tenor, David James on our flight out to Berlin with his wife and son - what splendour... They live in Berlin and the UK, and David says they often share the plane with muzos... even Sir Simon Rattle. He has still not forgotten that he gave me my first singing lessons - what a burden for anyone to bear! ... but truly, it's not all his fault.

More orchestral rehearsals and then two pre-New Year gigs {Dresden and Jena} before the concerts.

We are all going to cross the bridge by the concert hall later today and walk into Poland...

Marvellous.

I'll be home for Christmas

2011-12-21T19:57:00.000Z

Busy couple of days in Switzerland, firstly a concert in a beautiful church in Zurich, where Decca records Cecilia Bartoli... amazingly enough, it was beautiful to sing in!
Then on to Berne - firstly to wish a seniors party a Happy Christmas, we sang them through it, inbetween the speeches, Elvis was there again! - and we all sang together the German Christmas Classic, O du fröhliche, then to the wonderful slightly underground ONO theatre [just down the road from Einstein's old house] in the centre of the City...
At all three events, lovely to see friends old and new... and to be given many treats... some of which we shall share with our families (if they make it home!)

Zuzwil, CH

2011-12-18T21:26:00.001Z

Another packed church, this time courtesy of of our friend (and Swiss agent), Silvan (and his friends and family)...
Elvis decided only to put his wig on today, rather than the full change... but it might well have felt de trop in such surroundings!
There was even a smattering of snow which came down in the interval, thus creating a white blanket for us to leave the church on.
A wonderful meal after the concert with Silvan, Andrea and little Michel... (who sang us his rendition of Hey Jude).
More snow now... looks like we can stop dreaming...

Erpe-Mere, BE

2011-12-17T22:18:00.001Z

A very Christmas-filled a cappella evening in the church at Erpe-Mere [quite near Brussels]... lots of festiveness, some serious, some lighter, and a packed church of happy faces.
Glorious - and a great deal of action at the CD table afterwards - we are lucky that people have been so lax buying presents, and need to rush to us!
As ever, in Belgium, glorious food abounded - my big brochette especially fine...
Presently at Sheraton at Brussels Airport, we fly to Switzerland pretty early tomorrow for the last four gigs before Christmas break.

Antwerp with Kiki

2011-12-17T09:54:00.000Z

Blog 100 of the year...

We shared a bill last night in a dock hangar in the port of Antwerp with Kiki Dee & her guitarist, Carmelo Luggeri; and we sang a couple of songs with them too...

The hangar is transformed every 4 or 5 years for a massive celebration of the company Mourik - when we arrived it was still quite hangar-like, but it was, by the evening, full of chefs and excellent food, and a fully-rigged stage.

After our set, wonderfully accompanied by Chris Hatt as ever, Kiki Dee did her stuff...
As an encore, we felt we had blundered into a light ent TV show from years ago, as we backed Kiki in the Bee Gees song How Do You Mend a Broken Heart? and then White Christmas. Wonderful to work with Kiki and Carmelo - both fantastic, and also to share in Mourik's festivities.

On to Erpe-Mere tonight...

Bridewell Hall #2

2011-12-14T17:12:00.000Z

Another lovely night in the City of London... a packed Bridewell Hall had as good acoustic as ever, and a wonderful atmosphere of revellers!
We reprised Wendell the Worm as from our Captain Beaky efforts last week at the RAH... and everyone laughed lots. Was it our dancing?
Lots of Christmas fun for one and all - including Steve dressed up as Elvis (although as a friend pointed out, an Elvis who has been on a serious diet!)...
Christmas and Cricket CDs were popular - how alliterative people's tastes are...

Now just a jaunt to the European mainland before Christmas - Belgium and then Switzerland; before Germany, Estonia, Russia and Belgium again in late December / January - what fun!

Wonderful Captain Beaky for UNICEF

2011-12-12T00:42:00.001Z

Fantastic evening at the RAH... Captain Beaky and his wonderful band were all there... Lots of dancers from National Youth Ballet (playing a large array of animals - not a dry eye at times), and a Kirov & ENB master, Dmitri Gruzdyev, as well as Jeremy Lloyd & Jim Parker (writer and composer), Joanna Lumley, Roger Moore & Deborah Moore, Alan Titchmarsh, Hugh Bonneville, Rosie Ashe & the original Captain Beaky himself, Keith Michell, appearing both on large screen and in a box in the audience to rapturous applause. Also old friends from Chess in Concert, Tabitha Webb, Tiffany Graves, Caroline Sheen, & Jon Robyns - who used his Avenue Q experience to bring Hissing Sid to life!

Our contributions were accompanying Rosie in Desmond the Duck, being accompanied by David Firman & the excellent band in Doreen the Duckling, and getting away from ducks, we sang an a cappella Wendell the Worm. We provided comments from 'offstage' in a poem read by Joanna Lumley - back to the Ds... Dilys the Dachshund, and we all sang together in There's a Light...

Splendid to see the octogenarians strut their stuff, Roger Moore in his DJ (only with green tights on his legs - he told us it was all the rage); and Jeremy Lloyd clearly moved and loving his words being displayed again to a packed house.

Mike gave Alan T. a DVD copy of Christmas Pebble Mill show that had involved both AT and Cantabile in the 1980s... the green-fingered one was delighted and said he had nothing from that time he could watch!

A glorious evening - all in aid of UNICEF... & put together by Director, Hugh Wooldridge with his usual aplomb - let's hope it can happen again sometime...
I'll ask Joanna the next time I see her at my local bus station (I've seen her before!)

sing-along-a Roger Moore

2011-12-10T17:32:00.001Z

For Captain Beaky: just rehearsing in a dressing room at English National Ballet [just around the corner from RAH], a song with some echoes from the chorus...
We sang away, and then heard the dulcet tones of Roger Moore pitching in with the echoes from the attached Men's room... what an honour to form a quintet with a former Bond (even if he was in a separate room)!

Great rehearsals all morning... all looking and sounding good.

Excellent to meet the writers too - Jeremy Lloyd and Jim Parker - fantastic...

Opwijk, BE

2011-12-09T01:10:00.001Z

Despite my having forgotten my computer's power cable *, a fine two-day sojourn in Belgium was enjoyed by all...
Opwijk was a splendid Christmas evening, and we were treated excellently... Could this be because it is the home town of our Belgian agent, Thomas? Who knows...
... we did Sleigh Ride, asking the audience to provide the bells with either coins or their keys... one guy asked to borrow Richard's! Richard said it was the first time he had indeed handed over his keys to a gentleman! Oddly enough when he asked for them back, the man's wife had them.
Funny Old World.
Gertie was there once more (and heard some different songs from yesterday, thank goodness) - and we put the world to rights in the bar afterwards...

Captain Beaky weekend awaits...

* Although this is of no interest at all, let me tell you that I was able to borrow Richard's power cable when he was not using it.

Herk-de-Stad, BE

2011-12-08T10:16:00.001Z

Two Belgian dates before our Beaky weekend...
Just a slightly Christmas concert to start in Herk-de-Stad - near enough to Holland for our dear friend Gertie to visit - how splendid!
Once again, our new CD, Songs of Cricket outsold the others - it's a miracle; we are spreading the cricket word abroad!
As is so often the case in Belgium, the theatre here had an excellent restaurant attached - all good!

The people at the Theatre saw us at Lemmens, and convinced everybody else that we should come to Herk - these are great people! - fantastic that they did... we had a splendid time...
...on to Opwijk today...

Bridewell Hall & St Barts EPAM bash

2011-12-07T00:27:00.001Z

Two gigs in one night - how splendid....luckily within a mile of each other.

Having spent a pleasant afternoon wandering on the South Bank [Globe & Tate Mod.] with Cantabile friend from Austria, Lotti...
& then had a pizza with my son & met up with my wife...
We had the first of our Bridewell Tuesdays [there's one more if you missed it on the 13th!] at 7pm, and had a lovely time with a great crowd in the splendid-to-sing-in Bridewell Hall; which had been especially Christmassed up for the occasion...
Friends old and new greeted us at the St Bride Institute, where, of course, we are Artists in Residence.

We chased on to St Bart.'s Church & heard the last half-an-hour of Tenebrae singing under the masterly direction of Nigel Short some carols published by Peters Edition and Faber [and a bit of OUP] - wonderful to hear the choir again.
Once everyone had a mince pie and some wine in their hand in the long gallery after all that, we sang our newly-published A Festival of Carols in Two Minutes (Carol, as was)... and The Twelve Days of Christmas to cheer everyone on in their drinking! Good to see old friends there - Steve McNeff, Ben Parry (who have both written for us), as well as my ex-UEA colleague, Griselda who works for OUP... (very good to see rival publishing houses being able to work together amicably!)

Off to Eurostar and Belgium in the morning...

Limburg

2011-12-05T10:35:00.001Z

Sitting in Frankfurt aeroport, having performed in Thing last night. Disappointingly, we find that in fact the venue was called Thing and not the place... we were truly in Limburg itself [we had thought it was a suberb of same]... but it was indeed a fine thing nevertheless.
More Christmassy atmosphere... not least in the fact that there was a Chocolate shop opposite our hotel, full of treats [don't tell my wife & son]... it rained a bit, but still surprisingly temperate for wandering around the Christmas markets...
Bliss.
Various winter ailments held off long enough for the audience to hear us...
Martin looked after us well for these two German days... & our old friend Marco did the sound last night.

Now looking forward to the first of our Bridewell Tuesdays.... tomorrow... then it's off to Belgium for two days before Captain Beaky at the RAH; rehearsal then show on Sunday at 6pm... We are singing songs on our own, but also accompanying Miss Rosie Ashe... marvellous.

In case you did not know, Hissing Sid is innocent...

Burbach Christmas

2011-12-04T09:46:00.004Z

Christmas starts... looking forward to all; but especially our Bridewell Tuesdays... (6th & 13th)...

Had another Captain Beaky rehearsal on Friday... & everyone was happy...
All looking good for Sunday 11th; where we will share the stage with lots of huge names:-
O More Roger
Marsh Titch Alan
Grave Van Redessa
...and Joanna Lumley amongst others.

We then landed in Germany, and had a lovely Christmas evening in Burbach...
... a great crowd in the excellent 1950s theatre [which used to be a Nobel dynamite factory!], provided a splendid atmosphere; our first Christmas concert hopefully sets the tone for the next few weeks...

We are playing Thing tonight.... what larks!

(Sir) Tim

2011-12-01T20:51:00.008Z

Had a morning recording vocals on a track for a demo of Tim Rice's new musical (written with composer Stuart Brayson):- From Here to Eternity... recorded in Tim's son-in-law's studio (Pete Hobbs of The Boy Least Likely to).
Great fun....
Let's hope it works... it's planned to come into town next year!

Whilst on the great man - here's a video of our all performing together:
CLICK HERE for fun!
Our 'hit' ...Wanderin' Star, btw... (as recorded at Lady Taverners do the other week).

Champs Hill & Malcolm...

2011-12-01T08:11:00.003Z

Great day down at Champs Hill, recording with Malcolm Martineau at the piano...
We completed everything we planned; Vaughan Williams, Haydn, Bridge, Poulenc, Quilter & Heneker - splendid - thus (working title) Songs of Love and War is well on its way; one more recording day, we feel and we will have all...
With our schedule in the next few weeks (and Malcolm's more so!), we 're not sure when we will finish all this... but we'll keep you posted!

Off this am to record a quick demo of a song for the new Tim Rice musical... (From Here to Eternity)... no waves in the studio, I think...

Christmas Cheer

2011-11-29T15:16:00.002Z

Our Christmas album, including the newly-published, A Festival of Carols in Two Minutes, is newly available for digital download....

Hooray!

Luton Music Club

2011-11-29T00:22:00.005Z

Lovely evening on the Thameslink line! [Home by 11.43 !]

NEWS FLASH! :- choralstore.com have our newly-published Xmas arrangement, as their work of the week... look here

Luton Music Club are a thriving club meeting on Mondays at Luton's Library Theatre; and we had a great time; beginning in the 12th century with Hildegard of Bingen (Ave generosa); and ending with Billy Joel's Goodnight, My Angel.... and much inbetween - Byrd 4-part Mass, Lambeth Walk etc.!

Our old friend, Richard Sisson [Widow of Kit and the Widow] came, as he is a longtime supporter of the Club, and it was great to see him... and congratulate him on his part in the Comedy Prom! He said he enjoyed himself...

We have a Captain Beaky dance (hah!) rehearsal at the RAH tomorrow morning... so night night!

Sheet music download

2011-11-23T13:11:00.003Z

Our Festival of Carols in Two Minutes is available for download NOW from choralstore.com
- Hooray!
[Some may know the arrangement as 'Carol']

First of many we hope... we are truly published by Edition Peters...

Altogether now....

"Once in... a manger... one silent night......"

Ah, Vienna

2011-11-20T15:34:00.007Z

A lovely day and night in Vienna...
We visited the Theatre am Spittelberg, where we will be performing in the Summer next year (great to see it), and it was good to be in the city without it being below freezing!

Voicemania audience were as splendid as ever, and we had a glorious evening... and made sure that they know how to make a cup of tea... [German words by our old friend Rainer Wallraf, with national anthem as tune]...

We were also afforded the pleasure of watching Vocal Tempo, a cuban a cappella group, who won the second series of Spanish X Factor (Factor X !) - they were brilliant! Their instrumental impressions were excellent, and of course... rhythm - perfeccione!

We reminded the good people of the Vienna Cricket Club - oh yes, there is one - and talked of the game and sang our Ins and Outs - Cricket Tea Towel to them... it must have worked, we sold many CDs...

Steve then rushed off to see his wife sing with John Malkovich in New York, as you do!

Voicemania in Vienna

2011-11-17T22:22:00.003Z

A rare treat - out here a day early so we were able to catch a bit of tonight's Voicemania gig... and we saw the UK group - The Boxettes... very fine; and with the World female beatbox champion, Bellatrix herself, in their midst. The group started at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in 2007... great to hear them.
Earlyness also allows us to see more of this fair city than we usually do...
Exploration tomorrow, after a good night's sleep.

Might also rehearse for our parts of Captain Beaky at RAH in December, and our Bridewell shows...
Later, we share our gig with Cuban group, Vocal Tempo - groovy!

Night night

Golden Bridge Awards

2011-11-16T23:55:00.007Z

Sang tonight in Quaglino's at Green Park, central London, for the BLCC Golden Bridge awards, we know about these via the Anglo-Belgian Club - Thanks to Michel Vanhoonacker for inviting us (once again!). Good to have ex-Swingle, soprano (and Belgian) Ann de Renais introducing us...

Just three small bursts of us amidst much celebration of the strength of commerce between Belgium, Luxembourg and the UK. [BLCC = Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce].

Quaglino's - very splendid; food delightful, as one would expect... we were all surprised it only opened in 1993; the name feels as if it has been around longer than that!

A game of two halves for the audients; quite pathetic lack of joining in in the "rat da dat da dat" in Chanson d'amour, but rousing "OYs!" in The Lambeth Walk...

I know they are all going to go home and order their Xmas copies of Songs of Cricket...
...off to Vienna tomorrow.

CH Recording #2 & Tim Rice bash

2011-11-04T22:55:00.005Z

We had second successful day at Champs Hill, after a splendid meal and night there (none of us had been to bed so early for years!); Producer Alex served us well again, keeping us on the straight and narrow... & almost all the a cappella stuff is done... Hooray!
Mary & David are such good hosts; I think we may enjoy doing this again...

Then today, we were up bright and early for a sound check at the Dorchester Ballroom, Park Lane, in preparation for being Sir Tim Rice's backing group in our hit, 'Wanderin' Star'... (accompanied on the piano by Chris Hatt). We sang a grace and a couple of cricket songs too...
Lots of money was raised for the Lady Taverners charity in this lunch in celebration of Tim... many famous names gave messages by audio and video, as well as of course, many others being there in person. Rachael Heyhoe-Flint [newly ennobled], Judith Chalmers, a sea of Rices [Tim's two brothers did a great double act & Tim's children gave him a revealing and hilarious quiz (which he passed!)], Jack Rowell, Bella Emberg, Angela Rippon, Tony Lewis, Christopher Martin-Jenkins & Mike Gatting were all there... People were meant to be sardonic and funnily horrid, but TRice being such a nice chap, this never lasted long and all ended up saying what a great friend he is, and all-round jolly fellow!
I had forgotten how central to getting ladies admitted to the MCC he was - Rachael was very moving on the subject.-

Also on the musical bill, a quick recital of oscar-winning hits from Alan Menken (glorious); and duets and solos from Tim Rice & Friends, performed by Emma Munro-Wilson & Lewis Bradley, accompanied by Duncan Waugh.

Messages came from Elaine Page, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Elton John, Sir John Major - and the lunch only overran by an hour and ten minutes!

Another life-enhancing event, celebrating a truly Great Britain...

Champs Hill Recording #1

2011-11-03T00:16:00.008Z

Presently at Champs Hill, recording our next album... Songs of Love and War:- doing the a cappella stuff on this sojourn... we will add the tracks with Malcolm Martineau when the great man is free! [Early next year...]

Fantastic room to sing in, atmosphere to record, and of course the surroundings at the Bowerman's... quite lovely... & the board and lodging is very good in this hotel too!
Yum!

The Producer is Alexander Van Ingen, and a fine chap he is... ably assisted by Clare...

One a cappella day down... one to go...

Christmas news

2011-11-01T22:48:00.005Z

There will be more on this anon... but for the moment our Christmas News!

1. Our Festival of Carols in Two Minutes will be available in print SOON... the first of our arrangements to have been published by Edition Peters (hereafter known as "The Management")

2. Our album Christmas with Cantabile - The London Quartet will be available for digital download by the end of the month (or sooner).... WATCH THIS SPACE

3. We have a couple of Christmas Concerts on two Tuesdays in the Bridewell Hall, Bride Lane, Fleet Street (wonderful acoustic)....6.30pm on the 6th and the 13th December....

Good news to all men (and women...)

UEA Music department closing

2011-10-31T00:13:00.004Z

Sad news that the University where I studied for my music degree has decided that it 'cannot afford to run the music department anymore'....
UEA is in the beautiful city of Norwich, for those who do not know...

Here's a satirical look at it - (but the subject isn't that funny!).

Benjamin Britten, who helped set up the department will be revolving in his grave...
Ho hum...

Bocholt

2011-10-24T00:38:00.002+01:00

Tour done, and minor coughing fits aside, I am a Fleming in Belgium who has one the Phlegm battle!

Another excellent evening accompanied by the redoubtable Paul Plummer. Bowler hats, celeb masks and umbrellas to the fore... we took this small part of north Belgium to Britain... tea, royalty, muddling-through, Elton John, Rice & Lloyd Webber & a cross-dressing lumberjack:- what more could one ask for?
...and our dear friends Gertie & Jolein were there too from The Netherlands... how splendid!

It'll be Christmas next time we are here, but that'll be fun too... we'll dust off the German version of Best of British for January...

Songs of Cricket

2011-10-24T00:28:00.004+01:00

...is now available on:

iTunes
Amazon

or, naturally via US!

Click for Promo video

Good to see Rory has been overtaken by dance in his Strictly sojourn.... he is great on his beeb blog - shame he is out now....

Aalst

2011-10-22T23:28:00.004+01:00

Best of British went well to a packed house at Aalst... Our wonderful Belgian agent Thomas Van der Spiegel brought his whole family as they live nearby...
Lovely huge theatre, and friendly and excellent staff... and pre-gig meal in a restaurant that used to be a chapel - De Kapelaan - beautiful both architecturally and nutritionally...
Apart from a 30-second long coughing fit - I managed to obscure a Mike solo - which felt like about 2 hours, everything went well.
Did a very bad impression of HMQ, whilst wearing her face mask, as I stumbled into a chair, thus breaking one of Noel Coward's two golden rules of acting.... know your lines and don't walk into the furniture...
Steve's acres of Flemish, as ever, a great delight... (tho' we all join in a bit!) ...as indeed were his knees during the Lumberjack song...
Great to be back with Herr Paul Plummer on piano; and we have another show together tomorrow at Bocholt...

These last three gigs of this tour said together, with an overgutteral accent & a scowl - Jezus-Eik, Aalst, Bocholt - might give the idea that we are cross, but far from it, we are having a great time over here amongst the Belgae...

Bonheiden and Jezus-Eik

2011-10-21T23:27:00.005+01:00

Two lovely full gigs in Belgium, performing our Madrigal to McCartney show...
Proof once more that it is a splendid country to visit... all the staff and people around are so friendly, helpful & uncomplicated... and the food is so nice!
And all managed with a nose full of phlegm... thank goodness it is a nose and not a throat... luckily only I am thus afflicted.
Two more in the next two days, giving our Best of British programme.... today in Jezus-Eik [Jesus Oak, btw] we had a rather British time too; it is just down the road from the English school over here.... lots of children [some Flemish speakers and some English] had a concert in the theatre, and we sang at the end of their time... they were delighted to see how silly it is possible to be whilst singing!
As ever, both new and old friends were about... including today someone we worked for last in Germany in 1992; hoping it will be less than 19 years before we meet once more!
We continue to spread Songs of Cricket amongst the unsuspecting Belgians.
Tomorrow we welcome back pianist, Paul Plummer, who now works in Austria; we have not worked with him for many a while... let's hope he has some cold remedy with him; it will be great to see him...

Classical Rolls Royce!

2011-10-13T18:36:00.005+01:00

We are very blessed by our accompanists!
These days for our shows, on piano we have the fantastic Chris Hatt, the worldwide MD of Billy Elliot...
...and soon, because Chris is not free, we have the pleasant delight of working for a couple of Belgian nights with our previous chap, Paul Plummer, who is presently working at the opera house in Innsbruck...
...and now we also have the splendour of working once again with that Rolls Royce of classical accompanists, Malcolm Martineau. We are recording a third album with him, this time under the Champs Hill label - in November for release next year. We had a rehearsal yesterday, and it was as we have come to expect when we work with MM... looking forward to the CD very much.

It is loosely based on the concert we performed together in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris in March...
Songs of Love and Death/War... (to be decided)...

Urology Foundation

2011-10-12T18:30:00.007+01:00

Now there I was thinking we were to sing to lots of Doctors, but in truth, last night at The Savoy, it was mainly only real people there... in support of the fine charity, The Urology Foundation. Some very senior doctors of course, but the event was a fundraiser.

The chairman of the Foundation, Steven Norris introduced us and we sang to the assembled throng; after a sumptuous auction which had clearly raised much for the charity.
...and Ian Hislop and Ronnie Corbett were there too...
Even at the late hour, and after auction exhaustion, people were fabulously attentive...

Not that I was eavesdropping, but earlier I had heard Mr Hislop talking of another beano in a few days' time, to celebrate 50 years of Private Eye - with everyone still alive who ever worked for it, invited... sounds huge fun...
(contd. page 94)

Bayreuth - die Kirche

2011-10-09T14:32:00.003+01:00

Our concert at the Ordenskirche Bayreuth has happened... and we are still alive!
Thrillingly lots of people turned up, some after the church service, others who had seen us last night in die a cappella Nacht - and we gave them an hour of early tunes... Bingen, Byrd, Bennet, Monteverdi, Arbeau, Arcadelt & Weelkes through Rossini, Genée & Sullivan up to Richard Rodney Bennett [no, he's not so early, but the piece we sang is a setting of 17th Century poet, Francis Quarles!]

Wonderful - even more so, having repaired to a typical upper Franconian restaurant for meat and dumplings and lovely dark beer of the region...!
The aeroport beckons...

Splendid... home for a quick day off, then the Savoy on Tuesday night... entertaining at a meeting of Urologists... hope they won't be too probing...

Bayreuth

2011-10-09T00:48:00.003+01:00

No Wagnerian gestures onstage tonight, just Medlz and us once more, but tonight joined by Six Pack - we realise it is even longer since we saw these guys... 7 years... they were cool and fun as ever... and they all became 7-pack when their old bass, Peter Martin Jacob, joined them for a rendition of Ring of Fire...

All marvellous - and the audience were, if anything, even more enthusiastic than last night...

A morning concert in the church beckons... at 11am... tra la la la la....

Biberach

2011-10-08T00:14:00.004+01:00

Marvellous 'Die a cappella Nacht' in Biberach... for the uninitiated, this is not an a cappella evening which makes you die... but one in Germany, thus with an article... designed and promoted by our German agent, Peter Martin Jacob and his agency, Magenta...

Two groups were with us - our old friends from this circuit, the Dresden group, Medlz - they have lost their definite article since we last worked with them in 2007... we were all amazed that it was four years ago that we last met... they looked remarkably similar; although there is a new one of them! Lydia has an 11-month old daughter... but Bine, Lydia, Silli, Mary and Nelly were as wonderful as ever [if not better!] - fantastic tuning...
...and some new friends, muSix from Berlin... a great group of er... five, who were splendid and polished too...
In fact this is a bit of a theme of the evening, Medlz started as a nine-part group, and muSix as a six-part; clearly they both decided five was best after all... & both groups met whilst singing together in children's choirs... that's why they still seem so young!

A very fine evening for all of us onstage, and by the sound of it, the audience too...
...snuck a few more Cricket CDs out too... to Germans!!

On to Bayreuth tomorrow with Medlz... and a mystery someone else...

Leuven

2011-10-06T23:22:00.004+01:00

Another fantastic evening at the Lemmensinstituut at Leuven.... where Steve studied when a boy... he mentioned being an alumnus on stage, and when he chatted with some of the students afterwards, he saw them realise just how really old he was... it happens to us all!

Best of British (Belgium) went splendidly well, and the amount of noise the audience made [at appropriate moments] was sometimes deafening...

The mountie hats were an excellent addition to Steve's knees in The Lumberjack Song - splendid...

And we sold more Songs of Cricket - this could be the start of something very big!

International train journey to Biberach, Germany tomorrow for an a cappella nacht - more news tomorrow...

Breast Cancer Care show

2011-10-06T01:11:00.003+01:00

Attended a wonderful, life-enhancing event at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane this afternoon... a fashion parade of cancer survivors being the centre-piece of a day in aid of the Breast Cancer Care charity

Highly moving, of course, and everyone with such a positive outlook, as they share their stories of Breast Cancer... a disease that affects so many people each year; 50,000 new diagnoses in the UK alone.

We were treated like long-lost friends, and all were delighted that we were there to sing... and they were indeed pretty good at joining in with The Lambeth Walk!

But clearly, we were a side-show:- there is marvellous up-lifting spirit in this charity's heart...

Kortrijk

2011-10-05T18:40:00.004+01:00

Wonderful theatre, and excellent audience to watch Best of British - and now for something completely different première...
Joined by trusty Chris Hatt, and with brolleys and bowlers, we showed them a thing or two, eh what!?
Off to Leuven tomorrow to do it again... with added mountie hats... [any ideas why we need them?]
More cricket CDs have been spread amongst the unsuspecting mainland Europeans...

Herent

2011-10-02T13:26:00.004+01:00

Another balmy night in Europe last night... excellent audience at Herent in Belgium; just a few miles from Steve's hometown... many were, however, surprised when he revealed his citizenship, and just how near he had grown up.

The bells of the church [striking every hour and urging people to services from 8am] were very forthright in our hotel 15 metres from the church door... not quite up to Swiss standards however, as it was only the one church!

First night of 'Best of British - and now for something completely different' tonight in Kortrijk, before the première in Leuven on Thursday... looking forward to it - and gloriously Chris Hatt has arrived off the Eurostar.... and we'll all be home this evening as tonight's show is at 5pm...

What a small world we live in...

Zurich

2011-10-01T14:38:00.005+01:00

Wonderful evening in an unusually balmy late September Zurich...
Singing at a restaurant after the opening of Marco Perego's new exhibition at Galerie Gmursynska
... it just goes to show what a footballer can do after his career [I am being serious - look him up! Slight warning, he is explicit and courts controversy with his views on the way society 'devours itself'...]

We have now been entertaining for Krystyna and her Gallery for well over 20 years, and this night was even graced by UK royalty... tho' of course I cannot tell you whom... She and her friends were suitably gracious about our contribution to the evening...

Now in (still summery-hot) Herent, BE awaiting the next concert; must admit to being grateful for our schedule, as it meant I was saved watching England struggle their way to a limping victory over Scotland in the Rugby WC - much better to be in mid-air...

Galerie Gmurzynska

2011-09-29T15:39:00.003+01:00

Just off to Galerie Gmurzynska, to help open the Secrets exhibition of work by Marco Perego

Lucky we were free when rung this lunchtime!

Off to Belgium for the rest of the weekend; Herent and Kortrijk - home on Sunday evening...
Best of British (Belgian) première will soon have come and gone...

Tunbridge Wells

2011-09-18T07:48:00.007+01:00

Just taking a break from watching England as Rugby team - well they seemed to be so for about 20% of the time anyway - to mention our excellent night on Friday in Tunbridge Wells.
Singing as part of the Music at King Charles series, we had a full church of Tunbridge Wellsians, and none seemed disgusted...

We gave them a glimpse of our Best of British programme... which we will take to Belgium and Germany in the coming months (altho' we spoke and sang in English!).
At one of the homes of Kent CCC, there were many enthusiastic faces as we mentioned cricket and sang some songs from the album, ably accompanied as ever, by Chris Hatt.

Thanks to our old friend, Rupert Preston-Bell and his family, and to their collaborators The Tunbridge Wells International Festival for making this evening, and so many others, a success.

But Georgia on My Mind still... for the next 40 minutes...

Cricket online interview

2011-09-16T12:55:00.003+01:00

Songs of Cricket interview on cricketworld.com

Listen all about it - you have to search quite hard on the site to get to the above, but hoping some will find it!

Looking forward to more sales at one of the homes of Kent CCC tonight... Tunbridge Wells.

4th Bridewell Night

2011-09-11T01:46:00.002+01:00

So, they are all done - a wonderful run - there was some talk of getting us back to The Bridewell [somewhere in the building, at least!] for a Christmas show.... we shall say as soon as we find we can squeeze this in...

Lovely venue, and splendid support from so many...
Roll on the next one....

Tunbridge Wells next Friday!

2nd & 3rd Bridewell Nights

2011-09-10T00:06:00.007+01:00

Well, what to say - each night better than the next - a sea of friends, old and new coming to visit, and the support we get from The Bridewell Institute is wonderful...

One old friend was Neil Pearson - great to see him again; we sang a cricket song, Neil Hannon & Thomas Walsh's Jiggery Pokery, which tells the story of that ball to Mike Gatting bowled by Shane Warne in 1993.... Neil said he was filming (Between the Lines, I reckon) at Old Trafford at that very moment; and thus his reaction to the amazing right-angled delivery was caught on film...they could not help but react... 'cut!' - must be in the BBC vaults somewhere... or perhaps on the cutting room floor (I realise this is a very ancient concept in these digital times...)

Yet more members of my family came... this is once more a delight... hoping this becomes an annual Festive week for us in early September... 2 years and counting...

1st Bridewell night

2011-09-07T23:48:00.003+01:00

As much as anything, this evening was excellent because so many of my wider family had decided to show up tonight.. without my knowing beforehand... including my fabulously talented cousin Andy Fleming (vocalist - impressionist)... we have not been in the same place for years! Glorious.

...and all went well; quite a few Cricket Songs sung to an unsuspecting audience, and the CDs were popular too. A great beginning to our run, and looking forward to the next three nights...

Bridewell rehearsal

2011-09-02T19:43:00.005+01:00

Final rehearsals for our Bridewell shows at the end of next week...
Our Postcard from Home will be as varied as usual... and of course, Songs of Cricket will be there too - both live and recorded! Monty Python, Jake Thackray, Noel Coward, The Beatles, Flanders and Swann, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber - just some of the people who will 'partake' in our evenings...

Very exciting... tech stuff over the weekend and then we are in from Monday... shows: Weds.-Sat. at 7pm.
Might we see you there...?

Barry Cryer

2011-08-31T18:53:00.003+01:00

We met this great man to discuss his helping us compile a programme of comedy songs so as to tour theatres in the UK....

Wonderful to sit and chat with him; luckily for us, not only is he hilarious, but also has a pretty encyclopaedic memory.... and over the years he wrote for everyone! [Altho' in his modest way, he is at pains to say that he is not the only one, everyone wrote for everyone in the 50s - 90s.... he just gets longevity kudos!]

Now for a title....

Altafulla

2011-08-27T20:15:00.004+01:00

Great evening in Church Square, Altafulla... a perfect acoustic with the stage set up in the corner; our voices bouncing off the walls.
The audience are well used to a great range of music for their Festival as David van Asch has given them lots of treats as Festival Director. Having had a few years off, he is back this year, and the vocal music came back...
A French choir gave a programme of Francis Poulenc and Eric Whitacre last month and much else besides - and then there was us...

Everyone seemed jolly about our speaking to them in Catalan [es mol bé], and the promised storm and wind stayed in Barcelona, and did not bother us during our gig.
The man in charge of Culture from the Town Hall was also happy - which was nice!
...and once more we sold Cricket CDs to an unsuspecting country!

The post-concert refreshments at Faristol [Music stand in Catalan] were very Spanish, and thus splendid...

David van Asch

2011-08-25T23:26:00.003+01:00

A lovely evening chez van Asch - their home is near Altafulla...

David and Margarita showed us their glorious house, and we ate our fill.... & a wonderful local butcher they must have...

David van Asch is of course a stalwart of The Scholars - thus steeped in vocal ensemble singing... and he has lived in Spain since meeting Margarita in the 1970s.

Our concert tomorrow is in the village square, just by the castle at 10pm... weather permitting...
... lunch on the seafront also beckons...

Val-d'Or show

2011-08-22T17:03:00.007+01:00

Fantastic evening at a fantastic Festival (Festival classique de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue - artistic director: Donald Ferland).

There were speeches galore every evening! Donald spoke of course, but we also heard from Raymond Cloutier, Actor & Director of the Conservatoire of Dramatic Art, Montréál, who is Honorary President of the Festival, as well as Marie St-Germain (President of same) & Jean St-Jules, Director of the Conservatoire of Music in Val-d'Or...
This is all taken very seriously; and it shows -the attention to detail is splendid, and the Festival atmosphere compelling...

We were very well looked after at our hotel - Auberge Harricana - Martin, Marie-Annick and their family were terrific (wonderful children), also Mary Lou ran errands for us tirelessly...

Three evening shows and lots of smaller concerts throughout a busy three days up here in Val-d'Or...

There was firstly Les Boréades, a baroque ensemble who have been doing The Beatles in this style for a few years now... amazing...
Then there was Marie-Josée Lord - a phenomenal Opera singer, accompanied beautifully by violin and piano...
All the evening acts share our Canadian agent - L'Agence Station Bleue - a good weekend for them too!

The audience were brimming over with excitement for all the concerts, and it took us a long time to exit the building... more CDs sold... once more - including selling out of cricket ones! One gets the impression from Cricket Canada's site that the francophones aren't quite so hot on this sport, but who knows in the future.... & I see we have beaten India by an innings again... what larks... [We did get a CD to the great Sachin Tendulkar, I do hope he does not take his non-century frustration out on it!]

And a great new idea... all involved were given a painting to take home (and we all fitted our individual ones in our cases) - created by local artist Lee Lovsin... cool!

...and here we are back at Montréal, awaiting our connection, so as to get home... just in time for a lie down, then Spain at the end of the week...

Val d'Or Sky

2011-08-21T00:31:00.003+01:00

And God said....

Greenfield Park, QC

2011-08-18T17:40:00.006+01:00

Despite its name, the lingua franca here is French...
People dutifully turned out with their own chairs, and filled the space in front of the stage... and to the sides, and a bit behind it too!

Delighted that David, one of High-Shop, another vocal quartet, from Trois-Rivières, turned up too with friends...

An hour-and-a-quarter of fun for all the family - there was dancing from one lady... she seemed especially animated during Foresters Sound the Cheerful Horn by Henry Rowley Bishop, altho' we did perform plenty of genuine pop tunes to dance to...

....and as it was an early start, we were back in Montréal before 10pm.
Marvellous...

Green Gables - PEI

2011-08-15T16:30:00.005+01:00

We arrive in Anne of Green Gables country... on Prince Edward Island.
Richard dutifully read the book on the way here, and our concert was just down the road from Green Gables at Indian River (altho' the book is fiction, it was set around here).

We performed in the same church in 2008, tho' since then the building has been purchased by the Festival and is a permanent concert hall - the audience were fantastically enthusiastic from the off, and once again amazingly purchased a goodly amount of CDs on CRICKET!

Friends of ours, Richard's cousin and his wife - David and Eileen - attended, which was a great blessing, Eileen having had a massive reunion with the PEI end of her family, the day before... Oh and we're just off to lunch with them...

Flights back to Montréal later today...

Domaine Forget, QC

2011-08-14T10:20:00.005+01:00

This double rainbow greeted us as we entered St Irénée, QC for our return trip to Domaine Forget - setting for the Festival & a wonderful place for music courses with the excellent Francoys-Bernier Concert Hall... & views of the St Lawrence river and surrounding beauty...

The audience were also delighted with us, and we with them... as ever, as well as our normal stuff, the Québecois Lionel Daunais' La Toutière went down very well. We also sold some Cricket CDs over here, would you believe it!? It must be because we are now the number one test-playing nation in the world!

A bit early here at Québec aeroport [flight at 6am!]... getting to PEI for our concert tonight...
...more later...

Canada here we come...

2011-08-12T00:32:00.001+01:00

Following in William & Kate's footsteps, we are flying out to Québec City tomorrow for concerts in Québec and also Prince Edward Island....

I am sure we will receive as warm a welcome!

I will report back, eh?...

2nd Taj weekend

2011-08-07T00:54:00.004+01:00

Hooray - weather better [apart from a dodgy 15 minutes of rain yesterday]....
... and all went well.

Andy Massey joined us on piano from his usual berth at Lion King on the Friday, and Chris Hatt was back with us Saturday having safely showed his sister the way up the chancel the day before...
...his sister and brother-in-law somehow thought that watching us was a great way to celebrate their second day of married life... how lovely of them...

Talking of pianists, Gerard Kenny, who we had met at the Alan Jay Lerner memorial do a few weeks back, came with his wife Jenny to see us... fantastic; not only great to have him in our midst just because, but also they are such splendid enthusiastic people... a boon to any evening.

So our open-air courtyard evenings at the Taj this summer are done... lots of new West End repertoire learnt and many plugs for our new CD emoted...

We found that the best acoustic was to stand in the balcony bar and sing down into the courtyard; quite Elizabethan, but Chris told us that unmiked we filled the whole place and all surrounding buildings with noise... Let's see what they say when we suggest it next time...

Off to Québec on Thursday...

New CD

2011-07-25T00:48:00.004+01:00

Just in case there is any doubt, what this is all about....

Click here for more info

High Sheriff and Sheriffina

2011-07-24T15:24:00.003+01:00

Lovely evening in a marquee at Bignor Roman Villa, Sussex

The new High Sheriff of Sussex, David Tupper and his wife Hilary continued their celebrations of his Office, with a dinner for their friends...
The venue has significance as it was a Tupper ancestor, George Tupper in 1811 who discovered the remains here. It is also one of the richest finds in the country; a very posh old farm and house indeed.

Lots of Sussex airs were heard; The High Sheriff of Sussex's March, Sussex by the Sea and by request... Old MacDonald's Farm - an old TLQ piece which the Sheriffina had caught on youtube
Everyone joined in with Sussex by the Sea, and naturally, in The Lambeth Walk...

Also we were able to show the public our new Cricket CD, as we had received the first copies just that day...

A great way to start our summer hols... tho' the second Taj weekend, a tour to Canada and a trip to Spain beckon in August.

5 Gents & a Lady in Ghent

2011-07-19T18:24:00.006+01:00

Let me take some time out from watching the unravelling of the Metropolitan Police and the demise of News International to tell you of...

Ah, the delights of open air concerts in the Summer.... altho' supposedly it never rains during Gentse Feesten - when the squares of Ghent in Belgium are alive with music for some sunny Summer days...
...on Saturday, it was British Night; and our tireless Belgian agent, Thomas Van der Spiegel had both us and the ever-pink Rosie Ashe involved... all of us accompanied by also tireless Paul Knight [he of the long evening...] TLQ went first for our hour plus, then Rosie followed up with hers...
The rain was on-off-on-off as it has remained here and will continue all week, which hampered our sound checks and made it difficult for the audience, who unlike us, were not covered from the rain, in the main. There was belgian beer on hand to help the inner health, but being wet inside and out does not help being an audient.... amazingly many stayed to watch us all... [and also, the rain did in the end stop!]
British Night was a great success, and there's review to prove it [if you can speak Flemish!]... a great shame it was not quite the glorious summer night in a wonderful old city that was hoped for... but the hardy Gentmen and Gentwomen made the evening a lovely splendour.

Belgian beer [and wine and Cava too] were taken by all; as was the terrific Eurostar there and back...

Two Surprises

2011-07-18T18:04:00.006+01:00

Called to Oxford on Saturday for a quickie.... in the delightful surroundings of Quod Brasserie and Bar, we sang for a famous friend of ours - offspring of whom had just graduated...
Young and old, everyone was very happy to have their meal interrupted by us!
...and when were we asked about this?
Well, obviously, 5pm on the day itself...
We were lucky the weather was a bit changeable, otherwise we all might have been out on a fine summer Saturday evening... but as it was we were sheltering from the rain, and thus able to answer our phones and get to a different city.
...and all home late on the same day... well, the latest by 12.25am... cool!

...and whilst walking along the road to the restaurant, we bumped into someone else who was there in the city (for a friend's wedding), Rupert Preston-Bell and his wife Caroline... what a ridiculous serendipity that was! We will be performing at King Charles the Martyr, Tunbridge Wells for them on September 16th this year... Hope the weather stays nice for that one...

1st Taj weekend

2011-07-10T14:57:00.003+01:00

Two lovely nights at The Taj, 51 Buckingham Gate.... only a few minutes from my house - hoorah.
We sang songs from the West End and Broadway in their open-air courtyard... and it did not rain... a minor miracle surely!

Accompanied splendidly by Chris Hatt [only a few metres from his usual Billy Elliot pit], we had an excellent couple of evenings, and the guests at the Taj were gloriously on for a good time.

Felt a bit sorry for the people in the restaurant opposite us in the courtyard, as they could not hear us behind their plate glass walls, and as there was a private function each night, the doors could not be opened.... ah well, this at least absolutely ensured that they felt they were missing something, rather than having any chance of dashing their hopes!

Excellent to sing a few pieces we have not done in a while... our West Side Story medley, lots from our David Cullen album Music of the Night and some Guys and Dolls... as well as, for the first time since Musée d'Orsay (!)... Flash Bang Wallop - only with totally English lyrics this time!!

We will do this all again on the 5th and 6th August... what fun!

There is a Paradise...

2011-06-30T14:59:00.006+01:00

We began our evening of The Best of British as part of the Chichester Festivities with Robert Pearsall's There is a Paradise on Earth - a perfect description of Champs Hill where we performed to a packed house.

Accompanied with his usual poise by Chris Hatt, we went through many British institutions - Shakespeare, G & S, Noel Coward, Edward Lear, Elton John, Rice & Lloyd-Webber, Peter Warlock, The Beatles, The Weather, The Underground, The Pre-Raphaelites and of course, Cricket...

Excellent to be part of the Chichester Fest again, and to be in The Music Room at Champs Hill in the West Sussex countryside was splendid.... we have performed here before only at private parties... we look forward to being here more [in fact, another dinner next month beckons!]
The Music Room also houses part of a wonderful art collection... an all-round artistic experience.

Thorndike Arts Centre, Rochester

2011-06-27T19:12:00.002+01:00

Excellent to be part of an artistic flourishing in Kent; Rochester Grammar School has created the Dame Sybil Thorndike Arts Centre within its grounds and set about making it a viable artistic and commercial concern. All power to Richard et al; their elbows and all other sharp points. These will require to keep it wonderful is this current climate.
However, no casue for concern for the first two events - both sell-outs; firstly The James Taylor Quartet [how splendid], and then us...

Also performing before our concert was the girls' choir NChant, excellently led by Choral Director, Carolynn Woodman... Rochester GS is that very rare thing, a secondary school specialising in music... and the girls showed how delighted they are to have an excellent Arts Centre in which to perform.
There are many other choirs, and instrumental opportunities at the school and further afield in Kent... great to see local youth music having such strength in depth.

The members of Nchant were lovely enough to enjoy our pearls of wisdom to them in a quick workshop/performance in the afternoon; however it is clear that Carolynn trains them excellently...

A glorious vocal evening for the good people of Rochester...[& I was back in my house by 11.50pm]... we wish the Arts Centre every success...

Taj - press night

2011-06-21T11:15:00.004+01:00

A wonderful evening at the Taj, 51 Buckingham Gate....
Despite the rain the press were royally entertained by three acts... all providing music for the summer season at this gorgeous hotel.

Last Friday, the rain drove us inside, later in the summer we will be in the courtyard in the open air.... which will be splendid!
The concerts were started last year, and should be excellent.
On 8th & 9th July and 5th & 6th August we will be performing songs from classic West End and Broadway musicals.
Soprano Bella and Viva Live Music will have four nights too...
On this night, each act did a small bit, and also had a guest young singer called Jack, who showed his Bublé-esque credentials at the age of fifteen!

Let's hope the weather is more favourable for us all over the next few months...

Now, back to learning German words and music for Saturday in Stuttgart...

PS: Cricket CD is coming so soon!

Alan Jay Lerner plaque

2011-06-14T18:14:00.006+01:00

No this is not a shock 25-years-after-his-death announcement of the great man's dental issues, but a joyous celebration of the playwright-lyricist [he did not like the word librettist!] at St Paul's Covent Garden, this lunchtime. After a quarter of a century, Liz Robertson, AJL's widow, unveiled his plaque to celebrate his long association with England and the West End.

Liz and the vicar of St Paul's, Simon Grigg planned the event, and asked our old friend Hugh Wooldridge to organise the whole thing - and splendidly he did so...
On hand many greats from the stage... one highlight being Wouldn't it be Luvverly sung by six separate Eliza's... more-or-less spanning the six decades of My Fair Lady's existence. [Sally Ann Howes, Katie Knight-Adams, Jill Martin, Amy Nuttall, Jean Scott & Liz herself.]

David Firman and Jason Carr played on two pianos to accompany... marvellously and extempore! Rehearsal, reschmersal.

Anthony Andrews was glorious emoting Arthur's Proposition speech from Camelot... Jasper and Tony Britton outdoing each other in father and son speechifying. Tim Rice & Don Black gave their lyricists' perspective on his excellence and wit. Russ Abbot & Gerard Kenny sang, as did boys and girls from Laine's Theatre Arts and the West End Chorus... beautifully.

...and what did we do, I hear you cry... well, we accompanied Sir Tim in his ever-excellent rendition of the Alan Jay Lerner piece from Paint Your Wagon, Wand'rin' Star. Many said this was the comic highlight of the event... I think that is a compliment...

Another lovely surprise was seeing our old friend Brian who played the thief in Commuting a piece written for TLQ by Stephen Oliver and which we performed in the Covent Garden Festival as part of our Stephen Oliver Trilogy in the 1990s, directed by Simon Callow. Excellent to see Brian who is now retired, but was in early productions of Lerner shows... and was busily meeting old mates.

Other faces/names sighted... Trevor Nunn, Amanda Barrie, Christopher Biggins, Margaret Hodge (such fun!) and a message was read from Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was unavoidably watching one of his own shows [and Camelot too!] at the Stratford Festival, Canada.

Also unavoidable was the champagne reception at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (busily gearing up for Shrek's opening night tonight) ...and a glorious sunshine-filled day for it too...

Poznań

2011-06-06T10:01:00.003+01:00

Well, I did say I would be honest.... there were very few blank faces and no awkward silences after our Polish introductions... we were told we could be understood very well... which is a relief; Mike even achieved a resounding round of applause after tackling the Polish for a 78 revolutions per minute record ...

We were excited that our Chopin went down well too... The Minute Waltz [à la Barbra Streisand, of course] and the Prelude in Eminor continuing into Jobim's Insensatez, which uses the prelude as a skeleton...

Our hosts Affabre Concinui - The Polish Chamber Singers were delightful and we have another excellent friendship in the vocal group world... we hope to be coming to Poland lots more.

A pleasant evening

2011-06-04T23:41:00.002+01:00

We have achieved Poland, and had a great evening watching Gaudium - a vocal octet from Bialystok, who performed the second concert in this mini a cappella festival here in Poznań... a fresh mix of Bach swingle-style, folk songs & classic standards... the highlight was for us the last piece... from Poland's Russian years about the love between the Soviet Union and Poland! - Zawsze niech będzie słońce - perhaps not a happy memory... but the piece was jauntily and jazzily arranged and the audience did not need irony lessons... For those who wish to know, the last word of this song title is pronounced "Swansea" - a bit confusing for us Brits...

I for one have only been to Poland once before for only 20-odd hours in 1990... a very different country back then. This was a hit-and-run concert with City of London Choir and Orch. performing the Bminor Mass in Wroclaw... we arrived to see crowds already forming before we had rehearsed, and then we did the piece without an interval... with the Cathedral so packed that many stood in the aisles and chancel for the whole performance... endurance for both performers and audience and they did love it so...
...but back to the 21st century...

Our turn tomorrow... we have a Polish coaching in the am, to make sure we do not introduce the next goat as a pong from Skitland... I promise to honestly report on the amount of blank faces after our introductions!

Polishing up...

2011-05-31T20:00:00.004+01:00

Greetings from sunny Cornwall...
...just a wee rest before TLQ's first trip to Poland [Poznań to be exact]... as part of The Poznań a cappella festival
Just brushing up on our Polish before we go; as well as reacquainting ourselves with much West End material for some gigs in the summer in the courtyard of a fine London hotel near Buckingham Palace, The Taj
Also looking forward to the release in the later summer of our cricket CD - Songs of Cricket - excellent to see England continuing their fine tradition of winning of recent years, this time against Sri Lanka & on Welsh soil... sport in Cardiff and Swansea clearly on the up!
Da bo ti,
Hwyl,
etc

Automobile Club de France

2011-05-14T20:20:00.003+01:00

Well, a splendid address, and wonderful views over La Place de la Concorde... we had a great evening at the Automobile Club de France - the club is a very well-respected one, and is not just for the car-lover... 2000 members in Paris alone... yet they say it is rarely full!
Forgot to ask whether on official State days it is more crowded, as this Place is where many parades happen on important occasions.

My throat was sufficiently empty of gunge that notes came out [which was a relief to me]... and the audience reacted as if I were not quacking... so hooray for that! (Maybe they were just being polite).

We sang in the library:- "the first library of France" (we think they mean the best, not the earliest) which has a surprisingly good acoustic, and then had to suffer the terror of a champagne reception - oh the pains of our job...

Apart from the views, there were also many splendid old cars, and documents and photos of the early days of motoring... which we must remember was as much a French thing as any other nation [Germans shut your eyes for a moment... and anyone from USA.. sh!!]

We also enjoyed a taxi ride about the city, taking in two 'other' triumphal arches [or gates], L'Opéra and the beautiful Colonne de Vendôme situated in Place Vendôme, the Place created as a monument to the glory of the armies of Louis XIV, the Sun King.

As ever, a seemless Eurostar trip there and back - the RER guys chose to strike the day we went home, but we could walk to the station, so "ya boo..."

Bridewell Theatre bar

2011-05-10T12:58:00.004+01:00

I am sure you think we might well hang around in a bar as a matter of course... I couldn't possibly comment...
However, as part of the theatre's attempts to enliven Monday nights when the theatre is dark, we sang there last night. A fine [and indeed bijou] place in which to sing, and all had a great time.
As ever for London events, we saw a sea of faces - old friends and new...

Excellent to continue our year as Artists in Residence at The St Bride Institute

Off to Paris on Thursday - hoping very much to shake off my throat full of gunge [and no, this is nothing to do with having had a gig in a bar!]

Anniversary chocolate

2011-05-02T15:28:00.004+01:00

Courtesy of the lovely Gertie, here is my anniversary chocolate photo stand! {Twenty Cantabile - the London Quartet years}... Complete with Union Flag waistcoat... all edible!
Gertie very kindly brought this to Mechelen, so as not to smash it up in the post... There was no need to worry, I made it break into 20 pieces in my case on the way home!!
This appears to have had no effect on the excellent taste - all three of us here are very happy with it!
Thanks...

Belgian weekend

2011-05-01T20:48:00.003+01:00

A busy couple of days in Belgium.
Firstly we were in the lovely Mechelen, as part of their Mechelen hoort Stemmen Festival in wonderful sunshine...

In the evening, we went to Boechout, and sang as part of another Harmony season.... Africapella from Soweto are coming later in the year.

Then this morning it was off to the TV studio for the Belgian 'Andrew Marr show' [no super injunctions on show, of course]: VRT - 7 dag show - we were there at 53' and for the last 6 minutes [interview and song].
It was difficult to avoid the amazing goings-on in London on Friday:- and not for the last time, I am sure, I was upstaged by my son who sang in the Chapel Royal Choir at the Wedding.... in fact the TV showed him again in the studio, so all could see! I managed to sing without crying....

There's much more Belgium for us in the coming months... excellent! Gastronomically, it beats France (on points)...

Thun

2011-04-16T19:40:00.004+01:00

A great evening of vocal music in Thun.
Along with Viva Voce, A'pella Four & Teatro Zuffellato we entertained a mixed crowd at the Schweizer Kunstlerbörse in Thun.

Wonderful to see again old friends and to meet others anew. Viva Voce we have worked with before, and they were on cracking form... also I found as I got home that they are coached by an old friend from Croydon [and ex-Magnet] Colin Griffiths-Brown, who now lives in Germany and is one half of the very successful, Carrington-Brown.

As we have been to Switzerland every year for many, many years now, hoping that our friend and ally Silvan Isenring will continue to help our fulfilling this splendid tradition...

interesting times

2011-04-10T00:40:00.003+01:00

Sang at a lovely Wedding in Rowley, Yorkshire; beautiful village, church and couple!
This was a Caledonio-Belgian do....

Talking of Belgians, Steve had the most splendid journey... he drove up, so we could all come home in the car after, and whilst we luxuriated on the train, the electrics failed in his car [in the fast lane], and he ground to a halt.... I won't name the hire car company.
A
V ery
I nteresting
S ubject

HE IS OK - do not fret!

He had to be pushed to hard shoulder by the police and then taken to Milton Keynes to get a new car, and then get to us 200km away....

He arrived at 2.59 for the 3pm service; gloriously the bride was fashionably late so there were no problems.... how late might she have been if there had been even more than the 500 metres between house and church!?

We sang Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart in the service and entertained in the reception twice. Steve impressed the visiting mainland Europeans with his Flemish (they also enjoyed our French), and a good time was had by all.

Back home just after midnight.... perfect... Here's to Belgo-Britannic co-operation!