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!