Fürstenfeldbruck - the early show

Wonderful evening in Fürstenfeldbruck; beautiful place in which to sing, and a splendid cultural palace, as one so often finds in Germany... full of art and music-making... this small town has an orchestra and two choirs!
We were not in the exquisite church (tho' this is enormous and perishing cold!)... tho' we were in a very great hall for singing...

Here is the rest of the complex...

We hear it was built in guilt in the mid-13th century, after Louis II, Duke of Bavaria had put his wife (Maria of Brabant * ) to death for infidelity (The Pope forced him to build), but then subsequently realised he'd been a tad hasty... who'd be a Royal woman (in former times)!?

But back to the concert, we were very pleased with it; a full crowd, in rapt silence - one lady told us she had been in heaven for the last two hours! Marvellous!

We provided a concert of Franco-Flemish, Italian and English music 1450-1650... including, Josquin, Byrd, Gibbons, Monteverdi, Arcadelt, Jannequin, Weelkes, Morley, Batten, Robert Stone,Thoineau Arbeau, John Bennet, Palestrina, Henry VIII himself & that great stalwart of composition... Anon.... as part of the Fürstenfeldbruck Alte Musik sequence.

We ended with Oranges and Lemons as from our new Songbook - the Great British a cappella Songbook... (It is in the correct period, even if the arrangement ain't).

This complex does also house the Police University, which was slightly ironic... as when we arrived the door was open to our concert hall, with alarms blaring away... with no-one coming to help, and no problem in sight!

(* her descendants, of course, turned to the left & were very successful in car manufacture in the mid-20th century in Eastern Europe.)

Esch, Lux - New Year Concert

Delightful late afternoon of New Year's celebration in Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg); thank you to Charles, Marc and the rest of the team who invited us & looked after us so well.
We did our conventional mix of the silly and the serious - the audience liked our Beatles-on-a-train & our Bee Gees 'tribute'!
But yes, we did some Strauss! (Blue Danube & Radetsky) & we were very happy to be joined by our old friend Paul Plummer at the piano.  He was not let down by the European train system...
... sadly another old friend Gertie was let down by her (only a few months old) car, which failed to get her to Luxembourg... except in time to hear the last few hand claps.  Some might say she drew the longest straw by sampling the after-show champagne reception without having had to suffer a single note of music!
Sold lots of our CDs and our new songbook - hooray!
Splendid hotel too; and a great way to celebrate the birth of 2013...

We'll talk to you throughout the year!

Royal Albert Hall

Wonderful evening in the Royal Albert Hall, in the Elgar Room.
A packed room (we could only just get to the stage!) of people from all over - quite a high percentage of Scandanavians! - enjoyed a great Christmas atmosphere.
The ever-excellent Chris Hatt joined us at the piano for all sorts of Seasonal, funny & nostalgic items.

Winter Wonderland, Festival of Carols in 2 minutes & Chestnuts Roasting...
Oranges and lemons (as from our new Songbook - the Great British a cappella one)
...and naturally the Hee Bee Gee Bees!
Mike did his Bing thing too on White Christmas too...
...and Strangers in the Night, with a huge photo of Ol' Blue Eyes looking on...

Lovely room & terrific happy people...

Hope we'll be back!

Williston, ND

Our triumphant return to Williston, ND was indeed so!
We shared memories of the Wiederanders, who had looked after us 18 years ago, and were delighted to make new acquaintances - Jackie Keck took us to Books on Broadway which does fine espresso.
...and we sold lots of our new songbook - best sales yet!

In the morning we had a splendid time in the company of lots of schoolchildren, who were suitably enthusiastic... and heard the excellent Treble Makers, a seven-part girl group from WHS (Williston High School), who sang Mary did you know... & The Java Jive: they were wonderful.  Clear, beautiful singing.

Eric and Katy, music teachers at the school, were very supportive (and their little son extremely sweet!)

We have passed Grassy Butte, had lunch in the great Trappers Inn, Belfield, will have a concert tonight in Hettinger, but right now are in our Lemmon (SD) hotel....

What larks...

Ogallala, NE and Concordia, KS

Another two delightful gigs... one in Nebraska & one back in Kansas...

...and of course lots of new Interstates and highways to explore... lucky old Mike and Chris to be able to drive these roads (& lucky old Richard and me who cannot drive at all!)

Two excellent schools with well-equipped theatres and very efficient (young) techs... how brilliant!
...and we sold more of our new songbook!
Hooray!

...a few Sam Adams' Black lagers after the gig... & we are ready to sleep before our 8-9 hour drive...
back to Minnesota tomorrow.... Fergus Falls to be specific...

Blue Earth, MN

Concert no.2 passed off as easily as no.1:- another packed house enjoyed the music of vocal groups past and present. The lighting guy was extraordinarily splendid and well prepared...
...and I must tell you that on this tour we are unveiling our new book of arrangements, as published by our agents, Edition Peters: The Great British a cappella Songbook - I shall surely mention this once more. (We are dead proud of it, after all...)
In this US show we sing Danny Boy and Oranges and Lemons from the book...

We have already sold a few on this tour - hooray.
It is available right now via Edition Peters' website.

Contents of it are:

Pastime with Good Company - Henry VIII
Greensleeves - trad. English
Oranges and Lemons - trad. English
Myfanwy - Mynyddog / Parry
A Man's a Man for A' That - Burns / trad. Scots
O Danny Boy - Weatherley / trad. Irish
Pomp and Circumstance - Forsythe / Elgar
A Foggy Day (in London Town) - Gershwins
Hush Macushla - Cantabile - The London Quartet   all arranged for SATB... go on, you know you want to!

We're off to Watertown WI in the am, tho' we might just have to sample the delights of the Austin Spam Museum... well, you would, wouldn't you?!