Dresden & Jena

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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!