New line-up flourishes

Great times in Germany...
Germany welcomed Chris O'Gorman as the new 1st tenor!
Firstly to the beautiful town of Walldorf, which looked like this, in the excellent September sun...
Blue skies!

Lovely concert in a splendid tent, as part of their Zeltspektakel... with a gloriously enthusiastic audience... atmosphere (and food) equally tremendous!
Thank you to Jürgen for inviting us.... last time we saw him at a show, he missed our gig for the very good reason that his son Mika was being born... this time all the family met us!
Great to have lots of Magenta agency there too, Peter, Hamed & the lovely Bettina... (not that Peter and Hamed are not lovely too, of course)

Then there was a long drive to Dresden... it should have been 5-6 hours but a glorious traffic jam made it more like 9!
Wonderfully Martina Lange, who waited patiently for us to arrive, was indeed Job-like, and took our fine-cutting of it, in her stride!
We were helping to celebrate an anniversary of DREWAG (Stadtwerke Dresden GmbH)... & we performed in the quite glorious Schloss Albrechtsberg...
It looked like this (once it was dark!):

...and we performed in here:

I suppose this chap was our host, in a way!

Quite fantastic building in which to sing & a fine trip to Germany... and we'll be back next month, in Bayreuth and Blieskastel...
With a new Mitsing show in Bayreuth ... on October 3rd!

A couple of unmentioned things over the last few months... the end of CI tour gig at Jersey Arts Centre was splendid... and Jason and his team were very attentive and excellent... lovely tour in the CI all round!
...and thanks also to Jeffrey Wynn Davies & Fiona Clucas for inviting us to sing at the Cranleigh Choral Week... we had a most brilliant time, what a great and appreciative audience the singers were... & this is the largest choral course in the UK... wonderful... lots of CDs and songbooks flew off the table after!

Channel Islands tour

Well, we have done Guernsey, Alderney & Sark on our CI tour...
Just as the last two times we have done the full tour, it has been a splendid experience... tho' a bit more time aboard boats than previously!

Summer weather has finally arrived...(this AM).

Starting on Guernsey at the marvellous St James Arts Centre and delightful large crowd there... we have been to Guernsey most often of the islands & it was great to see many old friends...
Thank you Kirstin for your support as ever & being a lynchpin in the organisation.
Very responsive in The Lion Sleeps Tonight... tremendous!

Then our only tiny plane of the trip, to Alderney... Ralph and his team as ever very organised and attentive to detail...
...I suspect the colour scheme is not up to them, alternative but traditional all at once!

This time we sang in St Anne's Church, rather than the Island Hall, which had a fine acoustic and an even finer crowd of enthusiastic people...

Despite this notice, I could not find The Sword in the Stone on my travels...

Clearly by travelling to Alderney we were in good company:

Then the planning had to change... we had only just got onto Alderney by plane; the fog covered just as we landed & so there was a huge backlog of flights the next morning (and wind and rain); so obviously... a BOAT to SARK was the very best option!

Oh yes...

My body achieved Sark... but my breakfast did not (that's quite enough detail on that I think...)

We were looked after very well (and very carefully) by Jane & Sarah, and had a great time... especially as the longer we stayed the better the weather got... till it was actually Summer this AM!

Above are some of the models representing the initial settlers on Sark in the 17th Century... (there is one real person... can you spot them!?)

The island is celebrating the 450th anniversary of its Royal Charter with many events & fun is being had by all who live on the island...

Excellent again to be welcomed into this small community, tho' its being Summer, there were also some tourists in the audience... and another surprise:- Carole (with her two friends, Christian & Ulrike) were also there... on holiday!

...and we saw a Perseid meteor (yes ONE, we did not want to overdo it... it was enough!); we might have seen more before, but the cloud did not lift till last night!

...and gardens were visited this AM too...

...and thank you for inviting us!

So our CI tour has been as splendid and eventful as ever was... and we look forward to Jersey tonight... we have already had a (very serene) boat crossing from Sark to Guernsey and now await the flight to Jersey...

Hooray!

Brilliant a cappella nacht

Three groups, a beautiful setting, a lovely summer evening... all glorious!

Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau was looking terrific; both castle:

& gardens (with moat & art too!):

Great to see our old Dutch friends - iNtrmzzo - and to meet some guys from Berlin... YeoMen

A wonderful mix of a cappella... the audience were gracious enough to welcome us all!

Thanks to Bruno for organising the day... lovely to get the invitation... a very delightful evening was had by all.

YeoMen:

iNtrmzzo (moving to avoid moths!):

Special thanks to iNtrmezzo for doing the last third, meaning that they were the group who had to deal with the (enormous) moths who were drawn to the stage lights... and even into their mouths.... gloriously funny; they dealt with it excellently!

As ever on a cappella nachts we were looked after very well, and enjoyed our trip to NW Germany... we were just up the road from Kleve... which we have subsequently found was, as some of us suspected, where Henry VIII's wife, Anne of Cleves came from!

...and it is very near The Netherlands...

... therefore lovely to see our very loyal friend and fan Gertie, who came to say goodbye to Steve at one of his last gigs! (Steve's last on the European mainland.)

Here is Steve (miraculously blurred) with the other speakers of that Low Countries' language... Dutch / Flemish (*delete as applicable):-

Well, we're off on Wednesday to 'finish Steve off' on four of the Channel Islands...

Island hopping off we go...

Wine and Voices Festival, Chateau Roubine

An evening in the sun in a vineyard in the South of France...
How marvellous!

Our stage beyond the dinner alfresco...

Delightful to be invited via our old friend Jean-Marie Gardon, to Chateau Roubine, Lorgues/Draguignan.... a splendid vineyard - excellent rosé wines, natch - half the audience were a large group from AccorHotels & the rest, members of the public & friends of the vineyard from all over Europe... Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands etc...

...and what a terrific evening; could be said it was a mite hot in white tuxedo/dress gear... but all was well... Thank goodness the show began at 9.00PM, so it was cooler by the end!

We premièred our tea-instruction song in French... and it went very well!  Now we can lecture people in English, French & German on the way to make tea!

We were all given a feast too... all the fun of the fair!

Thank you to La Chatelaine, Valérie Rousselle and George too; wonderful hosts you were.

There was a great deal of lovely art around the place including this fine metallic swordsman!

En Gardon!

Dinner by the Tower

We were honoured to be invited by Sir Tim Rice to entertain him & his colleagues at their summer dinner for the Society of Distinguished Songwriters...

This year the man himself is 'King Sod' as they put it in 'SODS'... and so this evening was all his fault! (Naturally it was sublime.)

View arriving at Friday night's venue... (no-one was sent to the Tower)!

We were performing here (below)... & as you can see, it has quite a history!

I am afraid I cannot tell you who else was there (Apart from Sir TR) otherwise we might have to kill you...

...but suffice to say, it was remarkable to be singing Penny Lane to such a room of celebrated muzos and have them singalong!

The assembled company were gracious in their appreciation.

Delightful evening in the glorious heat of a London Summer (8 days long, as you all know!)

Onwards to the South of France...

Glorious Midsummer (no murders)

No need for Inspector Barnaby in leafy middle England last night, as we performed in the beautiful Chapel at Sarsden House, Oxfordshire, as part of the Dean and Chadlington Festival...

We were invited by the Festival director, guitarist, Craig Ogden, who we have known for several years. Delighted with the invite; what a splendid chap he is!
You may have noticed his new CD is already top of the Classical Charts...

We were very well looked after at Lord and Lady Chadlington's house... with its quite stunning gardens; many of our audience for the evening were enjoying tea and cakes there when we arrived (this was part of their ticket:- glorious).

and

oh, and bee heaven...

So having eaten like royalty... (Mike helped get some things out of the oven...)

...it was off to Sarsden House... with more spectacular and wonderful views...

The Festival puts on the same concert twice on these evenings, as they are so popular, and it was no different for us.... two packed houses of enthusiastic and excellent jolliness...

Splendid to have Carole Sterckx & Tim Newton sharing the evening with us too...

Excellent to chat to so many of the audience after the shows.

A thoroughly enjoyable time, and such a shame to have to leave... but as we could get to our own beds.... well, why not!?

The Chadlington's dogs were also very welcoming...

...and then one fell in love with Carole...

...but eventually...

Trip away,

Make no stay,

Meet me all by break of day...

Waterloo commemorations in Brussels

A delightful early evening at the British Embassy in Brussels to celebrate
Project Hougoumont...
...as part of the commemorations of the Battle of Waterloo (200 years ago, in case there was any doubt)

The Embassy sits with many others on the park by the Royal Palace in central Brussels...
...the beautifully appointed rooms were full of many who had supported the project over the last few years, including The Duke of Wellington (the present one!) & Peter Snow.

The guests were awaiting both the Waterloo Ball last night (sadly we were not invited!); and the arrival of Prince Charles and Camilla today to add to the glory of the hour.

Very elegant it was; dress uniforms & wonderful evening wear.
The guests were very gracious and listened to us with care.

The Ambassador, Alison Rose and her staff were fantastically helpful and charming and we had an excellent evening.
Splendid food, British Sparkling wine (oh yes) & super Waterloo beer (brewed in Waterloo - marvellous).