Two return visits; to the beautiful spa resort Bad Kreuznach, and to the wonderful Dreikönigskirche in Dresden.
It was a game of two halves; tho' the first half must have felt a lot longer for one of us...
Sadly, having spent a lovely pre-New Year in Germany, Sarah-Ann & her husband got food poisoning; so when we met up with her at the airport, all was clearly not well!
So the London Quartet, became for one night... The London Trio!
Sarah-Ann recovered well, thank goodness, but needed an extra day of rest...
Mike played the piano for a few numbers and we swapped parts around in others (it's very good for the brain, you know!)... and somehow we got away with it!
The good people of Bad Kreuznach were even afforded the glory of the German première of Sigh No More, Ladies by a certain Mark Fleming, not heard outside my house since 1988 - the music just happened to be in my bag, guv!
Other surprises included singing Greensleeves from our Great British a cappella Songbook... hooray!
But we did a whole concert... we passed time with good company, instructed them on proper tea-making, told them the rules of cricket, insulted a man in the audience (& flattered a woman) and sang like a broken record... and finished off with can You Feel the Love Tonight? All in all, a recognizable TLQ gig!
The audience were supportive and kind... and delighted we had come; & of course wanting Sarah-Ann to get better soon!
Thank you Dominik for your support in general, and also your excellent photocopying services...!
So the next day, we were delightfully able to do the programme as expected.... Dinner for 4...
We were in the lovely Three Kings Church again, and all went very well.
The picture below shows the small section of the original church which is the centrepiece of the new...
A great building in which to sing, with an audience of happy, joyful people... at the apt moments, joining in lustily (The Lion Sleeps Tonight; Rolling in the Deep; Money, money, money) & in reverential silence (Tallis, Bach, Richard Rodney Bennett).... glorious...
Rounding off with Wenn ich vergnügt bin, muss ich singen in full tongue-twisting style...
Great start to the year... (Glad Sarah-Ann's well again!)
We flew home from Prague (good to see another country); which meant we did finally see some snow... but only a wee bit!
Off to Belgium again at the weekend... a Sunday AM concert (11AM) at Diepenbeek.
Oh, and by the way, splendidly, they still had some Christmas ham at Bad Kreuznach! (Looks like Mike has already had a nibble...)
