Haus der Springmaus, Bonn

B.o.B. tour #1 in January now finished...
As ever a joyful reception at the Haus der Springmaus in Bonn
Die suppe was as good as ever...

We were only here last in March 2011, but another full-haus enjoyed B.o.B....
Especially their opportunity to join in clapping, stamping and 'banging the big bass drum' in Flash, Bang, Wallop...
Marvellous.
Chris and Sian's wee boy sat through the whole gig... only having a solo moment when Richard said rhetorically, 'But what about me?' ... Curtis duly laughed! And he cooed amiably during our Lullabye!

At airport early to try to get a fullish day at home...
All systems go for first trip ever to Estonia... tomorrow

Bad Kreuznach, DE

Hoorah - another great B.o.B. night...
Richard had a splendid moment, introducing our pianist as being the MD of Billy Hatt, which was nice... He is of course the MD of Chris Elliot.
Germany is being good to us - another packed house, and more jollity... they were especially delighted with our selection of British TV themes.
The theatre is in the midst of the rather glorious Sympathie Hotel Fürstenhof - the panoramic view on the site does it justice... I even walked up high and saw it all from above this afternoon.
Sadly we do not have lots of time to spend in their Wellness Centre - all looks great!
Had a good later evening in the hotel bar with Carole, her (and our) friend Birgit and, of course, Billy Hatt and family too...
On to Haus der Springmaus, Bonn to see more old friends...

Hoechst, DE

Our second outing of our Best of British show [for Germany] went off very well.  A sold-out theatre at Hoechst provided a very supportive audience.
Chris Hatt was with us on piano, and he has brought his wife and son with him on the trip.  Sadly the boy is nocturnal at the moment, but Chris and Sian both look good on it... and he is a happy little chap, as well as gorgeous, natch.

Carole is with us too for two days, visiting old friends in Germany, as well as seeing new songs from us!
CDs were flying away... Cricket included!
Two more nights, Bad Kreuznach and Bonn [Haus der Springmaus!] - next two days... then three more dates after our Estonia/Russia trip.

The B.o.B. show is on the road! 

PS: all together now, one last time.... I'll have a pee please, Bob
      R.I.P. Bob Holness

Frankfurt (Oder) with orchestra

A delightful repeat of last night, only this time at the orchestra's home here in Frankfurt (Oder) - formerly Frankfurt an der Oder - once, we realised tonight, a Hanseatic League City of much greater import than nearby Berlin... sadly the Nazis (in choosing this as their last stronghold pre-Berlin) and the Russians clubbed together to destroy 97% of the place in WWII.... only a very few Middle Age buildings are left.

We will see more Hanseatic League wonder when we take our first trip to Estonia, next week!

Our concert was followed by a splendid time in Fratelli's - one of the few restaurants which the Maestro recommends, which tonight was full of musicians.

Now we have a date for our return - August 2014; how splendid... and we might record together too... fantastic.

Quick drive to Berlin, then we fly home.... but then - back in Germany on Friday...

Auf wiederseh'n...

Potsdam with orchestra

Excellent and highly enjoyable concert with the Brandenburgischen Staatsorchesters Frankfurt, and maestro Howard Griffiths MBE.

Full crowd once again - must find out what is in the German water! - all set for a jolly New Year's concert - the 1st of 2012.

Lovely to sing the chorus parts for the joyful Blue Danube, as well as Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffman and our own Hush Macushla with orchestra (we are used to doing them with piano). 

Great to exercise our orchestrations of the Comedian Harmonists favourites, Mein kleiner, grüner Kaktus & Schöne Isabella von Kastilien, and to expand our string-quartet-accompanied version of Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You (arranged by the great Gordon Langford) to full strings.  We also sang our a cappella faves, Caravan, Strangers in the Night, The Lambeth Walk and The History of Western Music.

The orchestra also had their own flourishes with more Strauss plus José Pablo de Moncayo, Gordon Jacob, Geronimo Gimenez and Arturo Márquez  - all fantastic.

Howard seems to think we should do all this again sometime; well, let's start with tomorrow... and then think of more opportunities!

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.