Tuesday 31 May 2011

Polishing up...

Greetings from sunny Cornwall...
...just a wee rest before TLQ's first trip to Poland [Poznań to be exact]... as part of The Poznań a cappella festival
Just brushing up on our Polish before we go; as well as reacquainting ourselves with much West End material for some gigs in the summer in the courtyard of a fine London hotel near Buckingham Palace, The Taj
Also looking forward to the release in the later summer of our cricket CD - Songs of Cricket - excellent to see England continuing their fine tradition of winning of recent years, this time against Sri Lanka & on Welsh soil... sport in Cardiff and Swansea clearly on the up!
Da bo ti,
Hwyl,
etc

Saturday 14 May 2011

Automobile Club de France

Well, a splendid address, and wonderful views over La Place de la Concorde... we had a great evening at the Automobile Club de France - the club is a very well-respected one, and is not just for the car-lover... 2000 members in Paris alone... yet they say it is rarely full!
Forgot to ask whether on official State days it is more crowded, as this Place is where many parades happen on important occasions.

My throat was sufficiently empty of gunge that notes came out [which was a relief to me]... and the audience reacted as if I were not quacking... so hooray for that! (Maybe they were just being polite).

We sang in the library:- "the first library of France" (we think they mean the best, not the earliest) which has a surprisingly good acoustic, and then had to suffer the terror of a champagne reception - oh the pains of our job...

Apart from the views, there were also many splendid old cars, and documents and photos of the early days of motoring... which we must remember was as much a French thing as any other nation [Germans shut your eyes for a moment... and anyone from USA.. sh!!]

We also enjoyed a taxi ride about the city, taking in two 'other' triumphal arches [or gates], L'Opéra and the beautiful Colonne de Vendôme situated in Place Vendôme, the Place created as a monument to the glory of the armies of Louis XIV, the Sun King.

As ever, a seemless Eurostar trip there and back - the RER guys chose to strike the day we went home, but we could walk to the station, so "ya boo..."

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Bridewell Theatre bar

I am sure you think we might well hang around in a bar as a matter of course... I couldn't possibly comment...
However, as part of the theatre's attempts to enliven Monday nights when the theatre is dark, we sang there last night. A fine [and indeed bijou] place in which to sing, and all had a great time.
As ever for London events, we saw a sea of faces - old friends and new...

Excellent to continue our year as Artists in Residence at The St Bride Institute

Off to Paris on Thursday - hoping very much to shake off my throat full of gunge [and no, this is nothing to do with having had a gig in a bar!]

Monday 2 May 2011

Anniversary chocolate


Courtesy of the lovely Gertie, here is my anniversary chocolate photo stand! {Twenty Cantabile - the London Quartet years}... Complete with Union Flag waistcoat... all edible!
Gertie very kindly brought this to Mechelen, so as not to smash it up in the post... There was no need to worry, I made it break into 20 pieces in my case on the way home!!
This appears to have had no effect on the excellent taste - all three of us here are very happy with it!
Thanks...

Sunday 1 May 2011

Belgian weekend

A busy couple of days in Belgium.
Firstly we were in the lovely Mechelen, as part of their Mechelen hoort Stemmen Festival in wonderful sunshine...

In the evening, we went to Boechout, and sang as part of another Harmony season.... Africapella from Soweto are coming later in the year.

Then this morning it was off to the TV studio for the Belgian 'Andrew Marr show' [no super injunctions on show, of course]: VRT - 7 dag show - we were there at 53' and for the last 6 minutes [interview and song].
It was difficult to avoid the amazing goings-on in London on Friday:- and not for the last time, I am sure, I was upstaged by my son who sang in the Chapel Royal Choir at the Wedding.... in fact the TV showed him again in the studio, so all could see! I managed to sing without crying....

There's much more Belgium for us in the coming months... excellent! Gastronomically, it beats France (on points)...