Sunday 10 November 2013

North Belgium #2

...and on to Maaseik.
On Friday night a concert in a beautiful church... and also the chance to hear a wonderful brass sextet to warm the audience up - lovely, sonorous sounds... and very virtuosic - excellent Tuba-ness!

A very beautiful space in which to sing (Sint Annakerk van Aldeneik - Maaseik) - with ancient paintings on the walls - re-discovered under the later paintwork - & very old graves on show too...
Bist Du bei Mir was especially delightful to sing in the acoustic...

We were in this wonderful part of Europe where the European ideal is so clear... as on the same road you can drive for 7 kilometres, starting in Belgium, traversing The Netherlands and ending up in Germany (of course, not a passport control in sight):- so we went to see some old friends in Holland after the concert, as it was so near! Good to see Gertie, Gabby, 'Reet and Jo...in their own town... we will actually perform in Holland in 2014... More details when we know them!

On Saturday morning three workshops at Stedelijke Academie voor Muziek & Woord...
Thank you to Gerrie of the Academie for looking after us at Maaseik so splendidly...
We had a lovely time sharing the joy of singing with the children's choir, the adult choir and a delightful sextet of young women... all three groups were excellently taught and it was great to be with both staff and singers for the morning... Thanks to all for being able to cope with three of us speaking English (even the youngsters), and of course to Steve for talking in Flemish too!
A very uplifting morning...

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