Sharing A Moment

Sunday 14 October 2012

This is Maria Meerovitch & Sergei Nakariakov rehearsing on board ship on the 2012 Music Cruise, from which M & I have just returned. It was fabulous, but hard work. This could be the last of the Music Cruises, at least, for the time being. We've been doing this for ten years and had a great time but all good things come to an end.

We also had Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Behzod Abduraimov, Maxim Vengerov and a host of other brilliant musicians - a worthy swan song for the cruise, if that's what it proves to be.

Dame Kiri

Maxim Vengerov & Lawrence Power

Music Cruise 2012

Previous Music Cruises

Muscle Shoals Alabama: The Queen of Soul

Wednesday 26 September 2012

I've been to Sun Studios in Memphis, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Howlin' Wolf and many others made their first recordings and I've been to RCA Studio B in Nashville where anyone who was anyone in country recorded. Today, I visited FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama where Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records brought the newly signed Aretha Franklin to try and harness the magic that she possessed. That day, she worked with the Muscle Shoals Horns, organist Spooner Oldham found the groove, the musicians followed, Aretha responded at the piano and let rip with that voice and the result was I Never Loved A Man & Do Right Woman, Do Right Man. A star was born.
I can now die happy (but not too soon).

Vienna

Tuesday 10 July 2012: Grand Finale

A group photo of all the participants in the Youth Music Festival, including The Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, who we looked after (They are in the balcony on the right, dressed in black). This was taken in the Koncerthaus, another fantastic music venue in Vienna.
The festival was fun but bedlam. The organisation was non-existent, but what the heck.
The festival included young people from everywhere, including the girls & boys of the Maibuy' ISkahile Youth Development Choir, who struck a pose every time a camera was pointed at them.
I'm off to bed as I have to be up in five hours to see the first part of the group off.

Striking A Pose Backstage At The Konzerthaus

Spain: Local Culture

Monday 18 June 2012

Cuenca. Our travels in Spain with The Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.The group had dinner in a restaurant on the Plaza Mayor in Cuenca while Spain were making hard work of overcoming Croatia in the European Championship. Some of the group wanted to watch so a few of us stayed in the bar so that they could see the game the way it should be seen. They really enjoyed the experience though one or two were nervous about me taking the pic, just in case the folks back home get to see their offspring being corrupted in the dens and dives of Europe.

In Valencia we had lunch outside the old market and one of the kids ended up joining in with the street musicians: a coming together of generations and cultures through music.

Music Cruise: Becks!

Sunday 4 September 2011: Becks!

Behzod (pronounced Bech -zod) Abduraimov, aged 19 - ish, from Uzbekistan, won the 2009 London International Piano Competition. He is jaw-droppingly good and received a standing ovation last night, even though he was feeling seasick.
We've had wonderful performances from Anna Hashimoto, Sergej Krylov and the ECO, with more to come.

Ruth Contractor,  oboist with the English Chamber Orchestra, catches five in during rehearsals near Syracuse, Sicily.

The Music Cruise

Friday 29 October 2010

Every year, M. & I host The Music Cruise, a week at sea with The English Chamber Orchestra and their guests.

Joshua Bell, Ana-Maria Vera & Steven Isserlis rehearse on board for the final recital of the Cruise.
Another year, another week of brilliant music, though some of it passed me by as I'm not a classical music buff, but I feel privileged to be a part of this every year. Roll on the next one.!

Anima Young Singers, Morocco

Monday 28 June 2010

M. and I took the Anima Young Singers Choir on a tour of Andalucia and Morocco which was an exhilarating and challenging experience for all of us.
In Morocco, they sang at the US Consulate in Rabat on July 4th and performed in Marrakech and Casablanca with local children, mainly street kids and those from the ghetto who were trying to make something of their lives with the help of local charities. To see the love, dedication and work put in by the people running the charities, successfully allowing the kids to realise their potential was truly awe inspiring and humbling.
In Casablanca, one man called Boubker Mazoz had gone into the poor neighbourhood of Sidi Moumen where the 2007 Casablanca suicide bombers came from. He realised that they must have been without hope to do what they did, so he asked the locals what they wanted and set about getting it. When we visited, we went to their neighbourhood, once ahead of the tour then with the group. What we saw was a cultural centre which was a school, playground, library and focus for the community. The people running it all came from the neighbourhood, had been mentored and were now mentoring and teaching people from the community.
They had a local photographer come in to teach photography so M & I gave them one of our SLRs and lenses. On the same day, an American lady and her kids came by as they do every year - this time with a bunch of little digital video cameras. Boubker has the knack of charming people into helping him - and he looks a bit like Omar Sharif, which doesn't hurt.
In Marrakech and in the Atlas mountains we found people working to make a difference to their communities. One was a shelter cum school for street kids, the other a school for village girls, started by an Englishman & Dutch couple who made the local village elder understand that educating girls was the best way to achieving stability in a community and, having got him on board, put him in charge of the whole affair.
The trip was wild! The organisers were so pleased to have an American children's choir seek them out that we were feted and entertained, with many joint concerts. Moroccan hospitality is boundless - we just hung on and enjoyed the ride!
It's at times like these when I really am grateful for what I do as a job.
Having said all that, this photo was taken in Granada, in the Church of the Virgin des Angustias.

Smetana Hall, Prague

Wednesday 8 July 2009
The Colorado Symphony Chorus rehearse in the auditorium of the Municipal House, an Art Nouveau marvel and my favourite building in a city of fantastic architecture.

"Angels" OnHigh

Sunday 16th June 2007.
The Boys of the Grace Cathedral Men & Boys Choir, San Francisco, get to see the sights from the London Eye before singing evensong in Westminster Abbey.