Late night eating in Wuhan
Full blog and photos. www.lmporchestra.wordpress.com
May19th/20th
Following a short rehearsal in London we all got on a coach and arrived at Heathrow 4 hours early.
Lots of time for shopping, eating and drink. Flight left on time.
Smooth 12 hour flight and landed bang on time but in a severe storm. We weren’t allowed to disembark because of the danger of lightning strike on the gangway!
The onward flight was then delayed due to bad weather and we landed at Wuhan about 9pm. There was an air conditioned limousine waiting – not of us but – for Gerard who whisked away into the night. We got onto one of 2 coaches (not sure why as there are only 27 of us) for the interesting hour long journey to the hotel. The 2 drivers raced each other through the busy streets both determined to get us to the hotel first but risking none of us arriving at all! En route some interesting sights of young girls dressed up in short skirts, high heals and lip stick but on what looked like a hair dryer purporting to be a motorbike with no lights and not wearing crash helmets!
We finally arrived at our luxurious hotel, about 11pm, after nearly 24 hours travelling. Then, after finding our rooms on the 23rd floor, it was off to eat, back for a drink, catch up on emails and bed.
May 21st
I woke at 5am. 1st problem to sort. The British council had emailed to say they were delighted to inform me that they had invited 20 people to use the 20 complimentary tickets I had promised for our Shanghai concert. The problem was that a) we had actually been allocated only 8 tickets and b) I had already promised 4 of them to someone else. Great. So it’s looking like my day off will be busy sorting that little problem. However, another email was a request from Kristina Rihanoff (strictly come dancing) to quote for providing musicians for an event in September.
Another email. The British council want to bring 14 people to the Beijing concert.
Enough for now. Back to sleep.
Awake again.
Our ‘free day’ to recover. News that Beijing has ‘sold out’ (2000 tickets). Amazing breakfast in the hotel. Noodles, Dim Sum etc etc. Then Paul, Scott and I took a taxi into town. We thought that last night’s coach was scary but this was something else. No seat belts, no signals, mains roads shared by lorries, cars, push bikes, pedestrians and chickens. Very smoggy and raining. Not hugely interesting. Back to hotel. Practise and then a managing group meeting at 6.30pm
Now just heard that Shanghai only have 8 seats unsold and Wuhan is also a sell out. Everyone loves the LMP out here. Are there any Chinese people who might like to come to Croydon next Thursday 29th?
David Wilson and Gerard went to the hall and met with Sa Chen – the soloist. In the evening the management group went to the most astonishing restaurant. Not one person spoke a word of English and I’m not sure they had EVER had a westerner in their restaurant. But they had wifi! We linked to “google translate” and typed in “spicy chicken” “spicy pork” “spicy noodles” and out popped the Chinese translation. The waiters had never seen anything like it and ran to the kitchen shouting Instructions.
A word of warning. DON’T use the word spicy unless you like mountains of red and green fresh chillies.
Downtown Wuhan
May 22nd
4.22am. Can’t sleep. Jet lag. Concert tonight as well.
First concert tonight. Amazing audience. The soloist had to do 2 encores and we did the whole of the last movement of the Jupiter symphony as our encore. Stats for audience. 90% under 30 years old! Everyone played brilliantly. I did a speech at the beginning of the concert with a translator by my side. After the concert back to hotel and a drink and now bed. It’s 12.21am and the coach leaves for the airport at 6.50am. That’s the schedule every day now. 6.30am coach, flight, rehearsal, concert, hotel by 11pm the coach at 6.30am!
Wuhan concert hall
May 23rd. Wuhan – Shanghai
Travel via plane to Shanghai. Very hot and humid. Short walk to concert hall. Apparently Putin had been there the day before. We found a restaurant in the Lonely planet but didn’t choose the Bullfrog! I had invited representatives from the British Council back to the hotel bar after the concert. I left the concert hall in a hurry to ensure I arrived at the hotel before they did only to find the bar full of “ladies of the night”. I quickly rang the BC and changed the venue. Phew!
May 24th Shanghai – Beijing
Travel to Shanghai station and bullet train for 5 hours to Beijing. 298kmh. Paul and I thought we’d managed a cheeky upgrade for £9.70 only to find that was only an upgrade for one stop! So we had to sneak back to our original seats. Check into hotel and we had 20 mins before coach to concert hall. Astonishing hall. Completely sold out. Met representatives and guests of British Council then back to hotel, drink and bed.
May 25th Beijing – Guangzhou
5.45am onto the coach to the airport. 3 hour flight to Guangzhou (it’s as far as London to Moscow).
Check into hotel and 3 hours before rehearsal. Had a noodles in a local tiny restaurant Followed by a sleep. Then to the hall. It’s VERY hot and sticky here. Wonderful hall and loads of children in the audience.
The audience were totally thrilled and afterwards about 30 of them wanted photos taken with me and Scott.
Then back to the hotel where Gerard bought everyone drinks. Our Chinese soloist Chen Sa joined us. We ate and drank until 1.30am. Then emails to sort until 2.30am and sleep. Up at 6am.
May 26th. Guangzhou – Hong Kong – London
Incredibly unhelpful coach driver refused to put the luggage on the bus so David Wilson got inside the underneath of the coach and did it himself. Then the driver had to reverse his coach out of the car park onto a busy road then drove erratically to the airport.
We have now checked in and having coffee before 16 hours flying back to London!
Two concerts for the price of one!
/in Blog, Galleries, News /by LMPLMP Principal Double Bass player and conductor Stacey Watton will be presenting a Concert by Candlelight with the LMP on 30th November, 7.30pm at St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe, SE16 4JE, with programme to feature Beethoven’s Symphony No.2, Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Brahms Violin Concerto.
But that’s not all ladies and gents… If you purchase a ticket for the 30th November (£20), you will gain FREE entry to Stacey’s ‘New Talent Conducting Showcase Concert’ on 29th November, 2.30pm at St Mary’s Church with the LMP. Programme will include excerpts of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, Violin Concertos 3 & 5, and Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings.
Reserve your tickets by calling 07811373415 or email [email protected]
Hidden Croydon Exhibition
/in Blog, Interviews, News /by LMPI happened upon some WW1 postcards when I was researching my family heritage. Building your family tree is extremely addictive I warn you, but it also gave a certain amount of inspiration to the ‘Hidden Croydon’ project. ‘History is made by individuals’ is an opinion thrown around often by historians, and I think on the whole they mean ‘great’ individuals; Kings and Queens, political leaders and human rights activists. This is great for school curriculum and for the study of the objective, but I don’t think we consider the subjective nature of history enough. The personal implications of world events. The effect of ‘great’ individual decisions on the ‘small’ individuals. It is focused on greatly in today’s news reports, but slowly through the ages we may lose perception of the human emotions felt at the time, whether they be anger or joy, confusion or certainty, fear or hope.
However, I do not think that this is the case for the First World War. The events that led up to and followed the 4th August 1914 have been well documented not only by historians, but also depicted by many war poets and writers, classical composers and artists. A very human reaction; honest, brutal and unforgiving. But behind these writings, music and images, which are often at the risk of being glamorised, was a very real experience and can be expressed most effectively by the ‘small’ individual.
This is where ‘Hidden Croydon’ came in. When I found my Great Grandfather’s postcards, it was like holding a piece of history in my hands, and he and other ‘small’ individuals had been given a voice. Unfortunately the embroidered ones appear to have been stuck into a scrap book, so the writing on the back is illegible, apart from a long line of kisses on the bottom of one. However, on the one that reads ‘Till we meet again’, we can read written in pen by my Great Grandmother, Elizabeth Davies;
“I think of you today dear though we are far apart,
I send my loving wishes, to greet my true sweetheart.
From Lizzie.”
And then a reply in pencil from David Davies:
“From a hungry husband sending this out of the trenches to you. From Dai to Lizzie”
All my Great Grandfathers fought in the trenches and all of them returned home, a fact for which I’m extremely grateful for, as my grandparents were born post-1918. But I’m also grateful to my grandmother for recognising the significance of this world event in the context of the Davies family, preserving these postcards for future generations to truly appreciate the personal cost of the war.
I don’t think there are many who escaped school without at least touching upon the catastrophic loss of the First World War. I also don’t think there are many people alive today whose family weren’t affected in some way. Whether their ancestors worked on the land, in munitions factories, down the mines, volunteered as medics or played any part in the war effort, this all goes to paint a raw picture of that moment in time, made up of personal voices and faces of the significant unknown and ‘small’ individuals of that generation. This is what the ‘Hidden Croydon’ project is all about.
Jenny Brady
Hidden Croydon Exhibition open from 12 pm on 14th November at Fairfield Halls Croydon. ALL WELCOME.
Claire Jones recording sessions
/in Galleries, News /by LMPOn Oct 22nd the LMP recorded a new album with Claire “The Girl With The Golden Harp”. The album is due to be released on March 1st. Please let us know if you would like to pre order a copy
Claire Jones (born in 1985) is a Welsh harpist who held the title of Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2007 to 2011.
Jones was born in Crymych, Pembrokeshire, and began playing the harp at the age of 10; she performed for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh when she was 16. In 2007, she was one of the inaugural winners of The Prince of Wales’s Advanced Study in Music Award, and was appointed as the prince’s official Harpist for a 3-year term. During the previous year, she had won the harp solo at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, been a finalist at the Third International Harp Contest in France, and won the Royal College of Music Harp Competition.
http://www.clairejones.co.uk
Connecting Generations: WW1 Songs Remembered and Shared
/in Blog, News /by LMPAs part of a wide-reaching WW1 commemoration project, the London Mozart Players, Croydon’s resident orchestra, have been facilitating the visits of newly established primary school choirs to Croydon senior’s homes
.
As well as preparing Jonathan Dove’s new commission For an Unknown Soldier, the children of Atwood Primary Academy, Croydon Parish Church Juniors, Ecclesbourne Primary Academy and Monks Orchard Primary, have also been learning old wartime songs, and creating their own variations of them to sing to residents of local care homes. Repertoire includes Wish Me Luck, It’s a long way to Tipperary and other familiar tunes.
The choir of Monks Orchard Primary School performed at Elizabeth Court on Wednesday 1st October, which also happened to be International Older People’s Day.
The ‘Coffee Concerts’ which have come to be known as WW1 Songs Remembered and Shared, are an important part of the project for several reasons. They are providing an important performance opportunity for the schools in the lead up to the main concert on the 14th November, and they are also encouraging the children to engage creatively with a bygone era.
PRESS RELEASE: World Premieres of ‘For an Unknown Soldier’
/in Blog, News /by LMPThe London Mozart Players and The Portsmouth Grammar School collaborate to commission major new cantata from Jonathan Dove to commemorate WWI
• World Première performances in Portsmouth and Croydon in November 2014
• Over 300 children from Portsmouth Grammar School and Croydon primary schools involved in the first performances
• Featuring renowned choral conductor Nicholas Cleobury and outstanding young tenor Nicholas Sharratt.
The London Mozart Players and The Portsmouth Grammar School will present the World Première performances of a major new co-commission from Jonathan Dove on 9 November 2014 in Portsmouth Cathedral and 14 November in Fairfield Halls Croydon. For an Unknown Soldier is a setting for tenor solo, children’s choir, adult chorus and chamber orchestra of nine poems about the First World War. Opening with a setting of Wilfred Owen’s portentous ‘1914’, the work offers a moving meditation on the tragedy of war with poems by Mary Gabrielle Collins, Helen Dircks and Ivor Gurney among others.
The LMP is delighted to continue what has become an annual collaboration with Portsmouth Grammar School, which has in recent years seen the commissioning of important new work from composers such as Roxanna Panufnik and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
James Priory, Headmaster of Portsmouth Grammar School comments:
“We are thrilled to be giving young musicians from Portsmouth and Croydon the opportunity to work with a living composer and to be involved in creating a major new musical work inspired by Remembrance. I cannot think of a better way for young people to engage creatively in the centenary of the Great War.”
Viv Davies, Managing Director of the London Mozart Players comments:
“We are really excited to be collaborating with the Portsmouth Grammar School and Jonathan Dove on such a significant and important project. The preparation for the events in November has brought together diverse individuals and groups in a unified and common purpose. We have no doubt that the première performances of the cantata will be profound and moving occasions that will express, in a wonderfully creative way, the essence, spirit and deep significance of remembrance. We are looking forward to it immensely.”
Simon Blendis – Leader
/in Blog, News /by LMPSimon Blendis joined the LMP as Leader in 2014. As well as leading for a wide variety of concerts, Simon has particularly enjoyed developing his relationship with the orchestra through an increasing amount of directing. He has also created the innovative leadership development event Podium, which has become an important strand of the LMP’s work and is gaining a strong reputation in the business world.
Away from the LMP Simon enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician, soloist and orchestra leader. He has been a member of the Schubert Ensemble for twenty-three years, with whom he has performed in over thirty different countries, made frequent broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and appeared regularly at Europe’s major venues. After 35 years at the forefront of British chamber music the Ensemble will retire in 2018, leaving behind a legacy of over 80 commissions, 25 CD recordings and a large library of live performances on YouTube.
Simon is also in demand as a guest-leader and guest-director and has appeared in this role with most of the UK’s major orchestras. Since 1999 he has been one of the leaders of Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan, with whom he has recorded Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for the Warner label. As a soloist he has made recent appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the RPO and the CBSO.
Simon is a keen exponent of new music. He has given over 50 first performances and has had new works written for him by, amongst others, John Woolrich, Tansy Davies and jazz legend Dave Brubeck, as well as violin concertos by David Knotts and Jeff Moore.
http://www.simonblendis.com/
Our concert on November 13th with City Of London Choir in St John’s Smith Square
/in Galleries, News /by LMPThe LMP has been invited to accompany the City Of London Choir conducted by Hilary Davan Wetton in a programme entitled “Music in Time Of War”
Finzi – Requiem da Camera
Haydn – Missa in Tempore Belli
Tippett – Five Spirituals (from A Child Of Our Time)
Butterworth – The Banks of Green Willow
see below the poster
Music in Time of War Flier
Tickets on sale for Bruckner Mass
/in News /by LMPTickets can now be purchased for our concert on Oct 9th.
Click here to buy your tickets
See our concerts page for more details
Click here
Louise Honeyman – Recollections from Margaret Archibald
/in Galleries, News /by LMPPersonal Recollections of Louise Honeyman
The ‘phone rang. “Is that Margaret Archibald?” “Speaking.” “It’s Louise Honeyman; are you free on…” Just one more musician fixed for a date, but for me this was the beginning of a professional and personal relationship that was quite literally to change my life.
It was Louise who booked me near the start of my career for the Thames Chamber Orchestra and the English Symphony Orchestra, often playing for choral societies; it was Louise who seized on my enthusiasm for the C clarinet, asked if I was interested in authentic performance and launched me on my career as a period instrument player with my first date a Prom with the Academy of Ancient Music; it was Louise who helped me make the arrangements to have a babysitter with me on the flights and in the hotels when I took my four-and-a-half month old baby to Toulouse, Paris and Geneva; it was Louise who facilitated the arrangements when Lina Lalandi needed my seven year old son to be a Prince on stage for Gluck’s Alceste in Monaco; it was Louise who invited me to be sub- Principal clarinet of the London Mozart Players under Jane Glover and who told the wind players that she wanted us to form a wind chamber ensemble because she thought we deserved it. Finally, for me most life-changing of all, it was Louise who invited me to set up the “first year” of education and community work when the LMP became resident orchestra in Croydon, setting me on a course that saw me obsessively run the orchestra’s education work for the next 21 years.
Louise was more than just a fixer, she was a friend, a counsellor in times of trouble, always there to talk through a problem whether professional or personal. She would fight her corner but equally would listen to another point of view. She was a woman with a mission, and if this meant sacrificing a house and garden in north-west London for a tiny attic flat above the office in Croydon, this was something she cheerfully undertook to do in order to pursue her goal of fostering and building the London Mozart Players. Louise’s devotion to the orchestra was absolute, and she was always at every concert, sitting backstage busy with administrative tasks and ready to deal with any queries, comments, opinions or worries. I remember the anniversary of German re-unification when she bought the entire orchestra lunch in Dresden, following our morning concert there before we set out on another long coach journey to Leipzig for a concert that same evening in the Thomaskirche. On another occasion Louise chartered a plane to get us home from Lyons using an out-of-the-way military airfield somewhere for a late-night flight. She came with us on the ferry to Boulogne for the Menuhin Competition, and on the way home soothed the French customs officials who suffered a complete sense of humour failure when the mother of a young Japanese soloist took flash photos at the border post.
Memories of Louise are inextricably bound up with mental images of David, her partner, with whom she made common cause, building a vibrant community from a disparate group of freelance musicians and showing the way that an orchestra can be embedded in its local community through its outreach work. I was so lucky and honoured to be trusted by Louise to develop the LMP education and community work, and I threw all my personal creativity and energy at the project. At first I referred to Louise for every tiny decision until the day when she said, “Margaret, I haven’t got time to answer all these questions, just sort it out!” I went on “just sorting it out” for more than two decades and gained a wealth of experience, meeting many inspirational people in schools, nursing homes, hospitals, hospices, kids clubs, youth clubs and local authorities, and above all working with many wonderful colleagues who remain my very closest friends and with whom I continue to work now under the banner of my new charity Everyone Matters. Louise is a hard act to follow but I hope I can make even half the contribution that she did.
Margaret Archibald
Children learn about the war
/in News /by 21stcdLOOKING BACK: Children from Ecclebourne Primary School and music teacher Tim Sporerer with a log book from when pupils were evacuated from the school’s former buildings to make way for a war hospital. The book is on display at Croydon Museum”
Details of the Concert
Croydon School Artwork Competition
/in Blog, News /by LMPHelp us to mark the WW1 centenary with the community of Croydon
As part of our commemorative concert on 14th November at Fairfield Halls, we are inviting schools across the borough to produce one piece of artwork inspired by the words ‘For an Unknown Soldier’ to enter an art competition. The three best pieces of work as judged by independent judges will be displayed at The Croydon Clocktower, Katherine Street.
For more information contact Jenny Brady at the LMP office, telephone: 020 8686 1996, or email: [email protected]
London Premiere – November 14
/in Blog, News /by LMPThis event is expected to sell out. Tickets from £12.
Box office 020 8688 9291
Click here for more details
Click here to purchase tickets
The London Mozart Players are proud to announce their special concert at Fairfield Halls to mark the centenary of WW1 on Friday 14th November at 7.30pm.
This concert is the culmination of a far-reaching community project funded jointly by the Arts Council of Great Britain, Croydon Council and Portsmouth Grammar School.
The project has touched the community of Croydon on many levels with the formation of four junior school choirs performing alongside Whitgift School, Croydon Minster and Portsmouth Grammar School choirs in the London premiere of For an Unknown Solider written by the renowned composer Jonathan Dove.
Riddlesdown Collegiate will curate a WW1 commemoration exhibition to be displayed in the foyer on 14th November created from their trip to the First World War, Stories of Croydon exhibition at the Museum of Croydon, memorabilia collected from the residents of Croydon and their written responses to these artefacts.
All schools in Croydon have been invited to produce artwork to mark WW1 that will be displayed that evening in the Fairfield Halls.
We will be joined in the concert by young instrumentalists from Croydon Music and Arts who will play side by side with the LMP. Flautist Emma Halnan, the Croydon Festival winner 2013, will also perform a concerto with us.
We invite you all to join us with the community of Croydon to mark the WW1 Centenary.
Friday November 14th 2014, Fairfield Halls, Croydon at 7.30pm
LMP Plays for “Strictly” Star
/in Blog, News /by LMPThe LMP have been asked to play for a charity event for Kristina Rihanoff – professional dancer from the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. The event will be at the Mansion House and those in attendance will include the Prime Minister.
Kristina was the ‘Strictly’ professional partner of John Sergeant (2008), Jason Donovan (2011), and James Bond actors Goldie (2010) and Colin Salmon (2012).
Fairfield 25 Years Celebration
/in News /by LMPThe photo is of the cake that Julia Desbruslais made and beautifully decorated with the new LMP logo.
London Mozart Players: the ultimate comeback kids. Telegraph
/in News /by LMPAgainst all odds the London Mozart Players are still fighting fit, says Ivan Hewett. May 28th 2014
This week the London Mozart Players will prove that they really are the comeback kids of the orchestral world. Twice in recent years this fine chamber orchestra has threatened to disappear. The first time was in 2011, when it lost its Arts Council grant. The second was earlier this year, when Croydon Council pulled the plug on its very generous annual grant, after 24 years of support.
But it’s still with us, and on May 28 the LMP will be giving a concert with star guest soloist Angela Hewitt in St John’s Smith Square, repeated the following day at Fairfield Halls in Croydon.
The LMP has managed to pull back from the brink by practising what in America comes as second nature: self-help, and calling on a little help from friends. The orchestra has become a self-governing entity, with the players themselves acting as the orchestra’s agent, manager and PR. A few months back Vernon Ellis, chairman of the British Council and patron of English National Opera, hosted a fund-raising concert for the orchestra at his house. That and some energetic proselytising by the players has raised just under £100,000. A number of eminent musicians associated with the orchestra have given their services for free, including pianist Howard Shelley, conductor Hilary Davan Wetton, violinist Tasmin Little, and the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2012, cellist Laura van der Heijden. These two concerts this week are a way of saying we’re still here and we mean business.
I’m glad they’re still here, because for me and many other classical music lovers the LMP is part of this country’s musical furniture. The orchestra was founded in 1949, which makes it the oldest chamber orchestra in Britain, and was led right up to the early 1980s by its founder Harry Blech. I saw him as a student in the latter part of his reign, and remember thinking he seemed as old as the hills. He strode stiffly up to the podium and conducted with a no-nonsense sturdy technique, as if he was kneading dough.
Since then Jane Glover, Matthias Bamert and Andrew Parrott have all taken on the role of MD. I remember the Bamert years especially well, as the orchestra’s programming was particularly lively, with a steady flow of commissioned works. Since 2010 the gifted South African-born conductor Gerard Korsten, whom the players clearly warm to, has taken the lead.
So what next? There are several steps the Players are taking to survive in the medium term, such as reviving their connection with Croydon’s Fairfield Halls. This has the best acoustics in Greater London, and the orchestra has a history of residency there stretching back 24 years. The orchestra also has a long-standing relationship with Portsmouth Grammar School, which has involved commissiong a string of new works, and also burgeoned outwards into the local community. There are plans to transplant the fruits of this back into the orchestra’s original Croydon base.
This combination of artistic enterprise with grass-roots involvement gives a model of how the orchestra might prosper in the long term. Bringing this off won’t be easy. Like the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the LMP has had some of its shine taken off by the rise of “period” bands such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. At the other end of the historical spectrum are those groups which have pulled the chamber orchestra into the modern era, such as the Britten Sinfonia and the Scottish Ensemble.
The signs are that the LMP is learning a few tricks from these upstarts. There are plans to build relationships with starry musicians to act as soloists and directors for particular projects, as the Britten Sinfonia does so cleverly. There’s also a sense among these younger orchestras that rooting what they do in a particular place and time is the key to success, as much as artistic quality. For example, rather than just commissioning a composer to write a piece, you link it to something specific about the moment. The LMP has tried this already with its Portsmouth commissions, where each year the new piece has been linked to the theme of Remembrance Day (a particularly emotive topic in a naval city).
This shows the LMP is serious about reinventing itself. On the other hand, there is the accumulated loyalty and affection, among both audiences and musicians, for what the LMP has always been. And of course there’s the inherited treasure of the orchestra’s core repertoire. Mozart and Haydn’s symphonies and concertos will always be great music, and there will always be an appetite for them.
The difficulty is that these different aspects of the orchestra’s identity pull in different directions. The trick over the coming months and years will be to manage that tension, so that past and present knit together in a way that makes sense. It’s a more than worthy enterprise, and we should wish them well with it.
LMP Daily update on China trip – Peter Wright
/in Blog /by LMPLate night eating in Wuhan
Full blog and photos. www.lmporchestra.wordpress.com
May19th/20th
Following a short rehearsal in London we all got on a coach and arrived at Heathrow 4 hours early.
Lots of time for shopping, eating and drink. Flight left on time.
Smooth 12 hour flight and landed bang on time but in a severe storm. We weren’t allowed to disembark because of the danger of lightning strike on the gangway!
The onward flight was then delayed due to bad weather and we landed at Wuhan about 9pm. There was an air conditioned limousine waiting – not of us but – for Gerard who whisked away into the night. We got onto one of 2 coaches (not sure why as there are only 27 of us) for the interesting hour long journey to the hotel. The 2 drivers raced each other through the busy streets both determined to get us to the hotel first but risking none of us arriving at all! En route some interesting sights of young girls dressed up in short skirts, high heals and lip stick but on what looked like a hair dryer purporting to be a motorbike with no lights and not wearing crash helmets!
We finally arrived at our luxurious hotel, about 11pm, after nearly 24 hours travelling. Then, after finding our rooms on the 23rd floor, it was off to eat, back for a drink, catch up on emails and bed.
May 21st
I woke at 5am. 1st problem to sort. The British council had emailed to say they were delighted to inform me that they had invited 20 people to use the 20 complimentary tickets I had promised for our Shanghai concert. The problem was that a) we had actually been allocated only 8 tickets and b) I had already promised 4 of them to someone else. Great. So it’s looking like my day off will be busy sorting that little problem. However, another email was a request from Kristina Rihanoff (strictly come dancing) to quote for providing musicians for an event in September.
Another email. The British council want to bring 14 people to the Beijing concert.
Enough for now. Back to sleep.
Awake again.
Our ‘free day’ to recover. News that Beijing has ‘sold out’ (2000 tickets). Amazing breakfast in the hotel. Noodles, Dim Sum etc etc. Then Paul, Scott and I took a taxi into town. We thought that last night’s coach was scary but this was something else. No seat belts, no signals, mains roads shared by lorries, cars, push bikes, pedestrians and chickens. Very smoggy and raining. Not hugely interesting. Back to hotel. Practise and then a managing group meeting at 6.30pm
Now just heard that Shanghai only have 8 seats unsold and Wuhan is also a sell out. Everyone loves the LMP out here. Are there any Chinese people who might like to come to Croydon next Thursday 29th?
David Wilson and Gerard went to the hall and met with Sa Chen – the soloist. In the evening the management group went to the most astonishing restaurant. Not one person spoke a word of English and I’m not sure they had EVER had a westerner in their restaurant. But they had wifi! We linked to “google translate” and typed in “spicy chicken” “spicy pork” “spicy noodles” and out popped the Chinese translation. The waiters had never seen anything like it and ran to the kitchen shouting Instructions.
A word of warning. DON’T use the word spicy unless you like mountains of red and green fresh chillies.
Downtown Wuhan
May 22nd
4.22am. Can’t sleep. Jet lag. Concert tonight as well.
First concert tonight. Amazing audience. The soloist had to do 2 encores and we did the whole of the last movement of the Jupiter symphony as our encore. Stats for audience. 90% under 30 years old! Everyone played brilliantly. I did a speech at the beginning of the concert with a translator by my side. After the concert back to hotel and a drink and now bed. It’s 12.21am and the coach leaves for the airport at 6.50am. That’s the schedule every day now. 6.30am coach, flight, rehearsal, concert, hotel by 11pm the coach at 6.30am!
Wuhan concert hall
May 23rd. Wuhan – Shanghai
Travel via plane to Shanghai. Very hot and humid. Short walk to concert hall. Apparently Putin had been there the day before. We found a restaurant in the Lonely planet but didn’t choose the Bullfrog! I had invited representatives from the British Council back to the hotel bar after the concert. I left the concert hall in a hurry to ensure I arrived at the hotel before they did only to find the bar full of “ladies of the night”. I quickly rang the BC and changed the venue. Phew!
May 24th Shanghai – Beijing
Travel to Shanghai station and bullet train for 5 hours to Beijing. 298kmh. Paul and I thought we’d managed a cheeky upgrade for £9.70 only to find that was only an upgrade for one stop! So we had to sneak back to our original seats. Check into hotel and we had 20 mins before coach to concert hall. Astonishing hall. Completely sold out. Met representatives and guests of British Council then back to hotel, drink and bed.
May 25th Beijing – Guangzhou
5.45am onto the coach to the airport. 3 hour flight to Guangzhou (it’s as far as London to Moscow).
Check into hotel and 3 hours before rehearsal. Had a noodles in a local tiny restaurant Followed by a sleep. Then to the hall. It’s VERY hot and sticky here. Wonderful hall and loads of children in the audience.
The audience were totally thrilled and afterwards about 30 of them wanted photos taken with me and Scott.
Then back to the hotel where Gerard bought everyone drinks. Our Chinese soloist Chen Sa joined us. We ate and drank until 1.30am. Then emails to sort until 2.30am and sleep. Up at 6am.
May 26th. Guangzhou – Hong Kong – London
Incredibly unhelpful coach driver refused to put the luggage on the bus so David Wilson got inside the underneath of the coach and did it himself. Then the driver had to reverse his coach out of the car park onto a busy road then drove erratically to the airport.
We have now checked in and having coffee before 16 hours flying back to London!
LMP START Project: Carnival of the Endangered Animals let loose in Croydon
/in News /by 21stcdLMP START Project: Carnival of the Endangered Animals let loose in Croydon!
Over 500 young people across the London borough of Croydon presented a brand new work developed Read more
Piano Concert – half the ticket price comes to the LMP
/in Blog, News /by LMPDear Friends and supporters,
One of the new collaborations we are working on may include booking new upcoming young artists. One or more of the pianists playing in this concert could be invited to play with us. You can go and get a “preview”. We have been offered an exclusive deal on this concert. If you buy a £20 ticket then the LMP will receive £10 of the ticket price as a donation.
The number of tickets available is limited so if your are interested then please respond as soon as possible.
Please contact Peter Wright as soon as possible if you are interested.
[email protected]