The King's Singers

01 / 06 / 2010

Tim

It's been fantastic this week performing concerts in and around the UK - there is something quite special about singing on 'home' soil!!

Last night we sang in the glorious St. David's Cathedral in Wales as part of their annual festival. This held some very dear memories for me, as I remembered singing there as a very young chorister, under the watchful eyes of my family whilst on tour with the Chelmsford Cathedral Choir. I was also reminded by my mum that when I was there last, I had stupidly forgotten my black shoes (having left them in the hotel we were all staying in) and consequently had to sing Evensong at St. David's in just my black socks - believe me, the stone floor is chilly!!

It was a fantastic event and it was great to see so many happy audience members afterwards! I must thank David for driving us both all over the UK over the last couple of days - he was, however, rewarded with a sneaky Chinese meal after the concert last night. What greater gift could I have given!?!!

02 / 06 / 2010

Paul

I have really enjoyed the 'mini' UK tour we have just completed over this last weekend, not least the fact that I have loved every minute of driving almost 1000 miles on some of Britain's finest roads! Our concert programmes were as diverse as the scenery - working in Newcastle and Gateshead with a male-voice choir, and a fine youth choir (Felling Male Voice Choir, and Quay Voices, respectively) as well as performing our own programme in St. David's Cathedral, west Wales. Between our concerts in Gateshead and Wales, we stopped overnight in the historic border city of Chester, in order to break up the journey, and I really enjoyed, along with David Chris and Tim, a delicious curry at a local Indian restaurant, washed down by some authentic Indian ale! Being on tour rarely gets better than this - good company, good food, nice weather, spectacular roads, two interesting runs around two of our most beautiful cities, and the satisfaction of knowing that we brought pleasure to a large number of people. What a job this is ...... I am so lucky!

04 / 06 / 2010

Chris

Since Monday's concert in St. David's I have managed to spend two happy days at a nice hotel with my beautiful wife (and get a facial, something I'm not used to...), go shopping with Johnny for our photo shoot outfits for Monday, drive my parents back to the airport for their long journey home, and get full allergy testing in the light of my nasty hayfever bout of last month. So the week's flown by. Good news first: my parents got their flight in time and my face looks marvellous (apart from the slightly large nose, which I can't do much about). Oh, and we got some great clothes for the shoot (so hope you all enjoy those when the pictures are completed). The bad news is that I'm allergic to Birch, Alder and Hazel trees. Hmmm. A long course of injections beckons, but it should stop me feeling as though I'm singing through a veil of fog when the tree pollen strikes next year. Still, nice to know what's happening. If you really want to know, I'm fine with dogs, milk, grass and shrubs, and only have a slight reaction to house dust. So if you're planning to bring a gift for me to a forthcoming concert, dogs are fine but birch trees less good. Right now, Johnny's over here for more "what happens when I finally become a King's Singer" chat, which I'm enjoying enormously. We're having curry, and Johnny's impressing me by eating a Phal, which basically is a form of culinary massochism.

06 / 06 / 2010

David

It’s Sunday evening, and I am getting ready to go to London bright and early tomorrow morning for the photo shoot (I think it has to be the 07.28 train). As Chris mentioned in his blog we have had a few days at home, which has been lovely, especially as it coincides with Sarah’s half term holiday. I have not had a facial, nor have I eaten a red-hot Phal curry.  But I have been to France for a couple of days to attend a friend’s birthday party. We drove back this morning via the Channel Tunnel in a raging thunderstorm, which certainly was a relief after the oppressive heat of Paris yesterday (32˚C, apparently). On Tuesday the KS are off to Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia, for an orchestral concert. We travelled there many years ago, so I am looking forward to returning. For now I am now going to walk to the station to buy my train ticket, as it will save me valuable minutes in the morning!

08 / 06 / 2010

Tim

Today we arrived in Ljubljana, Slovenia, for a rehearsal with the Radio Symphony Orchestra. The concert is tomorrow night in the magnificent Cankarjev Dom and features KS orchestral classics such as Circle of Life and Yellow Submarine. Singing this repertoire again reminds me of my first week as a King's Singer, in which we performed, as part of our US tour, with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, under the masterful direction of the late Erich Kunzel. Happy memories.

Tomorrow starts with a morning rehearsal to tie up a few loose ends with the orchestra, so an early night is on the menu for me. Good night...............zzzzzzzzzzz

09 / 06 / 2010

Paul

As you know we have just enjoyed a few days off, spending some well-earned time with our families. This weekend was the annual 'Tough Guy'  weekend, when we take our families on an activity 'break', (if indeed you can call it that!) to celebrate surviving the 'TG' event earlier in the year. This time it was a little bit different, because Helena and I decided that William and Edward were old enough to experience something 'rough and tough' for themselves. (It also gave us the opportunity to spend time together, outdoors, as a family.)  So, last Saturday, along with some very special friends we set off on a challenging walk, in the heart of England's Lake District: to climb the 950 meter mountain, Helvellyn, via a tricky route named 'Striding Edge'. I hadn't realised it was quite so challenging until we reached a point of 'no return', traversing Striding Edge, with Helena, William and Edward all looking nervously at the steep and dangerous slopes on either side of them, knowing that one wrong step could mean a free ride in a rescue helicopter to hospital, or worse ..... My great friends and fellow tough guys, Charlie and Simon, along with their lovely wives, Karen and Rachel, were magnificent in helping my boys conquer their fears, and successfully tackle one of our country's toughest walks. The feeling of euphoria upon reaching the summit was something to savour for a long time. The photo of Charlie and yours truly sums up the moment - when friendship, teamwork, and a sense of achievement all merge in one special and spontaneous moment. It reminded me yet again of the amazing similarities between 'Tough Guy' and the KS, where all the qualities which give the event its unique flavour, are present in the daily yet immensely rewarding life of our beloved group.

Below: The Tough Guys (and girls!). Helvellyn is the 'flat' summit on the left.

10 / 06 / 2010

Philip

Sweltering heat here in Ljubljana where we gave a very successful concert last night with the Slovenian Radio Orchestra to a lively packed house. The football fans among us are getting geared up for the World Cup (we are away for every one of England's games of course, and usually singing or travelling during the matches themselves), but an amusing incident occurred at lunch yesterday. I asked if Slovenia had made it through to the Finals in South Africa and after some deliberation one of the others said they thought that yes Slovenia had qualified. Then came the business of racking our brains trying to remember which group they were in (top 2 from each group of 4 go through to the next round in case you don't know). A long silence ensued until someone realised that they were in the group with Algeria, USA and....ENGLAND! Shame on us for not instantly remembering we were in the country of one of our opposing teams. To be fair there is almost no visual evidence of the tournament in this beautiful old city. Maybe they see no chance of qualifying, but there is always hope - a famous result springs to mind from the 1950 World Cup (before I was born I hasten to add!) when, as in this year's tournament, the mighty England were drawn against a team of part-timers and, when there should have been only one possible winner, lost 1 - 0. We in the KS are hoping history will not repeat itself half a century on, as our opposition that day was...The United States of America!! Come on England.

11 / 06 / 2010

Chris

It's hard to write a blog about music or singing today. Why? Well, today's the start of the World Cup in South Africa, and for the next month or so my heart will be permanently beating at twice its normal speed as I dare to hope against hope that my national team will for once NOT let me down and play well in a major tournament. Apart from my wonderful family, singing is my first love, but I really do love sport of all shapes and sizes. If England are playing, I'm hooked - whether it's football, rugby, cricket or anything else. I even get excited about darts and curling (although not at the same time - imagine playing darts on ice whilst people were running around you with brushes? It just wouldn't work). 

So, COME ON ENGLAND!!! It makes it even more interesting that we kick off tomorrow against the USA, a team who on paper we should beat easily enough but who my (American) wife assures me are no pushovers and who will probably at least scrape a draw, thus plunging me into a fearful depression. It would have been fun to be at home, each screaming for our respective nations, with Bella (now nearly a year old - where has the time gone?!) probably getting more and more confused. 

On a musical note, we're back in Germany for a couple of concerts over the weekend, both of which have programmes dominated by the music of Heinrich Schutz, one of my favourite composers. Not only did he travel widely, but he experimented with the musical styles of the countries in which he found himself. Thus we are singing three sacred German motets, and three secular Italian madrigals, and if I didn't know better I'd believe they were by two completely different composers. A clever chap. We've also brought back Sir Malcom Williamson's wonderful piece "The Musicians of Bremen" which was commissioned by the KS in the 1970s and features animal noises made by everyone except for Stephen and me. We're far too serious for such larking about. We didn't spend years training in classical singing to get up on stage and make animal noises. Oh no.

12 / 06 / 2010

Stephen

Today we are driving to Niedergründau (to be precise, Tim is driving  - most of the time with one hand!) We sing there this evening at 7pm - an early start for a concert in Germany. We had a pleasantly warm wilkommen from the good burgers of Erwitte yesterday evening where we offered a German programme featuring the music of Heinrich Schütz  - a big hello to the lovely choir who enthusiastically made us feel so welcome and with whom we had a group photo after the show.

Today the sky is grey and with it the temperature has fallen to a reasonable level which has reduced the stifling humidity of the last days. Phew!

Tomorrow we are back to the UK for some days at home before our long trip out to the Far East next weekend.  If you don't hear from me next Saturday it will be due to a heavy packing schedule and me being out in the garden most of the day trying to cut the grass to such a short level that is might not need doing for another several weeks. We will be away from home for almost a month with a more than busy concert schedule, visiting a whole bunch of different countries out there.

Hope you have all managed to see the new publicity pics featuring new KS to be - Johnny H. He will become the tallest member of the KS - rivaling the dizzy heights of Robin and Gabriel. With his trampolining talents, Johnny's pursuits for even great heights are unique in the history of the KS group membership. Fair Phyllis's "Up and Down" manoeuverings  will take on a whole new meaning.

Germany is famous for its wonderful sausages which are called Wurst and for coming second to England in the Football World Cup Final in 1966 - the year of my birth. All unrelated - but, in a way, I somehow wish they were.
Outside it has just started to rain.
Bis bald Stephen.

13 / 06 / 2010

David

Last night we sang once again in the beautiful Bergkirche (mountain church) in Niedergründau. The programme included Malcolm Williamson’s The Musicians of Bremen, which has recently been re-introduced to the repertoire. It was written for the group in 1972, and first performed in Sydney Town Hall in the same year. It tells the Brothers Grimm story of four animals who travel to Bremen to join an orchestra. On the way they encounter a band of robbers, played with great menace by Chris and Stephen, who try in vain to overcome the animals. Through teamwork the four friends triumph, and as the piece ends, the animals go to sleep dreaming of their new lives in Bremen. I spoke to a friend after the show who said that she had never heard the piece sung live, despite attending over 90 King’s Singers concerts. I first heard the piece back in the late 1970s when I bought a copy of The Contemporary Collection LP. I bought the record because it included Timepiece in the playlist, and the album made me realise for the first time that modern music could be fun. We are always keen to find new music to augment our repertoire, but we also are aware that we have a vast library of great pieces, which deserve to be brought out of retirement from time to time.

I am writing this on Sunday morning on a plane from Frankfurt to London. I am sitting next to Tim who has an uncanny ability to fall asleep in a car, bus, train or plane. It is a skill that I envy, and one that will come in useful over the next few weeks as we tour the Far East.

15 / 06 / 2010

Tim

It's great to back in the UK this week before we head off on our Asia tour. It will be my first time in Asia and I just can't wait to meet our fans over there and to sing in some of the best concert halls in the world. Hopefully there will be some spare time to sample some proper sushi as well - yummy!!

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure to be in Windsor, seeing my old colleagues and attending the annual celebration of Garter Day. Each June, on the Monday of Royal Ascot week, the members of the Order of the Garter, wearing their ceremonial vestments and insignia, meet in the state apartments in the Upper Ward of Windsor Castle. They process on foot, led by the Military Knights of Windsor, through the castle to St George's Chapel for the service. It was very odd not singing this year but wonderful to be a member of the 'congregation' listening outside! St. George's Chapel is an extremely special place and the time I spent singing and living there will always bring back fond memories - the superb music, the friendships, my Dad's birthday celebrations last New Year's Eve......the list is endless.

Today, I drive some of my friends over to Cambridge to enjoy the St. John's College May Ball. This is said to be one of the 10 parties you must go to before you die, so I think it's gonna be a late one. As long as I make the plane on Sunday with the rest of my colleagues then it'll be fine...............

16 / 06 / 2010

Paul

What a busy week 'off' I'm having. Just had a haircut, now I'm going back home to take Wiz for a run, (we both need it!) then I'll be appearing on a local radio station for an hour this afternoon for some music and chat (BBC Radio Cambridgeshire - 98 FM - at 2 pm, if you're interested!)  Tomorrow we have some friends visiting us from the USA, and then on Friday it's the bi-annual 'Gransden Village Ball' - a really lovely occasion when our local community gets together to celebrate village life. On Saturday I'm singing at a friend's wedding, as well as 'ushering' during the church service, and then at some stage I ought to get ready to travel for our much-anticipated Asia tour ..... This week reminds me of a saying often quoted by good friends of mine, when we talk about our hectic lifestyles: 'If you want to get something done, ask a busy person'. I agree!

18 / 06 / 2010

Chris

To those who logged on yesterday expecting a timely blog from me, I do apologise.  To all seven of you. Before our Asia trip I decided to take Stephanie out for the day and ended up being out from early until late, although I did manage to catch the football in the evening (total waste of time that was). Some might find it odd that a grown man would get so excited about watching eleven men attempt to score (and fail) - some might even call it childish - but I can't help getting ridiculously excited over the World Cup. I think coming together as a nation and showing some emotion is positive. 

So where did I take Stephanie yesterday? Well, as many of you know, England has a few traditional events that happen every summer - tennis and Wimbledon, rowing at Henley - but also the racing at Royal Ascot, and that's where we went. You'll see a picture of us below dressed in our silly but rather wonderful clothes. We had a great day, and even managed to pick some winners. 

This forthcoming tour sees a new idea for the KS. In Korea some bright spark suggested we do the whole second half on microphones, with the occasional backing track so that we could add pieces to the repertoire that we wouldn't usually perform (because they have too many parts). So there are new songs to learn and lots of live premiere performances to look forward to. We're hoping that if it's a success we can repeat the formula in the US next year and bring favourites such as "Hallelujah" into our programmes. I haven't quite finished learning the pieces, as this week has been family time for us - so important before a big trip away. Luckily I have over fifteen hours in a tin can miles above the earth tomorrow night, so I'm sure I'll get it all done then! Just picture me sitting in a plane, refusing to watch all the tempting movies on offer, with my head in a copy of Lawson's latest arrangement, as we speed through the night sky.....

19 / 06 / 2010

Stephen

Well - finished the grass cutting (and it is very short) and just now getting everything together and packed for tomorrow's trip to the Far East. Just had a lovely translation through from a German friend of an Obituary that was written about me in one of the national German newspapers - it is very touching and I feel very honoured to have such glowing words written about my career with the K's - rather hoping though that people don't get the wrong idea about my mortal positioning right now - I am very much still alive. Till Soon, Stephen

20 / 06 / 2010

David

Today we head off to Taiwan for the first leg of our Far East trip. I have made it to the airport on time, and have now checked in. We fly to Amsterdam, and then on to Taipei via Bangkok. I am really looking forward to the tour, although today's travel is quite epic. For the moment we are taking it easy at Heathrow - Stephen and Tim have found some extraordinary chairs to sit in, and are preparing for many more hours sitting down.

23 / 06 / 2010

Tim

Hello everybody. Sincere apologies for not writing yesterday but the phrase 'simply not enough hours in the day' springs to mind!

Yesterday we travelled by express train to Kaohsiung, where we jumped into a taxi and headed to the fantastic Grand Hi-Lai Hotel. However, there was no time to admire our rash lavish rooms as it was a case of dropping the suitcase, picking up suit and music and heading to the venue for the rehearsal/show! I think it's fair to say that all members of the KS had a little nap in the taxi over to Pingtung which was to prove the last top-up of energy before the first concert of the tour. We were joined on stage in the second half by a local, mixed children's choir in regional dress, which was adorable to say the very least!

Afterwards, we were very kindly taken out by our promoter to a fish restaurant back near the hotel. It was fantastic to taste real Taipei cuisine in a real local 'cafe' environment. Superb food and great company - the perfect way to end a truly exhausting day.............

Below is a picture taken from this restaurant - Steve pointing out the most basic of basic air conditioning units!!

23 / 06 / 2010

Paul

Jetlag is a funny thing, it comes in many different forms: from long, sleepless hours, pacing up and down in your hotel room, to a pre-concert 'slump', when your body is telling you that it's the middle of the night, rather than time to go on stage for a concert ......

Happily, we have been remarkably free of jetlag on this first leg of our Asia tour, and last night's concert in Pingtung went very well. We shared the stage at the start of the second half with a local children's choir, who treated us and the audience to a wonderful performance of two Taiwanese folk songs. Their rendition was both flawless and moving, and it was so lovely to watch them, in traditional dress, swaying from side to side as they sang the haunting melodies which originated many hundreds of years ago in the mountain villages nearby.

So, waking up this morning to the view from my hotel room on the 33rd floor, pictured below, it really felt like I was a long, long way from the lush, temperate English summer. Nevertheless, on we go, another day, another concert - today in the National Concert Hall in Taipei. Its one of the world's great halls, and we're looking forward to meeting many more of our enthusiastic friends from this wonderful country.

24 / 06 / 2010

Philip

One minute there were ten people crowded round a TV in our hotel bar here in Taipei, the next I was on my own, and then I realised it was gone midnight ( a symptom of West-East jetlag of course - nights feel like afternoons). I finished my beer and took myself off to bed. It was a satisfying evening - another packed-out concert in Taipei's fabulous National Concert Hall and England are through! When we returned to the hotel after the concert the match was 25 minutes old and England had just scored, but while the hotel staff had been very kind and diligent in arranging for the huge TV to be showing the footie when we got back  (I must have stayed at the Ritz Landis here about seven times - they know us well!) they had switched on to the wrong channel - football, yes, but  USA/ Algeria, instead of  England /Slovenia There were two partially interested Americans in that hitherto quiet corner of the bar when we got down from hanging up our suits, but the Duty Manager politely explained to them that "the Englishmen" had returned (football's coming home, you might say) and really needed to see the other game. So it was that the Americans graciously retired to another area and we and our promoter Mr. Niu and his charming assistants were able to sit there and watch England go through, just. I've been a football fan for 40 years and it's amusing how we forgive our teams - it doesn't matter how badly they play in a game or a season - "at the end of the day" as they say if the team wins you a cup or promotion or procession into the next round, all is forgiven. Wouldn't it be funny if it were like that with us and our audiences? "Those Renaissance pieces were out of tune, the modern piece was all wrong and I don't know what you were doing in the Pop section. But that encore, wow! Thanks, guys, you're great!!" Food for thought, talking of which, mustn't miss breakfast. Bye!

24 / 06 / 2010

Paul

Just had a crazy few minutes: we arrived in Shanghai this afternoon, and after settling in I went to the gym. I spent a few minutes stretching and warming up, lifted a few weights, cross-trained for 15 minutes, and then decided to run down the staircase, 26 floors to floor 1, and then take the stairs, up 47 floors back to my room - I didn't run UP, oh no! Nevertheless I set myself the target of taking two steps at a time ........ I'm a bit sweaty now, as you can see! Nice! Just off for a shower ......

25 / 06 / 2010

Chris

Jetlag is a strange thing. I arrived on Monday night (Monday morning UK Time) feeling pretty good, and had a couple of great nights' sleep, but last night was a total disaster. Still up at 4.30am and a quick phone call home - I interrupted dinner so couldn't even get a chat in with Stephanie.

So tonight I'm hoping for a better sleep, as we have a big concert tomorrow night in the wonderful Concert Hall here in Shanghai, where we arrived after a quick flight up from Taipei. Our hotel goes by a different name but is the same one we were in last time, and really is one of my favourites. Despite England not playing today (although nice one last night, lads) I was still interested to see the Italian match. There's something wonderful about a hotel where you can lie in the bath and watch football. I ended up like a sponge but it was worth it. That was after first supper, which was soup, pasta and some kind of chocolate cake. Sometimes food is the big issue for me in Asia as, to be honest, I don't like fish, noodles, or pretty much anything else that is a staple food product out this way. I've tried it all (believe me) but it just doesn't seem to work well for me. Being in a big hotel is great because I can eat what I want, and room service is wonderful. I remember one American hotel where I stayed in my room for 24 hours on a day off, and had three room service meals including breakfast. Mmmm.

I say "first" supper because tonight it just didn't do the trick. You know how it is sometimes, one supper is just not enough. So following a spot of work, bath, and a brief attempt to get to bed early (ha! It's funny just re-reading that bit, I can NEVER sleep early on tour) and having listened to my stomach rumbling a bit, I decided it was time for second supper. Luckily this hotel has 24 hour room service, so I simply rang down and ordered the hotel burger with chips on the side.

This blog isn't all about food. In all seriousness we have a wonderful following here in Shanghai and it's a real pleasure for me to perform here as the group never came here before I joined - so nobody remembers any of my predecessors! We're doing some great folksongs tomorrow including resurrecting one by Phil from the 1990s - "The Last Rose of Summer" - which I think will become one of our favourites. Whenever we perform in China we always sing some local songs, too, and this time I arranged one which is all about plums, strangely enough. It went down well in Taipei and is the first of my arrangements that we have performed, so a small moment of personal delight.

Oh, there's my doorbell - burger time!!!!!

26 / 06 / 2010

Stephen

We had a wonderful reception last night here in Beijing - a buzzing audience who simply love their a cappella singing for sure. There are many Chinese restaurants here - much more so than at home and last night managed to sample some interesting food after the concert - resisting the lure of the scorpion and sea-horse kebabs (yes, seriously) and sticking firmly to the vegetarian spring rolls and topped it off with one of my favorites, green tea ice cream. Yum Yum.

Today we head south and closer to Hong Kong where the humidity is set to rise. Hey ho...drip drip. Jet lag is almost a thing of the past as we complete our first full week over here. England will play Germany tonight I am told - an old, familiar, friendly match (!) No doubt we shall watch a little bit of it after the concert. Till soon, Stephen

27 / 06 / 2010

David

Stephen mentioned our Beijing concert in his blog, but I wanted to share a rather nice moment in the concert. There was a family sitting in the second row with two young boys, and when Chris did his Mandarin welcome to the audience after the first song the younger of the two boys was utterly amazed, and sat with his mouth wide open nudging his older brother. Chris seems to have become our Chinese language expert, remembering the introduction from our previous trip to the Far East in 2008.

We are now in the city of Shenzhen in southern China, where we performed this evening in the city’s state-of-the-art concert hall. Like Shanghai, Shenzhen has seen a huge amount of new building in recent years, and the cityscape is incredible. We did manage to get back to the hotel to see the England-Germany match from South Africa. This was not the result we wanted to say the least. Paul received an email earlier today from Daniel Knauft from ensemble Amarcord, the vocal group who we saw recently at their wonderful festival in Leipzig. Their concert schedule today allowed them to see the whole match, whereas we missed the opening (and the first of Germany’s four goals). They wished us good luck in our concert, but not in the football!

We are off to Guangzhou tomorrow for the last of our Chinese concerts.

P.S. I would like to thank the couple in Taipei who gave me a lovely present of an ink stamp bearing the Chinese version of my name. It was a very sweet gift, but I do not have contact details to write to say thank you.

29 / 06 / 2010

Tim

Hello Korea!!! A travel day today saw us fly from Guangzhou in China to Seoul in Korea. We battled our way through heavy traffic but have now finally arrived at the beautiful Shilla Hotel.

Yesterday, as David mentioned, we sang our last concert on the Chinese leg of this tour. It's been an amazing experience so far - concert halls have been world-class, people are unbelievably polite and gracious, and the food is simply awesome!! After our concert in the Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall last night, we were kindly taken out for a late dinner by our promoters. A fun time was had by all and although I haven't entirely mastered the art of using chopsticks (even after some masterclass sessions with Stephen), I eventually felt as though I had tried most of what was put in front of me (apart from the chicken's head!).

I leave you with various pictures from the trip so far: in the lobby of the concert hall last night where we had a press event before the show and Paul in typical pre-concert preparation!

30 / 06 / 2010

Paul

Its been a really interesting few days visiting parts of China for the first time, and reaching new audiences, and its fair to say that our Chinese 'leg' of the tour has not been incident-free. For several days a few of us have been fighting-off a rather nasty cold and throat/ear related virus. I felt it coming on whilst on the plane on our way to Taiwan. It started with a tickle in my throat, and tightness in my chest, and then very suddenly, just before the concert in Beijing, I went almost completely deaf in my right ear, and partially deaf in my left - a bit scary when you are about to sing. I got through the show okay, but all the way through my instincts were telling me to seek medical help as soon as possible. Thanks to the help of the staff at the National Concert Hall in Beijing, I was taken to a local hospital where along with many other Beijing residents being treated by an army of doctors for a variety of ailments, I was skillfully cared for by a very young doctor, who explained to me that the reason for my deafness was due to a buildup of hard wax in my ears, which needed to be removed immediately. (Gulp!!!) There then followed a period of excruciating pain, whilst the kindly young doctor, watched with some amusement by two nurses who had by now decided that my predicament was more interesting than their magazines, proceeded to suck, prod and poke at the wax, embedded deep in my ear canal (nice, eh?). By now word had got out that 'some weird English bloke' had turned up at the Casualty Department on a Saturday night, (obviously had nothing better to do!) and a crowd of interested onlookers crowded into the doorway of the treatment room, whilst I tried hard to look brave, when all the time I felt pretty scared, and wanted to 'yelp' with pain. When the offending wax was finally removed, 'some time later' (time was standing still for me) the doctor asked how my hearing compared between my left and right ears? 'Its better in the right now than the left!' I cheerfully responded ........ Wrong answer - now he worked on removing several year's-worth of wax buildup in my left ear!! Well, I'm feeling a lot better now, and hadn't realised the world was such a loud place! (This has obviously been building up for a long time). Also, I want to thank sincerely a young doctor by the name of Feng Ling, who looked after me, and treated me with such care and kindness, and who showed me that whilst Chinese medical treatment may not be like our own 'National Health Service', there is no substitute for dedicated people, who do their jobs with skill and sensitivity to those around them. Thank you, Feng, and I hope I can return your kindness next time we visit Beijing, by inviting you to our concert.