As it's my first blog of 2017, I feel no shame in repeating my colleagues' sentiments in saying 'Happy New Year' to all our friends reading this! I had a lovely break, starting off by heading home to be with my family in Ludlow for Christmas, then heading up to Scotland to be with my girlfriend and her family, where we had a fantastic party to see in the New Year (to which Jules came ... talk about mixing work and pleasure!)...We're now firmly back into the swing of things having just done two concerts in Holland (my first performances as a KS in the country), and a lovely masterclass at Grotius College in Heerlen - choral music really is in safe hands there. Yesterday's concert, in Tilburg, was an afternoon one meaning we could dash over to Amsterdam afterwards, and fly home the same night. It was slightly bizarre sleeping in my own bed in London having done a concert earlier in Holland! I might also indulge myself here by mentioning that yesterday we performed And so it goes - the Billy Joel song arranged by Bob Chilcott - for the first time in my tenure. It was one of the most poignant and special few minutes of my time in the group so far; there's something really special about that song, and there was such an intense energy in the room as we sung it. I'm looking forward to more of those moments as my time in the group progresses.Today is a free day, so I'm using it to get ahead with music preparation (same old story!). There's a lot of new music this term, some of it very fiddly, so I'm having to find extra hours in the day to make sure I'm on top of it all, but I can't wait to perform it to our friends in France, Italy, England and South Africa - all before March!Tomorrow we're in the studio, but this time not as a 6, rather individually, to do a multi-track recording for an exciting new project we have in the pipeline. I'll leave Tim to explain more about this tomorrow... I hope you're well wherever you are, and that you'll get to a KS concert soon.
As it's my first blog of 2017, I feel no shame in repeating my colleagues' sentiments in saying 'Happy New Year' to all our friends reading this! I had a lovely break, starting off by heading home to be with my family in Ludlow for Christmas, then heading up to Scotland to be with my girlfriend and her family, where we had a fantastic party to see in the New Year (to which Jules came ... talk about mixing work and pleasure!)...We're now firmly back into the swing of things having just done two concerts in Holland (my first performances as a KS in the country), and a lovely masterclass at Grotius College in Heerlen - choral music really is in safe hands there. Yesterday's concert, in Tilburg, was an afternoon one meaning we could dash over to Amsterdam afterwards, and fly home the same night. It was slightly bizarre sleeping in my own bed in London having done a concert earlier in Holland! I might also indulge myself here by mentioning that yesterday we performed And so it goes - the Billy Joel song arranged by Bob Chilcott - for the first time in my tenure. It was one of the most poignant and special few minutes of my time in the group so far; there's something really special about that song, and there was such an intense energy in the room as we sung it. I'm looking forward to more of those moments as my time in the group progresses.Today is a free day, so I'm using it to get ahead with music preparation (same old story!). There's a lot of new music this term, some of it very fiddly, so I'm having to find extra hours in the day to make sure I'm on top of it all, but I can't wait to perform it to our friends in France, Italy, England and South Africa - all before March!Tomorrow we're in the studio, but this time not as a 6, rather individually, to do a multi-track recording for an exciting new project we have in the pipeline. I'll leave Tim to explain more about this tomorrow... I hope you're well wherever you are, and that you'll get to a KS concert soon.
As it's my first blog of 2017, I feel no shame in repeating my colleagues' sentiments in saying 'Happy New Year' to all our friends reading this! I had a lovely break, starting off by heading home to be with my family in Ludlow for Christmas, then heading up to Scotland to be with my girlfriend and her family, where we had a fantastic party to see in the New Year (to which Jules came ... talk about mixing work and pleasure!)...We're now firmly back into the swing of things having just done two concerts in Holland (my first performances as a KS in the country), and a lovely masterclass at Grotius College in Heerlen - choral music really is in safe hands there. Yesterday's concert, in Tilburg, was an afternoon one meaning we could dash over to Amsterdam afterwards, and fly home the same night. It was slightly bizarre sleeping in my own bed in London having done a concert earlier in Holland! I might also indulge myself here by mentioning that yesterday we performed And so it goes - the Billy Joel song arranged by Bob Chilcott - for the first time in my tenure. It was one of the most poignant and special few minutes of my time in the group so far; there's something really special about that song, and there was such an intense energy in the room as we sung it. I'm looking forward to more of those moments as my time in the group progresses.Today is a free day, so I'm using it to get ahead with music preparation (same old story!). There's a lot of new music this term, some of it very fiddly, so I'm having to find extra hours in the day to make sure I'm on top of it all, but I can't wait to perform it to our friends in France, Italy, England and South Africa - all before March!Tomorrow we're in the studio, but this time not as a 6, rather individually, to do a multi-track recording for an exciting new project we have in the pipeline. I'll leave Tim to explain more about this tomorrow... I hope you're well wherever you are, and that you'll get to a KS concert soon.
As it's my first blog of 2017, I feel no shame in repeating my colleagues' sentiments in saying 'Happy New Year' to all our friends reading this! I had a lovely break, starting off by heading home to be with my family in Ludlow for Christmas, then heading up to Scotland to be with my girlfriend and her family, where we had a fantastic party to see in the New Year (to which Jules came ... talk about mixing work and pleasure!)...We're now firmly back into the swing of things having just done two concerts in Holland (my first performances as a KS in the country), and a lovely masterclass at Grotius College in Heerlen - choral music really is in safe hands there. Yesterday's concert, in Tilburg, was an afternoon one meaning we could dash over to Amsterdam afterwards, and fly home the same night. It was slightly bizarre sleeping in my own bed in London having done a concert earlier in Holland! I might also indulge myself here by mentioning that yesterday we performed And so it goes - the Billy Joel song arranged by Bob Chilcott - for the first time in my tenure. It was one of the most poignant and special few minutes of my time in the group so far; there's something really special about that song, and there was such an intense energy in the room as we sung it. I'm looking forward to more of those moments as my time in the group progresses.Today is a free day, so I'm using it to get ahead with music preparation (same old story!). There's a lot of new music this term, some of it very fiddly, so I'm having to find extra hours in the day to make sure I'm on top of it all, but I can't wait to perform it to our friends in France, Italy, England and South Africa - all before March!Tomorrow we're in the studio, but this time not as a 6, rather individually, to do a multi-track recording for an exciting new project we have in the pipeline. I'll leave Tim to explain more about this tomorrow... I hope you're well wherever you are, and that you'll get to a KS concert soon.
As it's my first blog of 2017, I feel no shame in repeating my colleagues' sentiments in saying 'Happy New Year' to all our friends reading this! I had a lovely break, starting off by heading home to be with my family in Ludlow for Christmas, then heading up to Scotland to be with my girlfriend and her family, where we had a fantastic party to see in the New Year (to which Jules came ... talk about mixing work and pleasure!)...We're now firmly back into the swing of things having just done two concerts in Holland (my first performances as a KS in the country), and a lovely masterclass at Grotius College in Heerlen - choral music really is in safe hands there. Yesterday's concert, in Tilburg, was an afternoon one meaning we could dash over to Amsterdam afterwards, and fly home the same night. It was slightly bizarre sleeping in my own bed in London having done a concert earlier in Holland! I might also indulge myself here by mentioning that yesterday we performed And so it goes - the Billy Joel song arranged by Bob Chilcott - for the first time in my tenure. It was one of the most poignant and special few minutes of my time in the group so far; there's something really special about that song, and there was such an intense energy in the room as we sung it. I'm looking forward to more of those moments as my time in the group progresses.Today is a free day, so I'm using it to get ahead with music preparation (same old story!). There's a lot of new music this term, some of it very fiddly, so I'm having to find extra hours in the day to make sure I'm on top of it all, but I can't wait to perform it to our friends in France, Italy, England and South Africa - all before March!Tomorrow we're in the studio, but this time not as a 6, rather individually, to do a multi-track recording for an exciting new project we have in the pipeline. I'll leave Tim to explain more about this tomorrow... I hope you're well wherever you are, and that you'll get to a KS concert soon.
As it's my first blog of 2017, I feel no shame in repeating my colleagues' sentiments in saying 'Happy New Year' to all our friends reading this! I had a lovely break, starting off by heading home to be with my family in Ludlow for Christmas, then heading up to Scotland to be with my girlfriend and her family, where we had a fantastic party to see in the New Year (to which Jules came ... talk about mixing work and pleasure!)...We're now firmly back into the swing of things having just done two concerts in Holland (my first performances as a KS in the country), and a lovely masterclass at Grotius College in Heerlen - choral music really is in safe hands there. Yesterday's concert, in Tilburg, was an afternoon one meaning we could dash over to Amsterdam afterwards, and fly home the same night. It was slightly bizarre sleeping in my own bed in London having done a concert earlier in Holland! I might also indulge myself here by mentioning that yesterday we performed And so it goes - the Billy Joel song arranged by Bob Chilcott - for the first time in my tenure. It was one of the most poignant and special few minutes of my time in the group so far; there's something really special about that song, and there was such an intense energy in the room as we sung it. I'm looking forward to more of those moments as my time in the group progresses.Today is a free day, so I'm using it to get ahead with music preparation (same old story!). There's a lot of new music this term, some of it very fiddly, so I'm having to find extra hours in the day to make sure I'm on top of it all, but I can't wait to perform it to our friends in France, Italy, England and South Africa - all before March!Tomorrow we're in the studio, but this time not as a 6, rather individually, to do a multi-track recording for an exciting new project we have in the pipeline. I'll leave Tim to explain more about this tomorrow... I hope you're well wherever you are, and that you'll get to a KS concert soon.
As it's my first blog of 2017, I feel no shame in repeating my colleagues' sentiments in saying 'Happy New Year' to all our friends reading this! I had a lovely break, starting off by heading home to be with my family in Ludlow for Christmas, then heading up to Scotland to be with my girlfriend and her family, where we had a fantastic party to see in the New Year (to which Jules came ... talk about mixing work and pleasure!)...We're now firmly back into the swing of things having just done two concerts in Holland (my first performances as a KS in the country), and a lovely masterclass at Grotius College in Heerlen - choral music really is in safe hands there. Yesterday's concert, in Tilburg, was an afternoon one meaning we could dash over to Amsterdam afterwards, and fly home the same night. It was slightly bizarre sleeping in my own bed in London having done a concert earlier in Holland! I might also indulge myself here by mentioning that yesterday we performed And so it goes - the Billy Joel song arranged by Bob Chilcott - for the first time in my tenure. It was one of the most poignant and special few minutes of my time in the group so far; there's something really special about that song, and there was such an intense energy in the room as we sung it. I'm looking forward to more of those moments as my time in the group progresses.Today is a free day, so I'm using it to get ahead with music preparation (same old story!). There's a lot of new music this term, some of it very fiddly, so I'm having to find extra hours in the day to make sure I'm on top of it all, but I can't wait to perform it to our friends in France, Italy, England and South Africa - all before March!Tomorrow we're in the studio, but this time not as a 6, rather individually, to do a multi-track recording for an exciting new project we have in the pipeline. I'll leave Tim to explain more about this tomorrow... I hope you're well wherever you are, and that you'll get to a KS concert soon.
