Archived News for February 2012
Venues old and new
04 Feb 2012
Looking forward to returning to two familiar concert haunts in the next week - another house concert hosted by Emile Woolf, featuring the epic Brahms Piano Quintet (with the Hampden Quartet), and then a Valentine's concert at the Garrick Club, including Brahms' adorable Liebeslieder Waltzer (with Aoife Miskelly, Katie Bray, Rupert Charlesworth and Johnny Herford, and sharing the piano duet with Will Vann). Two very different sides of Brahms, and two delightful groups to be playing with! Then a totally unfamiliar venue next week, with a concert of French oboe music in Monmouth. Variety is the spice of life!
Magic Flute underway
08 Feb 2012
This is the first week of production rehearsals for RAO's The Magic Flute, directed by Stephen Barlow. As assistant conductor it is a rare privilege to get to conduct the first week-and-a-bit of production, but as Jane Glover is in America, that's how it works this time! It's a fascinating stage in the procedure, as we unpick the music and characters, and lay the foundation stones for the show. Stephen's 1980s New York setting is brilliant and is going to make this a lot of fun!
Demos galore
11 Feb 2012
Recording season seems to be on us at the moment - been busy playing for demo discs for Carris Jones (mezzo), Oliver Hunt (bass-baritone) and Rod Morris (countertenor), as well as preparing for March's CD recording with James Turnbull (oboe).
Choruses and Knaben
17 Feb 2012
Having handed back the conducting of the main production rehearsals of RAO's Magic Flute to Jane Glover, my responsibility currently lies with getting the chorus and Three Boys (in our case a mixture of boys and girls, and double cast, so actually Six Children...!) up to scratch musically for their sections! Both groups have very significant contributions to the piece; great to see it starting to fit together.
Back to Mozart
27 Feb 2012
Back in the pit at RAO this week, conducting various stage & piano sessions and piano dress rehearsals for The Magic Flute. There is always a real buzz at this stage of the process, with set, costumes and lighting all starting to come together, albeit a little hectic with so many strands to draw together!