Saturday 30 September 2017

An All New Baritone !

What excitement ! I had a delighted and utterly thrilled young man for his lesson yesterday ! J, who travels from Cromarty to Paradise every other week for a lesson is now 13 going on 14 and his voice has broken. In his lesson three weeks ago it was most definitely on the way down, but yesterday I have the most scrumptious baby baritone with a range of about 11/12th ! He was always a boy Alto in terms of quality of sound and his voice was quite breathy and heavy. It was a difficult treble voice to handle ! He has persevered and persevered even with all the trickiness of his youthful voice and now has sailed straight into a completely non breathy and easy to use baritone voice !

I think he is walking on air, or at least singing on air ! The range has already stretched from a good C # below middle C to the E above middle C which is quite remarkable in the time. So this meant straight away he could be given 'proper' male songs with a bit of humour and strength. I gave him the jolly 'Man is for Woman Made' by Purcell with all its fun lyrics, and the timeless 'Sea Fever' - what joy this was, and his 45 minutes flew by in a flurry of loud and healthy singing and many smiles and chuckles ! 

It is always such a worry as well as an excitement when a treble voice is breaking - a mysterious journey with an unknown world at the end of that journey. The really thrilling thing is that I am pretty sure that J will not have to take any break from his singing - now that is unusual !

I cannot wait to see where this road takes us.



Wednesday 27 September 2017

Reality

The travel home was long but not particularly difficult, the docking times and plane times did not match up too well so we had quite long waits, but in the comfort of the lovely No 1 Gatwick Lounge which makes it eminently bearable ! 

I unpacked when I got home at 2.30am, knowing that I had two full days of teaching to do before any free time, so yesterday I was all ready to start with nothing to face on Thursday which is a day off !

It was a good day and my new students L and C had worked like billyo whilst I had been away. I can see they will both be a great addition to our company in every way. C is 12 and shows all the right physical abilities for singing technique so with her, L and J we will have a lovely trio of early teens ! 

Another adult J, whom I have taught intermittently for some while now came after the newbies, and was delighted to tell me that she had finally managed to attend the ladies Friday afternoon session ! I was over the moon as I know these get together are so vital to each persons confidence in performing, and she really needed to bite the bullet and go. I must say I suspect she was an immediate convert to those 'fun fridays' as she was fairly bubbling with pleasure. These sessions are the low stress equivalent to the Performing Class sessions we had at the academy. Times when the students could perform to each other, offer constructive criticism as well as praise for progress made, all the while in the safety of the institution without the judicial ears of a panel, judge or talent scout. It is so very important to build confidence this way - the more times we perform, the easier it becomes !

N had a great Dido lesson, as well as discussion over references for conservatoire and whether doing a flash Grade 8 was a good idea ! Yes, we decided, it probably was - so as half the pieces she already knows, we will take Grade 8 in Late November !

Young F and H delighted me as ever, especially since there had been some excellent practise done during my holiday, this means lessons sail by with beams and smiles and best of all, sticky gold stars  ! Finally S came as enthusiastic and smiley as ever, having learnt her Black Swan aria perfectly. She is such a tremendous young actress, behaving in a deranged manner is not a problem at all ! A forgot to come Agh.............she texted and said she thought I was not back ! I gave her a gentle kick about perhaps reading my teaching website a little more often ! Oh dear !

It was a long day for a person heavily travelled and with little sleep, but kindly I and K had accepted my request to not come so I could finish a little earlier - I fact I was upstairs and ready for bed by 8.35pm, eyes closing before I hit the pillow !

It was a glorious warm and sunny autumnal day to welcome me back to reality, work and life. It does make is so much easier, and again this morning the gold shafts of sun are all over hedges and trees. Gretel has returned to her bed after two weeks of being with S, her home of real dog walks and workouts,  we are both the better for our breaks.


The sunny lane with the beginning of autumn colours

Saturday 23 September 2017

Sailing back to Blighty

Two quiet sea days are now very much welcomed after such a fantastically energetic and inspiring holiday. I feel the need to wind down and relax to prepare for the rest of a very very busy term ahead. 


We have a big concert in November so rehearsals will start for that in a few weeks, and I must also begin to think about some music rehearsals for my youth group performance of Dido and Aeneas in February - it sounds a long way off but the time will fly and it will be upon us.


There is also a week in Yorkshire working with the Renaissance ladies which I know will be challenging as well as interesting, the more advanced the singer, the more challenging the work. Exams are looming too, with a few high grades and a number of starters, obviously the repertoire for these baby exams is simple and uncomplicated, but one never knows what might happen with an under 8 on the day, so I always feel as if they are being very much nursed along to ensure the whole thing is a very positive experience.


So we are sailing past Denmark as I write, the only way I know this on what seems like open sea is when my phone pings and BT tells me that I am using data in……..Estonia, Denmark, Sweden or Timbuktu! Fortunately nowadays they have agreements with telephone companies, so infact I just use my normal contract amount and don't come home to a bill the size of Aberdeen !


The sailing day revels do not really appeal to Kate and myself, although the late night buffet last night was a triumph of artistry and culinary wizardry but having just finished late sitting dinner we were not really ready for more splendid food.


There was a langoustine mountain, a huge chocolate dragon, a butternut squash waterfall, a butter mermaid pouring cream from a jug and sugar sculptures which would have graced the Tsar’s table in the Winter Palace. It was a sight to behold, and we found out that the ice carving man was also fully employed carving fruits and vegetables during cruises - that was his ‘real’ job ! How astonishing.


"








Off for a good coffee and a relax. The sun has appeared so it may be possible to sit up on a high deck which would be lovely. 


Signing off from the Baltic Adventure, it has been a cracking experience. Over and out.



Sailing under the Danish bridge which joins the mainland to the largest of the islands. The bridge is 6.6 km long.

Then in the middle of the night, out into the North Sea and homewards.




Friday 22 September 2017

Sweden

We had a later start today due to the fact that we gained back one hour during the night, oddly the time changes between time zones always happens at 2am ? One would think it would click over at midnight, but no, every ship I have ever been in has said to set your clocks back or forward by one hour - and the change would happen at 2am !


A message came over the sound system from the captain telling us that the docking was now impossible as the Seawalk was not usable, so we would be dropping anchor and tendering to the land. 


Thus after a cabin breakfast we ventured out into the rain and chill, wrapped up in our Paradise waterproofs to sample the sights of Nyashamn which is a port one hour from Stockholm. It was a cold and slightly bumpy tender to shore, but not in any way problematical. The port area did not look promising, and doing as we were told we followed the blue painted line on the ground into the Zentrum of the small town. In essence it was walking by a busy road into the depths of  nowhere. We soon noticed folk on their way back to the ship, clearly having only been on land for 30 mins or so, therefore as the 10th group past by in the opposite direction to ourselves we made enquiries if the long and somewhat dull walk was worth it for the end product ! The answers were a universal no - most places were closed and it was not worth bothering with. We turned tail and legged it back to the ship, carefully following the blue line and finally arrived back to the tender dock, a mere 45 minutes after leaving the boat !


The dock was almost deserted, only shivering crew in great coats, wooly hats and thick gloves were there, the lifeboat tender was bobbing at the tied rope, only a quarter full of gloomy passengers slowly sinking into a frozen state. We joined them under the canopy bemoaning our wasted time in the cold ! Of course in reality nothing is ever wasted as…………


I can honestly say I have now been to Sweden but sadly, it was closed.





The cold and dismal tender dock with only the crew........and no coffee or tea on offer for them to warm up !

Some extra poignant photos



Grand Duchess Maria's doll



Alexei's Rocking Horse - he was unable to ride real horses as it was too dangerous s for the young haemophiliac 


Helsinki



To be honest we were both quite exhausted this morning after the Russian marathon and Helsinki arrived with a general feel of ‘can we do it ?!’. There was sun glittering through the cabin window and a modest breakfast on a tray arrived at 9.30am. This all went to make the day seem more encouraging and thus fortified we decided to opt for the 10€ shuttle bus into the city and at least be able to say we had seen Finland !


I was expecting a very modern, glass and metal city but I was proved completely wrong ! It was a beautiful, quiet Hanseatic city centre with rather more humble 18/19th century buildings than the incomparable St Petersburg, softly cobbled streets and an altogether delightfully gentle feel ! It was very positive to be so very wrong, and I am glad we made the trek !


We had been told it was very expensive, but I have to say that the excellent coffee shop we lounged in for a short while, was charging the same as everywhere else, and their buffet lunch of three courses plus drinks was a snip at 10.5 euros ! 


Being on the exhausted side and with aching limbs we could only manage a short walkabout, said coffee and a little souvenir hunting before the coach trundled us back home to Columbus. The Fins, like the Swedes definitely know about simple style and good taste, and this was clearly born out in one shop I visited. Ganit, as the shop was called, proffered such streamlined and simple kitchen and office equipment, much of which were in warm whites, natural straw colour, or tasteful beige and black neutrals;  I could have spent a small fortune. I satisfied myself with two small desk items for the grandchildren, in the hopes that they will be considered ‘cool’. ( ….but who knows….?!)


Back on the ship by lunchtime we partook of the Bistro buffet where I ate delicious and falling off the bone rabbit legs in a very savoury gravy. It is probably several decades since I ate rabbit, and it served to remind me how lean and tasty this white meat is ! It was a hugely unusual dish for a cruise line to serve, until I was told the food theme of the day was ‘Scandinavian’, and it seems rabbit is very popular in this neck of the woods. My dinner later in the evening was reindeer stew whilst Kate had herring as her starter, a thoroughly Nordic repast !


We chatted with a very charming and interesting couple over lunch and despite our growing torpor held our end of the conversation up remarkably well. It was then time for a peaceful retirement to our cabins - me with a Usain Bolt speed cappuccino in mine, and Kate with a decaffinated non coffee in hers.


So I can honestly say ‘ I have been to Finland, and very nice it was!’




Exhausted of Helsinki !

Thursday 21 September 2017

More pictures of st Petersburg


The Winter Palace private chapel


The Tsar's shredded coat after the assisination


One of Tsarina Alexandra's outfits 


Romanov ball gowns


The ridiculous overshoes which protect the floors - and polish the floor at the same time !


Packed lunch of Stolle pies, a sweet curd cheese one and a meat one, plus pear and apple puree and chocolate !





The wonder of St Petersburg

We have had two extraordinary and wonderful days with the Alla Tours company. I had looked around the cruisecritic forums and found a traveller from the past who had used a private tour company in St Petersburg rather than the ships official offerings of tours. The difficulty in Russia is that to pass through immigration one needs a visa - twenty complex rules later it is still a difficult thing to get on ones own, so before I have always used the ship tour. They are good but nowhere as near as comprehensive as the local tour companies. This company exhausted a small party of us, just 11 folk, in a way which was remarkable and totally absorbing.

The city is astonishing - this is my third visit and every time I have thought it to be the most beautiful city in the world. Sorry Vienna, Paris, London and New York! It's wide white boulevards are breathtaking in so many ways - the pastel and white painted palaces knock one into the other along wide and often tree lined avenues. It must have been, in the time before the revolution, a city of aristocrats all residing in the central fairytale part of the city. 

We saw too much to be very detailed about anywhere, it would need a small Chekhov novel to fully do our days justice,  those things which stood out need some retelling if only to be personally cathartic !

The Winter Palace, or Hermitage, just takes the breath away. Even the first glimpse of the staircase in white, gold and marble sweeping up to the great rooms seems ( as K pointed out) full of ghosts of a time gone for ever. This is how I have felt every time I visit the major palaces. Whether this is because we know the tragedy of the last Romanovs so well I cannot say, but there is a hazy feel of small girls in white playing up and down the stairs, totally unaware of what their future held.

The newly restored chapel where their private daily services were held is so gilded it feels as if one is bathing in a golden bath, but there is also a definite feel of solemnity in the air.

Obviously the art collections are truly amazing, 56 Rembrandt paintings, 25 Van Dyk works, a Michaelangelo statue, 2 Leonardo paintings etc etc etc..........quite stupendous. Our tour guide Elenna was so utterly knowledgable and never stopped pouring information into our ears, and was clearly  very proud of the work done at restoration during the last 20 years since Peristroyka. 

She lead us by the proverbial hand around the Church on the Spilled Blood, the very spot where Tsar Alexander 11 was murdered, showing us his shredded uniform, now in a glass box in the church. This is both macabre and a strong point to all those savage acts which took place during the 19th and  early 20th century. It is both interesting and perplexing that after the tragedies of the aristocrats, the communists went on to commit so many more acts of brutality......asking those sorts of questions to a young woman who barely knew either life seemed inappropriate !

We were taken to a fabulous hotel restaurant for lunch, The Golden Hotel where the restaurant was called the Feodor Dostoevsky restaurant. It was lavish , old and historical and very comfortable. Wine and beer came with lunch, which was Borscht followed by Chicken Kiev, and ending with sweet pastry desserts and coffee or tea. I ate everything of course and the numbers soared - but ...........

The highlight of my afternoon was the Yusapov Palace, where Prince Felix Yusapov became the head of the conspiracy to murder Rasputin. We visited the rooms where this mysterious and inexplicable thing took place as well as the large palace rooms which were so very like a British Victorian house, dark and red velvet with grand pianos liberally sprinkled throughout and the most exquisite private theatre, still in use today for concerts and recitals. It was quite different from the Imperial Palaces and the downstairs rooms where the young Felix and his wife Irena, niece to Tsar Nicholas, lived, it was claustrophobic and redolent with atmosphere. I felt that the young Irena may have felt that her first married home was gloomy and somewhat sinister.

The mock up in the actual room where Rasputin was poisoned, shot and stabbed was simply done - and the shot in the wall was clear to see. I shivered a little I must admit, and would not have cared to be in those apartments overnight ! It was terrific!

We had walked over 5 miles that day and literally fell into our cabins, stumbled up to the buffet and ate I know not what, after which we both retired to bed to soak in the day's adventures, elevate our aching legs and remember the riches of the day. 




Wednesday 20 September 2017

Pictures of St Petersburg


A taster of some of the wondrous places we have visited over the last two days - more to come......



The wonderful Winter Palace



St Isaac's Cathedral



The private theatre in the Yusapov Palace ( the place where Rasputin was murdered)



Traversing the waterways of 'the Venice of the North! 






The burial place of the last Tsar, Tsarina, and their children at the 
Enter and Paul Fortress




Monday 18 September 2017

Pictures of Tallinn


The dashing Greek captain !



The beautiful front of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral


The Cathedral through the lanes


Our lunch restaurant - note the huge boot !




Interesting architecture and a laden apple tree


Rusalka in all her glory



Day 5 Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn, Estonia 


Last night kate and I were invited to the Columbus Club cocktail party for Gold members of Cruise and Maritime! It was a drinks and canapés affair which we had decided to attend, but were unofficially dreading ! It turned out to be very low key and pleasant - the officers made a point of chatting with everyone, and our dashing Greek captain was dignified and charming, he is known to the crew as Silver Fox, and indeed was every inch a potential  Hollywood film star!  It was a new experience to me as I don't think I have ever been a member of that sort of ‘club’ before ! A £ to speak to me now !



We docked at Port of Tallinn at 11am this morning after a sunny sail up the Baltic Sea into the harbour. I watched the pilot jump from the pilot boat from directly under my cabin window, onto our ship in a very athletic sort of way and never for a moment looking as if he might end up in the drink ! It was a flat calm cruise into the berth even though it meant a 180 degree turn so we face the correct direction for sailing out later today !


A complimentary shuttle bus took us from the terminal to the centre of Old Town and the magnificent Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. I simply love the ornate style of the Russian Orthodox churches. They sparkle and glisten and are quite mystical in their ambience. Today the great alter area was quietly filled with local folk lighting candles, saying their own private prayers and then going about their daily business. This kind of normal drop in worship I find very comforting. No great show, no large body of worship, just ordinary folk alone with their their thoughts. A monk was quietly seated in a small corner seat, again just ‘getting on with the job’ as my nun friends say !


We then walked around the Old Town - so beautiful and charming in its soul. Tiny winding passages, cobble stones in lanes a thousand years old, and buildings with the ever present pastel Hanseatic colours. We had lunch in a small cafe which looked as old as Methuselah with large stone walls and a low ceiling. The Pea Purée soup with crispy bacon was to die for and the coffee was exquisite ! 


We had purchased tickets for the hop on hop off tourist bus which was a boon, as we were able to see some of the sights from the comfort of a warm inside cabin - it was sunny and crisp but windy and only 12 degrees. A perfect autumnal day in a perfect fairytale city. A large statue of Rusalka is by the harbour, but I haven't yet discerned whether it is the Dvorak Opera ‘Rusalka’ or a famous Estonian legend !? 


The harbour market was great as we walked back to the ship, and the crafts in embroidery and wood were gorgeous to behold. Much Juniper tree wood products were for sale which smelled heavenly and seemingly the pan stands release more scent of juniper when a hot dish is put upon one. Well I bought one, so we will see !


What a simply delightful city, long may it stay independent and safe from any type of invasion from not so cheery close neighbours !


Sunday 17 September 2017

Pictures of Warnemunde


Chimney Cakes



Gingerbread Houses



Hanseatic buildings  with the ever present buttery colour. Some very old buildings next door !




Columbus in all her glory


The eastern block railings - a left over from the GDR and to stop folk escaping by sea.....



Warnemunde



Warnemunde, Eastern Germany


We had garnered some extra time in Warnemunde due to missing Copenhagen- so every traveller’s cloud has a silver lining ! This meant we could have a leisurely morning in the sunshine on the deck, eat a buffet lunch al fresco before walking the gang plank and strolling into the beautiful centre of Warnemunde. 


It is a lovely town with mostly cobbled lanes and full of fairy tale dwellings which have a gingerbread house feel and shape. The centre of the town showed little of the eastern block utility apartment buildings, it really was a gorgeous and opera set kind of place. Nowadays the glorious buildings from the 16th/17th Century have been lovingly restored and are glistening clean in pastel pinks, blues and buttery yellows with typical German window boxes heaving with summer blooms. 


We found a wondrous coffee house which made a local delicacy that translated in English as ‘chimney cakes’ ! They were made in front of our eyes, and served hot and sticky, rolled in hazelnuts or cinnamon or indeed many other sweet meats. I could not eat a whole cake obviously, but I tried a smidgeon and it was cake from Elysium! K had a hot confection from the oven and I must say I was very jealous. I contented myself with a fresh peach as large as a small beach ball and a quarter of a punnet of local raspberries with an exquisite ‘lavender’ kick in the after taste, purchased fresh from the market stall.


The Lutheran Church was also a restored beauty with 14th carved statues and 15th century pews all installed in a newer shell, which we read was the fourth church building on that Kirchenplatz  site. I took no pictures in the church as it seemed inappropriate in such a working building, but it felt as it Handel might walk in at any moment, sit at the ancient but wonderfully renovated organ and play a rousing voluntary. 


We strolled back to our ship along the marina, bypassing a rather more garish German cruise ship full of very loud singing ! Earlier in the morning we had watched the people in long snaking queues on the marina path waiting to embark, and it had seemed so chaotic and undisciplined, so very un - German in fact ! The whole ship’s crew were clearly in for a lively voyage judging by the riotous shouting which could be heard from our ship docked on the next berth ! We were rather glad to be returning to the sedate and very British cruise ship Columbus! 


Dinner was another triumph of cordon bleu served with a healthy side of many green vegetables ! The sugar free dessert turned out to be a sugar free bread and butter pudding, so given the carbs in the three layers of bread I had to content myself with one small bite, but later enjoyed some rather fine 85% German chocolate when I rolled back to my cabin.


Yum.

Saturday 16 September 2017

Day 3 and 4



Due to the wagging tail of Storm Aileen we had an unexpected sea day when we should have been to Copenhagen. It was sad not to revisit this beautiful medieval city but much better to be safe than sorry, so we spent the day in a lazy way, reading, writing and consuming food. Along with those occupations I attended a couple of very interesting lectures. The first was a general talk covering all sorts of aspects of The Baltic Sea. It covered geology, geography, culture and history. I learnt quite a good deal about this part of the world which for most of last century has been somewhat closed to the world being part of the USSR. 


I even heard talk about small countries the size of Paradise which were previously unknown to me. Only one small state still belongs to Russia and that is decidedly walled, gated and probably has a lid in an effort to keep nosy foreigners out. It's name is Kaliningrad. 


Later in the day we had another lecture about the life and works of Carl Faberge - this was obviously to tie in with our St Petersburg visit and although not delivered with quite the panache other lectures have been, it was none the less very interesting with slides of the most incredibly beautiful artefacts which would dazzle the most jaded of eyes and hearts. 


Immediately after that we remained in the theatre to watch a film - the all new Dad’s Army. What a great movie it was, witty, slapstick, clever, poignant and true to the venerable old series of half a century ago. Indeed the vicar was the original vicar who, in view of his now great age, played a cameo role. It was very touching to see him in character. The only other ‘remainer’ was Ian Lavender who moved from the ‘stupid boy’ of the original series to playing a rather snooty and golf loving Brigadier. The new twist was the introduction of Elizabeth Mainwaring and her gallant troupe of ATS girls. They were splendid and with Alison Steadman as the redoubtable Mrs Fox it worked like a charm. With cast including Bill Nighy, Tom Courtney, Michael Gambon and the aforesaid Alison Steadman, how could it fail !




Quite entertained and totally relaxed we finished the day with another lovely dinner, and I must say they have now realised my need for a Carbohydrate Free meal ! Hurrah, I was thus brought my delicious and delicately cooked halibut with a positive basket load of green vegetables - it was tricky trying to explain I can eat those veggies which grow above ground !!


We dock at Warnemunde tomorrow, the port for Berlin, which is in fact three hours away, but some intrepid folk are making that journey ! We will potter off the ship after lunch into this ancient and beautiful small town which used to be in East Germany.


Over and out sir………….stupid boy ! 






Friday 15 September 2017

Some pictures......


Saying goodbye to Tilbury....

A ships Barista at work - what utter joy !



The result - long finished




Oh for a beautiful Grand like that one......brand new Yamaha........


Day One - The Great Baltic Adventure



We made it ! Our flight from Inverness was delayed around about two hours but as we were staying overnight in Horley the drama of a delay rather washed over us ! Delays have often meant stress and many logistical problems in my working life, at a festival if the adjudicator is unavoidably delayed, 600 people are waiting to listen or sing, and when I was teaching in London a delay resulted in two lessons being shunted to the end of the day and making another mad dash  to the train to get home. No more. We sat out the plane drama with a smile and a good coffee and ne’er a care on our shoulders.


On arriving at Gatwick Mark was waiting like a patient chauffeur to escort us to our hotel where we dropped off our bags then moved seamlessly to Xenia in Crawley. The Brazilian Steakhouse where you can (quote) eat not only as much delicious meat as you wish from skilfully sliced skewers, but as much as you can ! It was a challenge we all undertook with gusto and determination.


The hotel was basic, spotlessly clean and very close to Gatwick which was all a huge plus, and the next morning our taxi drove us speedily to Port of London at Tilbury. Over much of the Uk Storm Aileen was ravaging the countryside and so it had been affecting the sea conditions, so when we arrived we knew that our sailing was very delayed as the ship had not been able to navigate the Thames estuary, which was closed. Therefore Columbus was bobbing about off Margate at the mouth of the estuary until around 4pm in the afternoon. The whole of Cruise and Maritime head office had swung into action and by the time we arrived there was a lake of complimentary teas, coffees, snacks and bottled water, charming and permanently cheery young ladies keeping everyone happy and calm and thorough well micro managed plans ! They even brought me a chicken salad for lunch as the sandwiches were not much use to a low carb diabetic ! The service was quite magnificent and I will write a letter heaving with praise for the staff - we complain a good deal, but praise for a job well done often gets left off the agenda. 


At around 5pm after the fastest turn round I have ever experienced we were onboard. There were still folk waiting to disembark but the whole procedure of swapping one set of cruisers for another was totally smooth and problem free. We were ensconced in beautiful cabins with windows by 5.10 and exploring by 5.15 !


It is a ship which has had a few owners before Cruise and Maritime bought it, and although at the smaller end of cruising in terms of passenger numbers, it is decidedly upmarket with many smart lounges, squishy sofas and plush arm chairs, as well as its own coffee shop called Cappuccinos and the most delectable Spa I have seen - dare I say it is rather more pampering that the Queen Mary 2 Spa ! Is that blasphemous?


We dined quite early and were delighted with the food ( but really that goes without saying !) then waited for our luggage to arrive so we could unpack and thus feel totally settled in to our home for the next glorious 12 days ! There was the excellent Bridge of Spies movie in the Show lounge starting at 10.30pm and I was determined to watch it……..well at 11.45 I found my eyes were closing so had to accept defeat and miss the end ! It rather reminded me of that fantastic Jeremy Nicholas song The Usherettes Blues ! The poor old usherette has worked for 50 years or more and has missed ‘the end of every film I've seen!’ Sarah Walker the fabulous British mezzo often used it as an encore at the end of a recital and it always went down a storm ! I have taught it many times but sadly have always had to explain the film references to the last two bright young  generations of mezzos. Gone with the Wind, Spartacus, Cary Grant, Doris Day……..all past them by ! Someone needs to write the updated version using films about vampires and high school musicals !


Pictures to follow when the wifi is strong !! 

A domestic few days away preparing for next week..........Yorkshire Song School !

I just had a lovely, if fleeting visit to Sussex to see the family, and most enjoyable it was too. I flew on the early morning plane to Gatw...