..less than a week to go before our choir are off to Portugal to repeat the Mahler 8 concert with a diffierent orchestra! Watch here for more news from next Wednesday.
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And the tour goes on without the Orchestra…
Whilst the players were arriving back home our loyal supporters were gearing up for another day of sightseeing and a special evening with the British Ambassador to the Czech Republic and her husband. The dinner was given on the top floor of a spectacular new tower ..look it up on www.aureole.cz but what you won’t see there is the thing which fascinated the group most….the toilet facilities! Without exception everyone paid a visit to see the amazing sliding black marble doors…and the amazing wall of water urinals with real flowers at the bottom which put the famous Philharmonic Pub one into oblivion! Aside from this amazing feature, the food was sumptuous and Milena excelled again in finding such a splendid location.
A meal with friends in Prague, the Ambassador is at front of the group.
Ken Grundy made surprise “Long service awards”, presented by the Ambassador, to seven members of the group who have been travelling with Maestro since they started to tour with the RLPO. Each were given a Czech glass medal to mark the occasion, which was presented by the British Ambassador at the dinner in Prague.
Left to right... Beryl and Geoffrey Carr, Pam Brooks, Ron and Josephine Le Blanc, Lorna Dobson, Lady Grenfell-Baines (Milena) and at the back, Ken Grundy - Managing Director of Maestro Travel and Touring.
Three players who were enjoying an extended stay also joined the dinner, with leader James Clark chatting at length to the Ambassador who had once trained as a violinist.
The boundless energy of these hardened “groupies” never cease to amaze….and they are already planning their next trips before they return to the UK.
Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Posted in Sandra's Tour Diary, Tour Updates
Ready for the home match..
The two main groups of players arrived safely back at lunchtime today, exhausted after an extremely early start in Prague with a 0530 breakfast for the first group. Well done to all on the tour for another successful visit to Prague…and news from backstage is that a 10th visit is already being hatched but details to follow later on that one!
Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Posted in Sandra's Tour Diary, Tour Updates
Bye bye Bucharest, hello Prague.
Two Ambassadors, Rising Spires and song from Vasily.
Prague is a magical place and the RLPO has the closest connection to this romantic east European city more than any other UK orchestra as it is now visiting here for the ninth time since 1988. So much has changed since their inaugural visit when visas had to be applied for and written out by hand in triplicate using carbon paper…no mistakes allowed. Then the Velvet Revolution swished it’s way over central Europe, leaving more open access for hoards of new visitors to come.
Now the beauty remains, along side some uncouth advertising of course, but thankfully walking the city streets and squares at night it is easy to understand why Prague is still able to grip new admirers with the stunning rising spires and towers that permeate the thrilling skyline.
Joining us on this tour are our friends and supporters who are travelling on a Maestro Travel & Tours holiday. There are various splinter groups, some who have taken on the whole itinerary and are veterans of the thirty plus tours we have done since I started managing Phil tours at the end of the 80s. Some skipped Bucharest to come directly here to Prague. For our players it is a joy to recognise our home supporters in the audience and Vasily always makes sure he finds time to say hello and give a photo opportunity while they are here. Ken Grundy, the master of Maestro arrives in town tonight for the end of the RLPO tour and I have been invited to stay on with them and will give a talk about the “Back stage notes for touring” at their dinner tomorrow night to be attended by another British Ambassador…the second in a week!
The meal with the Maestro travel group in Bucharest
Last Friday night Maestro hosted a dinner in Bucharest with British Ambassador to Romania, Mr Martin Fergus Harris OBE and his wife Linda. He talked at the end of the dinner about his personal experiences in the Eastern bloc. The dinner provided a chance for the RLPO “backstage team”, Chair of the Board Lorraine Rogers, Chief Executive Michael Eakin, Vasily and myself, to be able to rotate between courses around the tables and meet all of the group. There was a surprise in store for Judy King when a dessert arrived with candles and everyone burst into “Happy Birthday” with Vasily’s deep Russian bass voice clearly heard underneath!
Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Posted in Sandra's Tour Diary, Tour Updates
Trucking Out!
It’s been a day of moving on. Several of us left the tour today and returned home as the orchestra travelled on to Prague for their final concert of the tour on Tuesday evening. Head of Programming, Sandra Parr was the forward party, travelling ahead of the orchestra to Prague on Sunday morning. After the concert on Sunday night, our redoubtable platform/truck team did the get-out, negotiating the perilous-looking scissor lift out of the venue to load our truck with instruments before setting off on the 600 mile -plus drive to Prague. All are now safely gathered in and enjoying an evening off in the beautiful city of Prague before Tuesday’s day of rehearsals and a concert.
An advert for a CD signing with Vasily in Bucharest
Sunday evening’s concert in Bucharest, with guest soloist Alexei Volodin, brought the house down! Well in fact it brought the sold-out audience of near-on 4000 to its feet with rapturous applause and cheering! After courteously negotiating his way through the melee of well-wishers and autograph hunters crowded outside his dressing room at the end of the concert, Vasily went on to do a CD signing, to be met by another enthusiastic crowd of people buying Liverpool Philharmonic CDs and wanting the Maestro’s signature as a memento of a fantastic night in Bucharest. A great conclusion to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s debut concerts in Romania.
photos by Mark McNulty
Jayne Garrity, Head of Communications
Posted in Jayne's Tour Diary, Tour Updates
Media Whirl
Catherine Jones, arts editor of the Liverpool Echo is travelling with us for the Bucharest leg of the tour, covering it for both the Liverpool Echo and sister paper, Liverpool Daily Post in their print and online editions. Liverpool photographer Mark McNulty is also here documenting the Bucharest leg.
On arrival in Bucharest on Friday , Catherine, Mark and I were escorted by the very helpful Irina and Alexandra to the press hotel, 5 mins down the road from orchestra hotel and opposite the hotel where our group of travelling supporters are staying. 15 minutes after checking in lthe 3 of us were escorted to the press office, duly handed press packs and guides to the City, with Catherine also bagging an interview. We’d already discussed things she wanted to cover to give colour to the pieces she’ll be writing so it was great to get one tick in the box almost immediately.
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra members, including conductor Vasily Petrenko, outside the Palace Grand Hall, Bucharest - photo by Mark McNulty
During rehearsal the following day, Mark McNulty recc’ed the vast hall for vantage points to get the best photographs of the concert. Anyone who’s seen Mark’s work with the orchestra on tour will know that his photographs really do tell the story brilliantly so look out for them on our website and on Mark’s too.
A UK freelance journalist is amongst the many international media representatives over here covering the festival and was at last night’s concert. He is, in his own words ‘a CBSO man’ reviewing our Birmingham colleagues for the local paper of that city. Seeing him this morning at breakfast, he made a point of coming over to say that he thought our concert last night was fantastic, so much better than than the Vienna Phil concert the night before, with our band playing with real personality, with an encore (Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 1) that was the ‘icing on the cake!’ He was nabbed at the end of the concert by Romanian National Radio who were broadcasting the concert live, along with Romanian National TV, and told us that he was equally effusive in his praise to them of our concert!
A French TV production company is also here making a documentary for France’s Mezzo TV channel, about the Enescu Festival, and focussing in particular on the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s two concerts here (we’re not sure why exactly, but no complaints!). Last night, the crew were back stage ‘shadowing’ Vasily (who spent breaks between rehearsals moving seamlessly from one interview or photo call to another) as well as the back stage activity pre-concert. We’re intending to get footage of the finished documentary in due course, as well as what we can from Romanian TV.
The final applause after the Orchestra’s concert in the Palace Grand Hall, Bucharest - photo by Mark McNulty
People often ask why tour, what’s the point, why not stay at home. Having been on several tours with the Orchestra in the last couple of years, I can see now just how important it is in developing the players’ musicianship together as they handle the demands of playing repertoire in different concert halls with different acoustic and dynamics. Just as importantly, when you hear and see a response from the 4000 people who heard our concert last night, and see the media interest in Vasily and the Orchestra, touring is really building the international profile of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and for Liverpool too – the orchestra is a unique ambassador for all the good stuff the city has to offer!
Just seen our trumpeter Brendan Ball having his photo taken with Jean-Claude Van Damme! Check out Brendan’s blog!
Jayne Garrity, Head of Communications
Posted in Jayne's Tour Diary, Tour Updates
Bizarre breakfast!
Here in Bucharest the city is buzzing… so many musicians and so many concerts going on. So meeting the Labeque sisters and pianist-conductor Jean-Bernard Pommier at breakfast is not so unusual… but sitting opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme with his tiny, tiny dog was quite surreal though! He was spotted by Julian Munro, our eagle-eyed orchestra manager who was obviously competing with the Chair of our Board, Lorraine Rogers, who spotted Bryan Ferry last night! Yes we are here for the concerts really but it does have the air of St.Tropez with the sun and the stars out here!
I snapped this while Michael and Vasily were busy trying to retrieve the football scores during teatime before the concert in Bucharest.
The concert last night was a great success with a full capacity audience of some 4000 people. The concert has been televised, and the lighting for the filming meant our musicians were literally melting under the lights on stage.
Some of our players have apparently gone to play football …. led astray of course by the Maestro himself. Let’s hope that there will not be any injuries later!
Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Posted in Sandra's Tour Diary, Tour Updates
Unloading via extremely s l o w scissor jack lift!
Van arrived in the early hours and after a few hours sleep the next challenge… can the truck and trailed fit into the loading bay? After careful negotiating the unload can start but all the instruments have to be taken up two floors by a very slow lift…it will take about three hours to get this completed before we are ready to rehearse. There are five violin and viola boxes, 8 cellos, 6 basses, various wind and brass boxes, all the percussion boxes, several timpani in flight cases, 4 wardrobe boxes, music boxes (thankfully music stands are provided here), celeste, harp, and various other boxes containing the various spares carried in case of any need for repairs en route.
Platform Manager Ian Doran with the RLPO truck outside the Palace Grand Hall, Bucharest
Vasily has been for his morning run long before most were even contemplating breakfast. Those who did get to breakfast found a fantastic menu and a chance to swap stories about who ate where last night and where to find the best deals.
Yes, it is a warm 28 degrees here this morning….but not very comfortable when having to work. Temperature swings are not good for the instruments so players are heading over to the venue early to check over their own instruments.
Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Posted in Sandra's Tour Diary, Tour Updates
Close to midnight and the truck is still to arrive…
So the first day has gone well… except for the small niggle, the absence of the truck! Our terrific team of drivers are still ploughing their way across Easterm European roadways and will now arrive in the small hour of tonight in search of a rewarding and well deserved cold beer… or two… or three…
Palace Grand Hall, Bucharest Romania
Tonight our supporters enjoyed a lovely dinner in the company of the delightful British Ambassador and his wife. One unexpected hitch… the Mosquitos. Having not had much sun in the UK recently we thought summer had gone and the antihistamines put away… sadly those vulnerable to bites are finding ankles being bitten by these pesky little horrors.
Looks like tomorrow might be a scorcher… at least by UK standards.
Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Posted in Sandra's Tour Diary, Tour Updates
Safely arrived in Bucharest
Safely arrived at the hotel in Bucharest… the Vienna Phil are staying here too so we are in good company! This hotel very good with free wifi, hooray!
The sun and heat are welcome after the British summer, though of course we are not dressed for it. Making the most of the fine evening, the hotel pool now full of sticky RLPO personnel.
The canny tourists in the party have already headed off with guidebooks in hand as it is a free night tonight, a rare occurrence on tour.
Meanwhile, spare a thought for our heroes on the instrument van, they are now sadly behind schedule owing to border hold ups and poor road conditions and may have to drive here overnight. Bang goes their beer nightcaps tonight!
Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Posted in Sandra's Tour Diary, Tour Updates