Lockdown Concert Time! SAVE THE DATE!

I’m getting ready for a concert on Thursday, November 19, 7:30pm GMT. Practise, practise, practise as my beloved teacher used to say. late night, early morning – whenever I can fit it in.

Every year I give a recital and every year it is significant for me in some way. Last year I documented a journey with an absolutely epic piece of repertoire and presented every day’s progress in images, words, and audio-visual clips alongside the live performance. This year the repertoire is far more mainstream. I’ll be playing Brahms (F Major sonata), Shostakovich sonata, Bloch Prayer, and an absolutely delicious and sentimental piece Musica Nostalgica by Schnittke.

What’s different this time?

Well, there’s a pandemic, and the closest I’ve been to other musicians lately has been this:

Yes, that’s about 15 feet away. *sigh*

After the absence of people for so long, I cannot express how absolutely wonderful it is to play with someone. You can see that in the smiles in the images above, and I want to share the music. I want to tell the story of whatever there is. See, there’s magic in music. It doesn’t have a set script like these words I type. Well, these classical pieces do have printed scores, with very specific notes to play, but how you listen, hear, and feel the music is entirely personal. Sometimes words fail, and in music you can go somewhere – wherever you want to go, maybe where you need to go, maybe somewhere you’ve never gone – to see, experience, know something else.

Maybe for a few minutes, I can take you with me. and with is a very nice idea in this strange time of separation.

There will be no audience at the event. It will be streamed. It’s free. Only me, Ben Hall (my accompanist- he’s in the pictures above), and the cameras. It may be a different way of presenting a concert, but you know what – different doesn’t mean impossible. -It’s another of those times I think yes, I can.

The pictures above are from our rehearsal of the Shostakovich. Spontaneous smiles. There is nothing better than playing with a friend, whether you are 5 or 50. -a tiny comment cellists will understand: The top right picture was just before the technical bit on the top of p2 mvt 4. I never would have guessed a smile like would come over me before that section, but it was just *so* nice to play together, some rainbows leaked out.

Join us:

Thursday November 19, 7:30 pm GMT

Link: https://chiplayer.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=becef0de-248a-4345-a8c8-ac5d0093a590

SAVE THE DATE! and invite a friend 🙂