Farewell Artemis

The strange thing about living on a cruise ship for two weeks, is that you live in a complete bubble. You don’t hear any news from the UK or around the world. You can get Sky News on one channel of the TV in your cabin, but personally, I can never get past the movie channels showing Leonardo di Caprio and George Clooney. They print a ‘Britain Today’ newssheet, but I never remember to pick one up from Reception. So during the 2-week cruise my Quartet just spent on P&O’s ‘Artemis’, the Queen could have passed away, or David Beckham lost a leg, for all I knew. (Matters of equal national importance of course). It was actually the last ever voyage of the Artemis, so a sad and historic occasion. It is quite startling how attached some people can become to a ship. There was a rush to purchase/steal any item bearing the name ‘Artemis’. Although, as far as I know, no-one managed a life belt.

We really enjoy the cruises we do; they are actually special classical music ones, called ‘Music Festivals at Sea’, and this one was hosted by John Brunning from Classic FM. We played Smetana’s Quartet ‘From My Life’ and gave a performance of the Elgar Piano Quintet with John Wilson. We also took part in a couple of group concerts with the rest of the music team, when we would play one of our Gershwin arrangements, I would play a solo like ‘Banjo and Fiddle’, and I even found myself playing Easter Parade (complete with bonnet!) with the wonderful tenor. We also fitted in a hornpipe (playing) and an Irish jig (playing and dancing!)

We enjoy having passenger cabins, and the way you wake up and your hotel room is in a different country every morning. You not only have someone to make your bed, but they leave a little chocolate on your pillow every night. (Although you have to be careful with that; a friend on this cruise did not notice the chocolate and slept on it. Bet he looked a right mess in the morning.)

And the 3-course meals with such nice bread rolls, that you end up eating 3 before you’ve even started. I challenged the music team to ‘The 7-Course Challenge’ on the last night. There are actually 7 courses offered on the menu if you go for soup AND starter, dessert AND icecream AND cheese. And there is always the bizarre curiosity they offer on the menu at the end. A savoury dish like Welsh Rarebit or sardines; AFTER you’ve had pudding and cheese. So the 7-Course Challenge stemmed from my wanting to know if anyone does actually order the last item. As I was warned before my first cruise; you go on as a passenger and leave as cargo. Natalia had to undo my dress halfway through course number 4.

The dressing for dinner every night can get rather exhausting after a while... it takes 30 minutes and 3 people to get me in and out of this dress because it is laced up the back. The rest of the quartet were losing the will to live. I have to confess some nights, craving to sit at home in my PJs with a bowl of pasta and Coronation Street. Speaking of which, the absolute highlight of the cruise had to be MEETING VERA DUCKWORTH!!! The lovely Liz Dawn was giving a talk on the ship. Lionel Blair also made an appearance, but I sadly never got to dance with him.

The excursions were fantastic. Trying my luck in the Monte Carlo Casino.

We spotted this fantastic poster for a quartet in Monaco.

Mallorca...

Where we sampled the local bakery.. and found a violin made from sugar...

We even went to Pompeii. Here's us in front of Vesuvius. (I seem to be seeing quite a lot of volcanoes this year.) I was most excited to see the dead dog I had to draw in a primary school project. And the rude paintings in the brothel which my Dad wasn’t allowed to see on a school trip in the early 60s. We are given the option of being an ‘escort’ on the excursions, (this is not connected to the previous sentence!) which would mean we don’t have to pay. But I’m terrified of losing someone – so I pay to not have the responsibility of counting people. I can then also concentrate on more important things like where to buy icecream.

I was delighted to discover we were in a country that served pizza by the metre! A 2000-year old pizza oven.

I always marvel at the people who don’t bother getting off the ship in the ports, but actually it is the only time you can read a book on deck without the wind blowing the pages over. And the only time you can swim in the pool without being sloshed out of the side like a goldfish.

In Rome my friends saw the pope, but I missed him because I was haggling over the price of a pink parasol. Priorities.

We sold lots of CDs – we have a CD signing on the last day. We make Bryony sit first in the line as her writing is so much nicer than mine! She writes the message then passes it along for our signatures.! I therefore also neatly avoid the problem of not understanding what name they’ve said we should write. Or it being some complicated Irish name with superfluous and silent consonants.

It was the most fun Easter Sunday I’ve had – we sang in ‘Jazz at Vespers’ with the wonderful Chris Walker Swing Quintet and then the Quartet set an Easter egg hunt for the 3 opera singers. Result: herd of musicians hurtling around the ship and consuming unholy amounts of chocolate. I had to lie down for an hour afterwards. Actually, what is the collective noun for musicians?

There is always the satisfaction of having converted some people to classical music. One man said he had previously ‘thought listening to classical music was like sticking hot pins in me eyes’, but admitted to quite enjoying our concert of Smetana.

So, 4 countries, 7 cities, 1000 miles, 7 concerts, 6 ball gowns, an Easter bonnet , an Irish jig, approximately 800 bread rolls, and a fling with an officer later, I am back on dry land. Who would know you could fit so much into a fortnight?

It is always hard coming home. You have to struggle back with too many bags (why DID I buy that pink parasol?) and then there is no one to serve you dinner. And although its nice to be back in a bed that doesn’t move, you never quite get over the disappointment of there not being a chocolate on your pillow.

Back on Terracotta

My friend came up with a fantastic term for some of the ridiculous things you hear people say on cruise ships: ‘cruisisms’. My favourite cruisism was when a lady on my ship was overheard saying ‘Do you know, I can’t WAIT until Tuesday, when we’ll be back on terracotta’.

Not to make you all jealous, but I have just come back from a trip to Hawaii, Mexico and LA with pianist Alison Farr.

Waikiki Beach..We learned all about the Hawaiian nose-flute. In Hawaiian, ‘Ha’ means ‘breath’, but it also means ‘spirit’. You play the flute with your breath, but lies can be told by the mouth, so they play through the nose to express the spirit.

Our concerts went without a hitch, except during one of my pieces, I had a downwards glissando which I executed perfectly, only to hear a lady in the audience say ‘whoops!’ Oh, and a man came up to me and said ‘I much prefer your hair in your publicity photo’. Another, ‘are you one of the dancers?’ And of course there was the all-time classic cruisism, which comes out every time; ‘does it matter where you put your fingers?’

We visited the world’s most active volcano, but were lucky because it erupted a few days later and lava shot 65 feet into the air just where we were standing!

In Hollywood, we saw Gershwin’s house, and the house where Michael Jackson died. (Is he really dead?)

And witnessed the strange things people do to their dogs.

On a tour of the Warner Brother’s studios, we got to sit on the sofa from ‘Friends’, and saw where the T-Rex had chased Jeff Goldblum. I love Hollywood. Also tried on the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter, but was concerned about my cabin-mate when it declared Alison a ‘Slytherin’!

On the plane on the way home, I realised I was playing on 3 of the recordings on the entertainment menu!

Some points we noticed about the USA.

• There is a profusion of small dogs in ridiculous outfits
• There are truly terrible sweets. Ever tried a Tootsie Roll? YUK! And what is the point of Twizzlers? We definitely do sweets better in the UK.
  
• Terrible television. Is actually exhausting to watch. There are ad breaks every 5 minutes, and the last sentence of the programme is sometimes curtailed in a hurry to get to the ads. There is no jingle to announce the ad breaks, and no announcer to start a new programme. So everything merges into one, and you have to really concentrate to work out that the drug for constipation has nothing to do with the plot of Sex and the City. Then, as you are relieved to find a full uninterrupted 30 minutes of TV programme, you realise its an ‘infomercial’ for a new hair-removal method. With interviews with doctors and scientific diagrams, it is more in depth than a David Attenborough documentary. And the phone number only comes at the very end, without a mention of the price!
• There are awful pharmaceutical adverts; ‘ask you doctor to prescribe you xxxx as your medication for prostate cancer’. Followed by a recall ad; ‘If you were prescribed yyyy as medication for prostate cancer, please consult your doctor immediately – it has been found to cause heartattacks and seizures’ The worst one was an advert recalling hip replacements; ‘if you had a ‘zzzz’ hip replacement, they have been found to be dangerous. They can cause dislocations and even breakages. If you have had one, please get in touch, as you will certainly need a new hip’. (Then, straight after; ‘ if you have been given a faulty hip replacement, then please call this number – you can SUE!’)
• Everyone wears trainers, but no-one walks anywhere.
• There are no bookshops anywhere in LA.
• Everyone is exactly the same shade of blonde.
• The number of calories is written next to every item on every menu, so you end up too scared to order anything.
• And a bizarre thought - my violin is older than the USA.

Back on terracotta..

I had great fun playing at the Asian music awards for Rumer. We each got given a goody bag afterwards, but found it only contained a packet of rice - microwaveable.

It is amazing where your music sometimes ends up – I heard myself on Dancing on Ice; http://entertainment.stv.tv/tv/237432-laura-hamiltons-headbanger-stuns-dancing-on-ice-judges/ and also on 'The Biggest Loser', a weight loss programme on ITV!

Also, I was delighted to find this poster all over Hollywood - I'm playing on the soundtrack.

Some quotes from a review which Alison and I got for a recent concert in Kingswood, Gloucestershire..

'Violinist Kerenza Peacock and pianist Alison Farr presented an interesting programme well suited to these surroundings. There was a full "house" and the audience was a most enthusiastic and obviously appreciative one'

(In Elgar's Violin Sonata) 'I shall remember those rich violin tones at the opening of the Romance section and the mercurial mood changes in the first and last movements'

'...a gripping performance from these two young, extremely talented performers... I enjoyed this recital immensely' By Donald Hollins

Playing Piazzolla’s ‘Oblivion’ recently at a TED conference at King’s Place, conducted by Goldie.

From Stradivarius to Stentor

My life’s ambition, aged 7, was to play on Top of the Pops. But just as I started to get asked to play for pop stars, they stopped making the programme. All was saved this Christmas, however, when they brought TOTP back to life for a Christmas special. I played for JLS, on Top of the Pops, shown on Christmas Day. I was glad to see I was on TV just before the Queen's speech – pity it was wearing a cross between a belly dancing outfit and a Xmas tree. I was the one coughing at the dry ice and jumping at the fireworks. The screaming of the fans was deafening, bordering on lunatic, and when one of the members of JLS came over to talk to me, I thought some of the girls in the front row were actually going to hurt me.

Also at age 7, it was my ambition to play a Stradivarius violin, and now my wish had come true. I was loaned one by the Royal Academy of Music, for a violin and piano recording I was making for Naxos, and some concertos I had around the same time. However combining a 17th century violin insured for £1 million, with a TV studio filled with dry ice and wires to trip over, is not a great idea. So, having spent the morning rehearsing on the Strad, I swapped it for a Stentor starter violin (worth £100) and headed to Top of the Pops. We were only miming so it made no difference! I left my flatmate baby-sitting the Strad and working out how to programme the video recorder.

I have been playing a lot of pop music recently - I am currently playing on 3 Pop albums in the Top 10, by Adele, Cee-Lo Green and Claire Maguire, and I led an orchestra at Abbey Road, for a very famous rockstar who has recently gone solo..

I was excited to be named on Paul Weller's latest album, 'Wake Up the Nation', especially when I heard it in my hairdressers. I did a concert with Claire Maguire in the Union Chapel, London. Just before it, I broke my E string, then my spare, and with 30 seconds to go before we were due on stage, I had to grab a violin from someone in another band!

This is me playing with Wired Strings and Claire.

In the Classical Charts, I was delighted that Eric Whitacre's 'Light and Gold' album, featuring the Pavao Quartet, hit number 1 in the UK and the USA simultaneously.

January was quite stressful; I had to record a concerto, sonata and horn trio for Naxos, learn 5 Vivaldi concertos, play Bartok’s 4^th Quartet and do my tax return. In all the snow and ice, I wondered what I should do if I had to make a split second decision whether to break a Strad or a wrist.

The guy at my local Tube station has asked me religiously every day for 7 years, 'Is that one of them Strads on yer back?' So as soon as I was loaned this violin for 2 months, I eagerly trotted off to the Tube every morning, dying for him to ask me so I could finally say , 'YES!'..... and he didn't ask once.

This is me playing the Four Seasons on the Strad in St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square.

Someone wrote this review on their blog

'As I listened to Kerenza Peacock solo in THE FOUR SEASONS, playing the Royal Academy of Music’s Stradivarius, I couldn’t help but watch the audience. Being on the front row of the balcony, I could see the entire audience. There was not a person moving or yawning. It was an amazing feeling being in a room where 300 people were all focused on the same thing at the same time. It was almost surreal. The Strad was like the voice of angels. The cellist and the solo violinist had eye contact throughout, and I had the glorious advantage of watching this exchange. It was like being right inside theie heads. I paid particular attention to the violists whose contributing strings made the music rich and baroque. But the solo violinist Kerenza Peacock and her Stradivarius will be with me for a long time.' http://blog.londonconnection.com/?p=13910

And I will leave you with a notice that was on the wall at a recent Pavao Quartet concert.

Angelina the Hairy Sheep

I enjoyed a cruise to the USA and Canada in September, playing with pianist Alison Farr. Alison got married a couple of weeks later, and I was her bridesmaid, so we treated this as a hen cruise! I also celebrated my birthday - this is us sailing into Newfoundland on my birthday with champagne.

Then the music team went on a trip which involved port-tasting and wine-tasting!

Both keen knitters, we managed to find a wool shop in every port, with wool from the local sheep.

One shop in St John’s Canada, had many balls from a specific sheep, called ‘Angelina’. Apparently, Angelina is very hairy. The lady in the shop was very helpful. She was in the middle of knitting a white silk shawl for her wedding; to cover up the tattoos which her family didn’t know about!

A knitted map of the USA!

We even managed to find one wool shop that was also a sweet shop! Heaven! Except, heaven was shut.

When we arrived in New York, we docked right in the middle, a short walk from Times Square. It took a long time to get into the country though; I ended up knitting in the immigration queue.

We visited the Met Museum and discovered their very interesting musical instrument collection. This is me with a peacock lute.

And, more excitingly, Ringo Starr's gold drum!!

We played the wonderful Violin Sonata by Elgar, and also the little-known Sonata by Nino Rota. He wrote the music for the original Godfather. Our very faithful audience forfeited the ‘Chocaholics’ event that was going on in the restaurant, for that one. It’s a good job I didn’t know it was happening, or I would have deserted the stage in favour of the chocolate fountain.

Time to pack again - shutting the suitcase at the end of a cruise is always a nightmare.

My favourite thing from the USA - we found this in the bookstore at Harvard.

Pavao Quartet Newsletter

NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2010

Dear friends,

We hope you are all wrapped up warm and enjoying the lead-up to Christmas. We feel we are well prepared this time, having prematurely posted our letters to Santa Claus in Greenland last June,

on another magical P&O cruise that took us to Iceland, Greenland and Norway and even into the Arctic Circle! As well as playing quartets, we found ourselves bathing in the Blue Lagoon, kayaking down fjords and sailing amongst icebergs.

Appropriately, our Christmas Collection has recently become available to download on iTunes, along with our ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Elgar and Bax’ albums.

The last few months have seen us eagerly watching the classical charts– we’ve been at No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic with Eric Whitacre’s album Light and Gold; we also feature on an album for Classic FM called The Guitarist, which we recorded with our friend Craig Ogden in the summer. There was much excitement when the two appeared at No. 1 in different UK charts simultaneously.

We’re thrilled that Classic FM are giving us our very own Artists’ Page on their website – so have a look soon on Classicfm.co.uk.

Last month we were honoured to play at a breast cancer charity event at Harrods, hosted by Elizabeth Hurley. As always our Christmas album is available from Amazon - £1 per sale goes to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

If you’re watching Rick Stein’s latest cookery series, have a listen out for us! This is the third series for which we’ve recorded the incidental music.

We recently enjoyed recitals in Sittingbourne and Basingstoke and are currently getting stuck into learning Bartok 4 for a recital in Haslemere in January. Before then we have Christmas concerts coming up in London at St. Martin in the Fields, and St James', Piccadilly, on 17^th and 18^th December.

From January, Jen will be taking 6 months off on maternity leave for her second child, due on Valentines’ Day!

Next year holds much in store, including a return trip to the Mussenden Temple in Ireland as well as playing on the last ever voyage of P&O’s Artemis in April.

Wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year,

Love

Bryony, Natalia, Jenny and Kerenza