Kerenza's Blog

Farewell Artemis

2011-05-16T22:10:00.011+01:00

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

2011-04-02T18:18:00.009+01:00

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

2011-03-30T11:45:00.011+01:00

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

2011-03-30T11:40:00.028+01:00

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

2010-12-04T00:34:00.015Z

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

Barber Concerto sponsored by Rentokil

2010-09-23T23:52:00.008+01:00

As I was practising for a recent performance of the Barber Concerto, I came across some of the disgusting things about violin playing they never warn you about in music college. Just as I was leaving my flat to go to my concerto rehearsal, I did something I’ve never done before. I decided to check that my spare bow was in good working order. I picked it out of the case…and to my horror, all the hairs had fallen off!! ALL! It looked like someone had cut the hair. Not panicking, I went to my spare case to get another spare bow. But the same thing happened with that, and a third!! All the hairs were hanging off. Trying to stay calm, I rang a violin shop and they informed me that my bows had ‘bow bugs’ or, basically, nits. The microscopic creatures love organic hair, and if you don’t touch a spare bow for months, and keep it in the dark, they just start munching their way across the hair! And other bows can catch them, if you leave them alone together. Bow STDs. I was told that the only thing I could do is fumigate my case with fly spray. The only bow left intact in my flat was a plastic bright pink one my Quartet bought me for my last birthday. I was running late for my train, so sprayed some fly spray in my case and prayed that my main bow would hold out, as I did not fancy reading the reviews if I played the Barber Concerto with a pink bow.

The tricky passage in the last movement was now the least of my worries. I just had to hope my main bow hadn’t caught nits, and didn’t collapse mid-performance. Luckily, my bow stayed in one piece, and I felt much relief as the final chord echoed across the hall. Accompanied by a faint whiff of fly spray.

I have discovered I’ve made it into ‘Q’ Magazine. There was a picture of me playing in the Royal Albert Hall with Noel Gallagher, with 8,000 Oasis fans singing along to Wonderwall. (photo saying Wired Strings). There were hundreds of Oasis fans waiting outside and to my surprise, I had several offers of sex as I left the stage door. This never happens when I play at the Proms.

I did play in a Prom this year with the Philharmonia. I also played with them in Buckingham Palace. To get through Palace security, we were asked to bring a passport and a utility bill, for proof of address. I took the only bill I could find in my flat, and entered Buckingham Palace with a Final Demand water bill. Prince Charles came and chatted to the orchestra afterwards and enquired if I liked the acoustics in the Palace Ballroom. I replied that I think they might be improved if the thick red carpet was removed, and he agreed; I can’t believe I gave my opinion on the interior design of Buckingham Palace.

This summer, I followed my boyfriend (percussionist Colin Currie) to the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, USA. He was performing the Jennifer Higdon Concerto (which won a Grammy this year!) in the final concert of the Festival. The orchestra was fantastic; some of the best players from orchestras all over the States. Their regular orchestras have finished for the season, and the players all love coming to spend 7 weeks of their summer in the mountains, 6, 000 metres above sea level, playing some great repertoire with conductor Donald Runnicles. Apart from a singer requiring an oxygen mask before a performance, due to the altitude, the Festival had been a great success, and Colin’s performance even got a standing ovation in the dress rehearsal. They have these great open rehearsals over there, where you get a coffee and a doughnut afterwards! Jennifer Higdon was there with us, and we got a private tour of the National Park with our very own ranger! Here's me with Ranger Mike.

After the hot Wyoming weather, it was refreshing to get off the plane and head straight to the Proms queue to sit in on the pavement in the rain. We watched our friend Huw Watkin’s brand new violin concerto played at the Proms. It’s so great that you can watch such great music for a fiver!

Eric Whitacre’s CD ‘Light and Gold’ is launched on September 20th. My Quartet (the Pavao Quartet) are playing on it. After we finished playing in the launch concert, we were asked if we would play the handbells in the last piece with the choir. I was placed on the front row of the balcony, handbell in each hand; I was landed with the biggest ones, F# and G#, which I could barely lift. The handbells don’t come in until near the end, by which time my hands were so sweaty with nerves that I was scared one of my bells would slip out of my hand, killing someone below. The house lights were down, so I couldn’t see the music, and wasn’t entirely sure which bell was G#. The moment came, a dramatic pause and Eric turned to the balcony to conduct us. The hall was filled with important people from the recording industry, who all shuffled round in interest to see what was about to occur on the balcony. He gave the upbeat for my first solo G#, I raised my handbell and…. total silence! The note didn’t speak. In my fear of dropping the bell over the balcony, I hadn’t rung it hard enough, and there was an embarrassing silence (broadcast on Classic FM) until someone rescued me with the next note. Then on the way to the dressing room I dropped the handbell on my foot. I should really stick to playing the violin.

The Week I Met Steve Reich, and lost my Pom-Pom.

2010-02-28T16:39:00.011Z

I went to watch the Colin Currie Group perform Steve Reich’s ‘Drumming’ in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Fantastic piece and incredible performance. Steve Reich was there and bounded on stage at the end to give Colin a massive hug and call him ‘a revelation’. I feel this is the equivalent of me meeting Kylie, and her admiring my work, however Colin did not hyper-ventilate and managed to stay composed and eloquent throughout the post-concert talk. (See previous postings. And only joking Mum; of course I do not really consider Kylie in same league as Great Musicians.) Afterwards, Colin introduced me to Steve backstage. Unfortunately, I was holding a bottle of beer at the time (sorry Mum. Again.)

He admired my handbag. It is made from 2 LPs sewn together with leather. You can see it in this photo (sorry about the red eyes. This was taken in the Buddakan restaurant, New York. I had embarrassed myself by walking down the stairs saying ‘O my goodness – isn’t this where they have the wedding dinner in the Sex and the City Movie?!’, only to find there was a lull in the hubbub of conversation and everyone had turned to stare at the strange English girl who appeared to be wearing an LP) Anyway, I bought the bag from Camden market and the LPs say ‘CPE Bach’. I always feel I have to explain that the alternative was ‘Des O’Connor’s Greatest Hits’, and I thought CPE Bach had more street cred.

But of course Steve is from the USA and had obviously never heard of Des. So that’s how I came to have the surreal experience of trying to describe Des O’Connor to the world’s greatest living composer.

I did apologise for not thinking ahead and sticking a Reich LP on top, but Steve said not to worry, ‘I haven't made it into handbags’!

Colin Currie with Steve Reich.

The next morning I was playing with the BBC Concert Orchestra. We were being conducted by Sue Perkins, who won the ‘Maestro’ Competition on the TV. She was actually very good, considering she’s had no formal training and only a few lessons. The concert was a sell-out in the Chichester Festival Theatre, and she had the hard job of conducting AND presenting the concert.

I heard the great news that Classic FM in the Netherlands like our Dreaming CD so much, that they have added 2 tracks from it to their playlist. The Pavao are gradually taking over the world’s airplay. Apparently we were also played on Radio 2 on Valentine’s Day. They played ‘Tonight’s the Night’, which is a track from the ‘Lost Gershwin’ album we made with Victoria Hart. You can hear the track here, and also watch a video where she describes me as liking ‘all things pink and fluffy’!!

So we had the final episodes of Popstar to Operastar. Here is a photo of our esteemed panel. I got to play ‘Bat out of Hell’ with Meatloaf. I’m not sure it’s what Rugeri had in mind when he made my violin in 1680.

In the Final, I think they got a bit over-excited with the dry ice.

At one point, I couldn’t see my music, or the rest of the orchestra! I sneakily took this photo from my chair. Does this ever happen at Covent Garden? I managed to develop a new technique with my earphones during the final rehearsals. They had previously kept falling down the back of my chair when I wasn’t using them, so I kept them secure by tucking them under my bra-strap instead. I found it slightly ironic that after 25 years of dedicated viewing, I was missing the live episode of Eastenders, because I was also live on TV, but on the wrong channel. At the aftershow party, I managed to thank Alan Titchmarsh for playing our Pavao Quartet CDs on BBC Radio 2 so much. He said he likes them so much that he plays them at home too! He also said he’d try and play them this week or next, so listen out!

We performed for the first time as the Pavao Octet on Monday. It was for a memorial service in Christ’s Church, Spitalfields. We played several opera arias with some fantastic singers, listened to Tracey Emin give a speech, and then got to play along with a Big Band, during the background music at the end. There was some fantastic food going around, and we didn’t want to miss out on dessert, so a cellist went off to grab us some chocolate puddings to eat in our bars’ rest!

That night, I got a last minute phone call to join the BBC Concert Orchestra the next day. It was recording Friday Night is Music Night in BBC TV Centre. I enjoyed the medley of TV themes, including Emmerdale and Steptoe and Son, and was ashamed that I recognized all of them. We also played the music that always follows the shipping forecast. I always wanted to have a go at playing that, as the original is so out-of-tune! I had an embarrassing incident; I was sporting leg-warmers with pom-poms attached, but realised I had lost one. One of the members of the orchestra came up to me in the break and presented me with my missing pom-pom, which he had found in the middle of Studio One, saying ‘This can only be yours’. O dear, do I have such a reputation for knitwear?

The Pavao Quartet have been booked for some solo spots in Friday Night is Music Night on the 21^st April. I think we will be playing movements of Elgar and Bax, as well as one of our Gershwin arrangements.

After a recording session for singer Clare Maguire, and a fun play-through of quartets at a friends house, where I ended up sight-reading two Beethoven Quartets, and the last movement of the Barber Concerto arranged for string quartet (!), I thought I deserved a treat, so I went to Ronnie Scotts on Friday. I saw Joe Locke, (amazing vibraphone player), Geoffrey Keezer (who played the INSIDE of the piano, and made it sound like a Spanish guitar) and Tim Garland. (I played with him a few years ago with the Dominic Alldis jazz ensemble).

Then yesterday, I joined the Trafalgar Sinfonia and Barts Chamber Choir for a performance of the Messiah in St Martin-in-the-Fields. Can anyone help with the questions which occurred to me halfway through the concert? Who was St Martin? And why was he in The Fields?

Priests and Pyramids

2010-02-09T14:25:00.027Z

Many thanks to all of you who have emailed in over the last year, asking where my blog has gone. I promise to start writing more regularly again, but just in case you are wondering what has been happening in the meantime, (and are really bored with some time to kill), I will tell you the story of the last 18 months. They have included 150 concerts, 70 towns visited, 24 new pieces learnt, 14 countries, 49 different beds slept in, over 50 hours in recording studio, a Quartet baby, some dolphins, three priests, two rock stars, one Pyramid and me running off stage mid-concert in St David’s Hall, Cardiff; but more of that later…

Just after my last entry, our Quartet played as part of a group called Wired Strings, for a Paul Weller concert at the BBC. My brother came to watch, and managed to get on camera more than us, much to my parents’ amusement. During the rehearsals, Weller not only made the tea, but even ran off to buy us ice cream from a passing van; how to keep 12 girls happy. Here's a link to one of the songs on YouTube. If you look very carefully at 2mins20, there is a close-up of me (!).
I then played with him again shortly afterwards, this time just a part of a quartet, for a BBC Hub session at Maida Vale studios. He was joined by Adele for some duets. Paul Weller and Adele

I played in the orchestra for an Ian Fleming gala at the London Palladium, hosted by his two daughters. I got to see Roger Moore and a whole host of old (literally) Bond girls. I even had a brief chat with Daniel Craig, who had his arm in a sling, after an accident on the set of the latest Bond film, before he was dragged off (by his bad arm) by his girlfriend, who looked as though she could have done with a good square meal.

Our Pavao CD with Victoria Hart, ‘The Lost Gershwin’, was released. Click here to buy it from HMV; We performed some tracks from it at a launch party in Madame JoJo’s in Soho, and also performed it on This Morning. I had always wanted to meet Fern and Philip!

We did a performance of the whole album in Café de Paris and then left to go on a cruise to the Caribbean the next day. I stayed up all night trying to pack and do my laundry, using my music stand to dry my underwear, and trying unsuccessfully to steam the creases out of my concert dresses in the bathroom.

It’s always precarious playing on a cruise ship; you are scared to lift your bow off the string, as you can’t guarantee you’ll make contact with it again, due to the motion of the ocean. But our recitals were a success, and in between we got to go on all the trips. We went snorkelling with turtles (I accidentally sat on one when it swum up underneath me; I don’t know who was more startled), snorkelled over a volcano which gives off ‘champagne’ bubbles and swam off a yacht to the famous Barbados beach where the celebs all go (apparently Pavarotti used to do his vocal warm-ups whilst taking his morning stroll!). I also went on one of the famous Madeira wooden sledges, went on a boat ride and spotted whales, we trekked through the rainforest (trek might be the wrong word as the average age of our group from the ship was 75), swam in a waterfall and sunned ourselves on top of a yacht. And most exciting of all; we swam with dolphins!!
Although, even after all that, playing the Brahms piano quintet was the best bit…I love that piece.

Just after the cruise, we went off to take part in the Tromp festival in Eindhoven, Holland. Upon our arrival we were presented with a festive ‘Santa sack’ containing all sorts of goodies including a large ‘P’, for Pavao, made out of chocolate, and immediately decided we loved the Dutch. There was even a set of playing cards featuring every musician in the festival. It snowed very heavily …

I went shopping one day; I was delighted to find clothes with sleeves and trouser legs long enough for me, as all Dutch seem to be tall. However, when trying to pay with my credit card in one shop, they would not accept it without my passport. I didn’t have it with me, but they insisted they needed proof of ID. Just as I was about to give up, and leave without my shopping, I had a brainwave. I reached into my handbag and showed them my photo on a Pavao CD instead - and it worked! The 2 shop assistants laughed and said they were going to listen to our Quartet on MySpace when they got home!

When we arrived home, it was Christmas 2008 and we had a bunch of Pavao Quartet Christmas concerts..in a barn in Oxfordshire, a church in Belfast and an arts and crafts gallery in the Lake District. Back in London we performed for the Chelsea Women’s Club, gave a Christmas concert in a church in Chiswick in aid of the Congo victims and took part in the 9 lessons and carols at St Georges in Hanover Square with Judi Dench. Adele also put on a Christmas concert at the Roundhouse in Camden, and I played in her band. Here’s a photo of her band all wearing santa hats.

It’s unusual for me to accept work on New Year’s Eve, but this one sounded fun; I went to Castle Leslie in Ireland and played as part of the Wired Strings group for Enya. It was a live broadcast for Japanese TV, and we had to have our hair and make up done at 7am, ready for a noon broadcast in which we were miming (pizzicato!) to the middle section of one of Enya’s songs, as it turned midnight in Japan! We got to stay in Castle Leslie, (although haunted) and still be back to London in time for the evening.

2009 started with a spate of Quartet recitals for music clubs, in Letchworth, Newton Abbot, Dillington, Teeside and a packed-out lunchtime concert in Kendal Town Hall, in the Lake District. We were declared heroes for making it there despite the snow.

Tugging the Heartstrings

On the recent infamous ' White Monday', a couple of days before their engagement as guests of the Kendal Midday Concert Club, it seemed that the Pavao String Quartet would be marooned in London; cancellation was suggested. But they came and they conquered: the capacity audience was enchanted by both the performance and the appearance of the four young women, visiting Kendal for the first time.
Mozart's Dissonance K465 Quartet was their first offering. Playing old instruments on extended loan to them by the Royal Academy of Music, they achieved a most appealing tonal blend; the balance, too, was ideal (superior to that of some recent eminent ensembles); there was a finesse of phrase, subtlety in the shaping of melodic lines; every note, every chord had an all-important significance. The faster movements, rhythmical precise and sparkling with a delightful vitality, contrasted effectively with the warm and elegantly lyrical slow movement.
Bax's String Quartet No 1, a work unfamiliar to most, if not all, provided the perfect foil. Tunefully attractive and possessing a wide variety of unusual textures, it provides a technically-demanding challenge to any quartet. The secure ensemble work so consistently evident in their Mozart served the players well here. The frequent fluctuations of tempo, the swings of mood, the ever-rotating scoring combinations, the subtle inflections of dynamics, the rhythmic complexities – all were consummately managed. There was a perpetual emphasis on beauty – especially so in the wonderful slow movement.
An encore – Moon River; charm, nostalgia, good taste oozing from every bar – brought the hour to its all-too-early end.
Brian Paynes Westmorland Gazette 02/09

Our Pavao concert schedule continued incessantly until the spring, interspersed with concerts with Sir Willard White, All Angels, and the Henri Oguike Dance Company (not all at once!!), and covering venues from a living room in Haslemere to the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, to the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank. I managed to fit in an Inauguration Party for President Obama in my flat, where I served hotdogs and champagne whilst we watched his speech. Everyone had to recite at least one line from Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech, before they were allowed in. Bryony also had her 30th birthday party, where she took us all to a blind restaurant; you are served by blind waiters in the pitch dark!

I received an urgent phonecall from another quartet, whose second violinist had cut her finger. It happily co-incided with 2 free days, so I joined the Callino Quartet for concerts in Galway and Manchester, playing the second violin part for Schubert’s Rosamunde and the Mendelssohn F minor.

Back with the Pavao, we did a lunchtime concert in St George’s, Hanover Square, then had to rush off to Bury St Edmunds to perform Shostakovich 9 with the dance company that evening. I then stayed that night with my parents in Ipswich; I had gone from playing Beethoven op. 59 no.1 in a church, to Shostakovich surrounded by the stamping feet of dancers, to playing a piano duet version of the Planets with my Dad on a dusty old upright!

We had another enjoyable trip to Jersey. When we did a tour of the Channel Islands a couple of years ago, I was delighted to find a basket full of knitting in one of the tiny airports. The idea was that you picked it up and knitted whilst you were waiting, then left it in the basket for the next person to continue! The completed blanket would go to Oxfam! We had some time off one afternoon on this trip, and I spent two hours in a fairy/witchcraft shop buying crystals! The security guy at the airport on the way back picked the wrong bag to search; it revealed 30 crystals, a book of spells, a Brahms score, 15 old concert programmes, a broken violin E-string and a half-eaten Mars bar…

Next stop was Liverpool, and I realized to my horror that I had forgotten my music! Luckily my flatmate was at home back in London and ran to the nearest internet café to scan in the first violin part of Shostakovich’s 9th Quartet; not usually part of her daily duties as a barrister. We found that, unusually, all four of us were sharing a rather large hotel room in Liverpool; well 4½ as by now Jenny was expecting a baby!

For much of the following two months, I was on tour with Russell Watson, playing as part of 6 violinists in his band. This was very good fun, and we enjoyed dressing up and putting on false eyelashes every night. I found some special ones for the last night..but discovered when I got on stage that I couldn’t see through my lashes to read the music properly, but at least it made Russell smile in the middle of Nessun Dorma! The low point of the tour was getting the sleeper train from Plymouth back to London after one of the concerts, as I had to be in Abbey Road Studio 1 at 10am the next morning with Andrew Lloyd Webber. I was playing in the orchestra, recording the album for Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom of the Opera.

Just as Spring arrived, I played in Haydn’s Creation in Kensington. However, the sun was shining so brightly through the window, that an orchestral hat had to be passed around in the rehearsal; not to collect money, but to shield whichever player the sun was shining on in that moment, so they weren’t too dazzled to see the music or conductor! One of the singers turned up to the rehearsal with ‘The Pocket Guide to Psychology’ tucked into his back pocket; how apt for a singer…

A varied week saw me taking part in recording a new opera of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ at the Yehudi Menuhin School, then playing in the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Albert Hall for a concert of the 80’s pop band ABC. It was really good fun, but I have to say that in rehearsal, after the 6th rendition of ‘Poison Arrow’, I did question my 80s pop devotion.

Back with the Pavao, we gave a recital in Hertford, and I was slightly concerned that the semiquavers in the last movement of Mendelssohn’s op. 80 would send Jenny into labour. We did a very enjoyable 70th birthday concert for John McCabe, getting to learn his piano quintet and one of his ‘Rainforest’ pieces. Jenny didn’t take part in this, as it was too close to the birth and too far away from her hospital. We were delighted when we heard a couple of weeks later that she had given birth to a baby boy, Benjamin. With pianist Alison Farr, we all knitted him a ’blanket of love’, doing a few squares each. I tried really hard to stick to the neutral and blue colour scheme, but managed to sneak one pink square in there!!

While Jen was recovering we went on another cruise in June; with Bryony’s sister taking her place.

It was a Baltic cruise and we visited St Petersburg, but by far the most exciting thing was performing the Elgar piano quintet with John Lill. It was a great pleasure performing with him, and we would love to do it again. I was playing a few solo pieces too on this trip, and was suddenly frozen with fear at one point when I realized I had to perform a solo piece in the same concert as John Lill. I couldn’t help feeling I should have been practising rather than being lost in Helsinki.

This is us playing at picnic in July for Bryan Adams, raising money for his foundation.

Also in July, the Pavao performed again on Friday Night is Music Night, Live on BBC Radio 2. Here’s the playlist

If you listen very carefully you can hear me sneeze in the March of the Siamese Children. The very next day we headed to Ipswich to give a recital in my home town, and do an interview on BBC Radio Suffolk.

Our Wigmore Hall recital, playing Dvorak and Brahms piano quintets with Marco Fatichenti, was a huge success. Jenny and I gasped when we walked on stage, because we couldn’t believe how many people had come along. We had three curtain calls before the interval! We would love to do another Wigmore, but it is very expensive to hire the Hall, so please let us know if anyone has any ideas for sponsorship.

The huge number of performances I had taken part in over the previous months seemed to suddenly take their toll the day after our Wigmore, as I was taken ill on stage. We were giving a concert with Sir Willard White in St David’s Hall, Cardiff, when I started to pass out. With only 30 seconds left until the interval, I stood up and wobbled off stage, only just able to locate the door. I then discarded my violin onto the floor and, very glamorously, collapsed in the gents’ toilets. Yes, I was passed out cold in some gents loos in Cardiff. Not my finest hour. Poor Jenny had to sight read the first violin part for the rest of the concert, with the second violin part by her feet in case she needed that too!

I know Willard is supposed to have a powerful effect on women, but this was a little extreme. The doctor diagnosed ‘exhaustion’ and recommended staying in bed. We had tickets to see Michael Jackson the next day, but circumstances, although obviously unfortunate for Michael, meant I could indeed stay in bed.

When I eventually got out of bed several weeks later, I went on holiday to Washington D.C. I like the way people are so helpful in Washington, that all you have to do is open a map, and someone literally runs across the road to help you. Such a contrast with Glasgow, where I find you get such convoluted instructions for something that’s actually just 200 yards down the road, and China, where the directions are just plain wrong, but they don’t seem to be able to admit they don’t know where something is.

The Library of Congress is an amazing place. It was rebuilt in 1815 with the help of 6,487 books from Thomas Jefferson, after we had (ahem..) burnt the ones they had previously. I could have spent many weeks in that library; it’s hard enough trying to leave the one in West Hampstead. But I think the highlight in their collections, has to be the Mozart action figure doll I found in the Shop.

On a tour round the Capitol building, I was amused to see there was a statue to the man who had invented air conditioning
I kept seeing posters on the trains saying this: ‘Women without health insurance are 2.5 per cent more likely to develop late onset cancer.’ How does that statistic possibly work? Somebody please explain.

I then joined my friend Anna in New York.

We had violin lessons with the fabulous Joey Corpus, then rewarded ourselves for practising so hard in the sweltering August heat, with a weekend at the Hamptons, where I was indeed rewarded, by spying Jon Bon Jovi on the beach. (Wait; that makes three rock stars.)

I wasn't sure I was stylish enough for the Hamptons.

On my return, I set off to Arundel to stay in a barn for a week. I was joining some friends to play in the Arundel Festival. I learnt James MacMillan’s wonderful clarinet quintet and performed Ravel’s Violin and Cello duo in an Organic Café!

I took my niece to Amsterdam for her 13th birthday

Fixed grin, whilst trying to maintain control of pedal boat.

My 30th birthday came and went..

And the Pavao went off to Holland for one night, to perform for Boosey and Hawkes some works from their catalogue. This included giving the Dutch premiere of John Adam’s ‘Fellow Traveler’, which I really hope we can play again. Our (very posh) hotel had a giant rotating Faberge egg outside our window!

The Pavao played again in the 2 Moors Festival. It was a church crawl; we visited three churches and gave a concert in each, throughout the day, performing Ravel, Debussy and Elgar. I was interviewed about it for Classic FM

Another cruise, this time to Egypt.
We were joined by the lovely Ruth Funnell as second violin. We sold out of CDs almost immediately. ‘It was like Primark!’ declared the slightly unnerved Entertainments officer who had been selling them, ‘people were elbowing each other out the way and the CDs ended up all over the floor!’. We got to visit the Acropolis in Athens, and the Pyramids in Giza. We even got to clamber inside one. Nick Bailey, from Classic FM, was the host on this cruise, and would very kindly give us a wake-up call when it was time to leave for the trips. It was strange getting an alarm-call from a radio presenter; I kept expecting him to say ‘It’s 7.30 and time for some Vivaldi’ and not ‘It’s 7.30 and time to get out of bed’!

Nick and I were invited to be on the Captain’s team in ‘Give Us a Clue’. The ballroom was packed, and I ended up trying to re-enact the entire video for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ without making a sound. They finally got it when I did a Royal wave… I think the Captain was appreciative that I guessed it was ‘How to Look Good Naked’ before he got to the last word…

I loved the patriotic sailaway party we had whilst leaving Gibraltar. I joined in ‘Rule Britannia’ from the jacuzzi whilst enjoying a cocktail, but lost my Union Jack at the bottom.

By the time we got back it was Christmas. I played for ‘The Priests’ on the Jonathan Ross Show, and witnessed firsthand the unlikely spectacle of three real Catholic priests having a snowball fight with Jonathan Ross. Also played with the Wired Strings on the Andrew Marr show. We were playing ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ live with Ronan Keating, but I also inexplicably ended up giving Rory Bremner a violin lesson. It was all a little much for a Sunday morning…

During our last Pavao concert before Christmas, I announced Leroy Anderson’s ‘Sleigh Ride’, saying we had not brought any sleigh bells but people were most welcome to join in with their car keys if they liked. Before I had even sat down to play, the whole of St John’s Smith Square was filled with jangling car keys!

The highlight of my Christmas was watching a version of Peter Pan, where Tinkerbell turned out to be a tutu-wearing male brandishing an illuminated Barbie doll on the end of a stick, and most of January has been spent with my boyfriend attempting to circumnavigate any wool shops or department stores to avoid my hyperventilation and panic attack at the sight of the magic words ‘wool sale’.

I am currently playing in ITV’s ‘Popstar to Operastar’ show.
In the first week, I stopped off to buy pencils on the way. Not so much for marking bowings in the music, but more so I can mark which line of my knitting pattern I’m on. (There can be a lot of waiting around in TV). I already frequently get tangled up on these shows, what with an earphone lead and microphone lead (no standing up suddenly), and now I have my wool protruding from my handbag too. Last week, I had to play unexpectedly; my wool got caught around violin and was threatening to strangle me with every up-bow. I really hope my desk partner doesn't mind me marking what row I'm on, on our music.

It amuses me that just in case the set or performances leave you in doubt as to which genre the singers are attempting -the words ‘OPERA’ are in massive figures along the back of the set. I have extreme faith in the competence of all who work at ITV, as there are two enormous chandeliers hanging over my head. I’m hoping they are plastic, and therefore no chance of breaking one during the Queen of the Night. Next show; live at 9pm on Friday.

In case you’re not asleep by now, and in true ‘Have I Got News For You’ fashion, I would like to leave you with a photo from a recent recording session our Quartet did. It was for a pop band and the song was called ‘I Saw the Dead’. However, the way the parts were printed was rather unfortunate…

2009-03-30T22:36:00.001+01:00

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Know any Beatles songs?

2008-09-17T15:43:00.007+01:00

Last night, I was playing at an event at the Natural History Museum for London Fashion Week. We'd just finished playing a movement from the Four Seasons, when I heard someone clapping behind me. I turned round and it was Paul McCartney! 'Know any Beatles songs?' he said!!

We have had a lovely summer of playing in festivals with All Angels, Hayley Westenra and Sir Willard White. I also did a couple of concertos in St Martin in the Fields, took my niece to the Aquarium, and saw 3 different versions of the Wizard of Oz! With my other niece, I had a dilemma. I had planned to take her to see Beethoven's 4th piano concerto at the Proms, but at the last minute realised Kylie was on at the o2 arena. Kylie won. Sorry Beethoven.

Natalia is back from Portugal, so quartet is now reheasing again every day. It's our 10th anniversary, so we are celebrating with lots of concerts! We are currently reheasing Shostakovich's 8th Quartet for a concert soon, and we are also preparing for a competition in Amsterdam in November. One of the pieces we have to learn is called 'What's the Fastest way out of Here?'!!

Last weekend we went to record a brand new compostition by David Knotts in Bournemouth. It was for children's choir, string quartet, mandolin and descant recorder - not your usual combination but very fun. I had just returned from a week's holiday in the South of France so hadn't played my violin for a week, but decided it actually did me more good than practising!

I'm really excited about our latest CD project. We are re releasing our Dreaming CD in new packaging, using paper which can be planted and it grows into wildflowers! Release on November 10th in HMV, Amazon etc so watch this space!

We also have a CD of forgotten Gershwin songs coming out on October 27th- recorded by Victoria Hart. They're the ones I went to research in the Library of Congress back in March. Due to approaching deadlines, and with us all on holiday at different times, I ended up recording all 4 parts on one track - even playing viola!!

2008-09-17T15:43:00.004+01:00

31st July

Played with All Angels and Will Martin last night in the Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton. We started the show with our version of Traumerei, from our ‘Dreaming’ album. The day before, we did a lunchtime recital in St Martin in the Fields, in Trafalgar Square and played the Bax Quartet that we’ve recorded. We started with a Mozart Divertimento and also played Elgar’s ‘Lullaby’. The audience was fantastic – not just in number, but in enthusiasm. We sold lots of CDs, and many people gave us their email addresses to join our mailing list. It would be great to do some more London concerts.

Jen and I had a performance in Amsterdam with Adele last week. I had no idea what the weather was going to be like in Amsterdam, so arrived wearing wellies and a sundress. Having risen at 4 am, I must have looked quite frightening all in all. Adele, in Amsterdam, decided halfway through the show that she didn’t like her bass guitar anymore – and threw it out to the crowd. I hoped she wasn’t expecting us to do the same with our violins!! We then had to get a train to Paris, and met the other two Pavaos there, so we could hire a car and drive to Normandie for a week of recitals. Why is it always so complicated?! Jen and I laughed a lot when we discovered to get a bus in Amsterdam to the airport, required buying 2 ‘Strips’ on a ‘Stripenkart’. What on earth did that involve? When we finally managed to arrive in France without mishap, I treated myself immediately to a chocolate crepe outside the Gare du Nord. True to form, we had arranged to meet the others by the Pick n Mix stall!

Our week in France went very quickly. We have done a tour in the Normandie nearly every summer for 9 years now, and this was one of the best. We were looked after very well, staying in a beautiful gite in a manoir. We played Schubert’s Quartetsatz, the Bax G major and Mendelssohn’s last quartet every night, including in a wonderful abbey, and we finished with an outdoor concert of our jazz arrangements whilst everyone picnicked on the lawns of a beautiful house.Our music kept blowing away, so I had to hold it to the stand with my hair clip, which unfortunately had a big flower attached, so attracted some bees! Bryony and then went off in a friends truck to watch a silent movie that was being screened outdoors with French subtitles. The evening was quite eventful, as I got an electric shock from a fence I climbed over, and then had to eat sea snails afterwards. And during the interval, we just quietly asked a steward if there was any chocolate available to buy, and next thing we know he’s announcing over a loudspeaker ‘Chocolat! Chocolat pour les anglais!!!’ How embarassing.

After one recital, we were enjoying wine on the lawn, and someone asked Jen and I if we would like flat or sparkling. When I replied ‘flat’ and Jen said ‘sparkling’, Jen commented ‘true to form!’. Jen, do you mean that I always play flat and you always sparkle? Haha!! One concert really made us laugh; just as we were raising our bows and drawing breath to start the moving slow movement of the Mendelssohn, an elderly gent in the audience, not realizing how loud he was speaking suddenly announced ‘The second violinist’s AWFULLY pretty!’

We had a fun day off at the end of the tour, and went to the beach. It was colder that day, but being true Brits we sat on the beach covered in scarves and towels, eating chips!! I found some fake kiddies tattoos in a seaside shop, so we had lots of fun applying those. You are supposed to use a damp sponge, but we had to make do with my bikini dipped in the sea.

I have finally had time (but only at 2 am) to change the strings on my violin, and polish the poor thing. I spend so much time packing and unpacking, and emailing concert organizers, that the poor instrument must feel very neglected except when I’m on stage. How do people have time to learn Beethoven Quartets, organise concerts, AND keep their bedrooms tidy?!

Prime Minister and Pigeons

2008-06-17T00:54:00.011+01:00

We went to Luxembourg for two quartet concerts this weekend, where we managed to attend a street party and wave to the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. As well as two quartet performances, we managed to fit in shopping and watching the fireworks. I had my usual problem of not being able to shut my suitcase on the way back.. I loved the way the car 'drop-off' section in the car park at Luxembourg airport is called the 'kiss and fly'!! Avoiding unpacking my suicase, I went to watch Ida Haendel at the Wigmore on my return- she was really fantastic - I hope I'll still be playing at that age.

As well as seeing the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, I performed to the Prime Minister the last week. I was playing with my friend’s trio ‘Blue Topaz’ in Somerset House, on the Strand, and it turned out Gordon Brown was there, and David Cameron!

My Mum got a DVD in the post today - she wasn't well enough to come and watch a recital I did a few weeks ago with pianist Alison Farr, so Alison's Dad kindly made her a DVD of it. It was a good programme, because the concert organiser had had a great idea; he advertised a list of pieces we could play in the local paper and got the audience to ring or write in to vote for which ones they wanted to hear! We finished with an encore of Vieuxtemps' variations on Yankee Doodle, and got a standing ovation, so I hope Mum enjoys it!

Tomorrow, I am off to Paris with pop singer Adele, then the next day our Quartet is performing with All Angels in the Thaxted Festival. And I need to start practicing Piazolla's Four Seasons, as I am playing the solo part in a few weeks.

I think I have poisoned all the pigeons in West Hampstead, in the process of trying to change a violin string. My pegs keep getting stuck in the hot weather, and so as I am about to replace a string on my violin, I want to loosen up the peg. The best way to do this is with some old dried up soap. But I can’t find any – so I took a corner off our perfectly good brand new soap in the bathroom and stuck it on my windowsill to dry out. I checked the next day and it had gone. Then the same happened the next day, and the next. I have a horrible feeling that a pigeon is taking off with the soap thinking it is some food. I have probably poisoned at least 3 pigeons by now, and am still no closer to solving my sticky peg or changing my violin string.

I am about to give my niece a violin lesson over the phone as I haven’t had time to give her a lesson in person for ages. It works quite well; she plays a piece or scale and I tell her which notes she needs to flatten or sharpen! As for her bow technique, that will have to wait until I have worked out how to use my webcam…

Classical Brits and circus skills

2008-06-16T16:07:00.018+01:00

Phew! The last 6 months…..

We released our Elgar and Bax CD ourselves. Victoria Hart’s record label ‘Discrete’ VERY kindly let us use their label, and I scrambled around trying to sort out everything from MCPS licenses to distribution. The distributor I found was so fantastic that she didn’t even flinch when we decided at the very last minute to release a Christmas CD on the same day, for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. This meant getting our arranger, Carlo Martelli, to arrange 12 Christmas carols in a week – he was still writing them as we started recording! Due to an accident with the heating in the church we were recording in, my brother had to come on a mercy mission with as many woolly jumpers and fingerless gloves he could find; it was truly a wintery recording, but a huge success on Classic FM and for Breakthrough.

We promoted the CD in Harrods in December and were also invited play at the opening of the Harrods Sale the day after Boxing Day.

January saw us getting some fantastic reviews for our Elgar/Bax recording :
‘Intoxicating warmth and emotional spontaneity’ Strad Magazine
‘an unqualified success – a real must-have!’ Music Web International (Disc of the Month) ‘plenty of energy, precision and clarity, with an impressive sense of lively rapport between the four players.’ BBC Music Magazine (4 stars)
‘Assured performances’ The Guardian
And some amusing ones…'The four Armani- clad babes who grace the cover, two pages of the booklet and the CD itself, and who look suspiciously like a quartet put together by Simon Cowell, turn out to be an ensemble of real depth and musical distinction. With a light, beautifully integrated sound, their account of Bax's First Quartet is a real winner (try the sorrowful slow movement or the lively finale). They bring to the exactly contemporaneous Elgar (1918) a grace and emotional intensity that is quite the equal of other more established quartets'
Classic FM Magazine (4 stars)

Ha! Perhaps I should send that to Simon Cowell?!

I had the awful news in February that my wonderful violin professor and friend, Howard Davis, had passed away. I was honoured that our quartet was asked to play at his funeral. Howard would have laughed if he could have seen my face when it suddenly dawned on me that it was the worst possible audience – a room full of violinists!! We have dedicated our latest CD to him and miss him terribly.

Later on in February we gave a rather unusual recital in Poole, playing a piano quintet, voice quintet, saxophone quintet and viola quintet all in one concert, which also involved me knitting and playing cards on stage. The idea was that we had invited friends round for some tea and quintets and the audience could eavesdrop on our rehearsal. So the stage was set up like my flat, with clothes and books everywhere, and even a pink telephone next to my feet and a few realistic suitcases waiting to be unpacked. Alison, our pianist, sat knitting on the sofa on stage until it was her turn, and we even had a game of cards on stage in the interval, before wandering over to our chairs to start the 2nd half!

Piano quintets with Alison Farr

After the success of our Christmas arrangements, we wanted to release another CD of well-known tunes in gorgeous arrangements by Carlo; one that would sell all year round and not just at Christmas! The result was ‘Dreaming’, the theme of the CD being moons, stars and night-time. We had a disaster with the cover. We had a wonderful photo shoot all planned, but poor Bryony got food poisoning at the last minute. 2 days later, Bry was still really sick, but my some miracle we managed to create a cover photo just a few hours before our deadline. We asked a photographer friend to meet us on Waterloo Bridge at 10 pm. Bryony couldn’t stand up for very long so we leapt out of a taxi, stood for just 20 mins with our backs to the camera (no time for make up and Bry looked green anyway), tried to keep hold of our instruments (it was the night a hurricane was forecast) and by some miracle actually got a shot that was cover worthy!

Also so far this year..

Our Quartet were nominated for a Classical Brit Award, had a photoshoot for Hello Magazine, and an interview on Classic FM TV (see YouTube).

I went to the Library of Congress, Washington D.C to explore the Gershwin archives, then on my way back stopped off in New York to watch Aretha Franklin at the Radio City Music Hall.

I have recorded with Hayley Westenra, Andrew Lloyd Webber, KanYe West, Adele, Kasabian and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

I performed with Sir Willard White (Norwich), Victoria Hart (Warsaw), and Adele (on tour around the UK and also in Paris, Holland and Dublin). Also performed the Mendelssohn Octet twice with the Emperor Quartet.

Played on the X Factor, performed in ‘Chess’ in the Albert Hall, and also played in ‘I’ll Do Anything’; Andrew Lloyd Webbers’s latest BBC1 talent show.

Oh – and most exciting - I went to a circus skills class for a hen party and learnt to juggle.

Our Quartet schedule has been pretty intense this year, but last weekend won the prize – I gave a duo recital with Alison Farr in Somerset, and the quartet joined us for a quintet recital the following night, (standing ovations both nights!) We then had to drive from Somerset to Lincolnshire for a quartet recital the next day, and then drive back through the night to London where we had a recording session for Lloyd Webber in Abbey Road at 10 am!!
I did come home with 2 bottles of pink champagne and some lovely flowers…. what more could a girl want?!

Spamalot

2007-09-29T19:40:00.000+01:00

What a mad couple of weeks..

Played on the Spice Girl's new single, recorded at Abbey Road, then the next day we did our first quartet recital of the season, at St Olave's Church in the City. We played Elgar's only String Quartet and the Bax G major. We have recorded both works on a disc which is being released on November 19th on the Discrete label. I am busy writing to radio presenters at Classic FM and Radio 3 asking them to consider playing it! Currently surrounded by pile of padded envelopes, CDs and stamps. But have no internet at the moment, so have set up work in a corner of my local bar, where they have wireless internet!

The day after the recital, I played in Fiddler on the Roof again, then my niece came to stay for the weekend and I took her to the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park. We watched 'The Boyfriend' and we loved all the 20s music and costumes, not to mention the dancing. We were lucky- it was the last performance of the season, and Dame Judi Dench came on stage at the end to make a presentation. We cornered her in the bar afterwards so Louisa could get her autograph!

The Quartet played at Ronnie Scotts on Sunday 16th. We played in the first set with singer Victoria Hart. I had taken my Dad to Ronnie's for his 60th, and he was delighted to come and watch his daughter (plus honorary daughters in the quartet!) actually play there.

Tuesday 18th - we played at the V and A Museum for the London Fashion Week party. There was a 50s theme, and I spent 2 hours in hair and make-up. Came out looking like Marilyn Monroe. All very well and good, but those icons of the 50s must have done nothing else except their hair all day long.

Spent the day in Cheltenham on the 23rd, being filmed for a video for the band Girl Friday. Then it was my birthday! Two days of celebration, ending with 20 of us going to watch Spamalot in the West End. We had front row seats, and because I play in the band sometimes, I managed to set it up so they picked my poor unsuspecting brother to go on stage!!

Had to recover quickly from all the pink champagne I consumed, for a recording session at 9am the next morning. It was for the 'Lord of the Rings' cast album.

The quartet played at the National Movie Awards aftershow party last night, but the only famous people I spotted were Shane Richie and Ron Weasley from Harry Potter.. Have spent today stuffing envelopes and sorting out the booklet for our Elgar CD. Bryan Adams very kindly took all the photos for the album, and we're really pleased with them - can't wait to see them on the shelves of HMV!

5 am start tomorrow - going to Pinewood studios to play on a video for John Barrowman!

A Real Quartet

2007-07-25T19:48:00.000+01:00

We’ve just had 2 weeks off quartet because Jen was on her honeymoon. I love the way it takes one of us to get married for us to take time off!

We have recorded the Elgar and Bax G major for our new disc. We did it in a lovely church in Hanwell. It was lovely and quiet, until we heard a strange noise outside just as we were about to do a take. It turned out not to be a plane or car, but… a peacock!! Now, that HAS to be a good sign!

The recording was in the middle of my 2-week stint playing in Fiddler on the Roof. The on-stage fiddler was miming to me, and there was even a speaker inside his violin- with my sound coming out! The part is quite difficult, and the show is 3 hours long. On top of the 8 shows a week, I was squeezing in quartet recording/performances, recording the violin part on 2 new pop albums and teaching! One mad day, we were playing with jazz singer Victoria Hart at 1pm in a club in Piccadilly, and then I had to run round the corner for the matinee of Fiddler! I think the band thought I was a bit overdressed for a matinee, turning up in a tiny black jazz dress and LOTS of make-up! My last day on Fiddler was great – my friends came and took up nearly the whole front row on the balcony. They cheered and screamed so loudly at the end for the band – I was proud!

The next day I got up mega-early to fit in some teaching, then we had a quartet coaching with Elgar-expert Anthony Payne. He was incredibly helpful, and then we had to run for a train to Wales. We did a concert in Llandudno with a male voice choir, for an audience of 900. We were recalled onstage at the end to be presented with huge bunches of flowers, and then to my horror, the conductor brought the audience to their feet for a rendition of the Welsh National Anthem! I was so embarrassed that I didn’t know the words (or tune!), and was trying to cover my mouth with the flowers, when Jen nudged me and pointed down the row at Bryony. She was singing in Welsh!! She saved the day – at least one of us knew it! That girl has hidden talents…

Got home the next day and just about had enough time to actually sit down for a meal, and do some laundry, then it was off to the Isle of Man the next day. We did a recital in a converted church, and then Jen left early the next morning to organize her wedding, whilst we climbed a hill. There was not a soul around, and the scenery was lovely, but it was so windy I nearly blew off the cliff! It was great to finally visit the Isle of Man, as the Amadeus Quartet had started there, whilst they were interned after the war. Mr Pilates also developed his technique there, apparently. We were all in much need of Pilates lessons when we got home – after lugging our suitcases and a cello up and down hotel staircases and through airports.

We had an odd quartet date a few days later, performing for a cricket match! I then went into my 5-year-old cousin’s school in Bounds Green very early the next morning, to give a demonstration of the violin in their assembly which went down well. They were so much better behaved and more interested than all the private schools I’ve been paid to go into! Next day was a violin duet date in Blenheim Palace, where I met an interesting juggler and magician, and then it was Jens’ wedding!

I left my house in a flurry in the morning as usual. There is absolutely NO time to perform, run around the country, do laundry AND keep a tidy bedroom. Couldn't find any of the clothes I needed for the weekend and had been so way-laid by concert organisers calling me about programes that I was running late, so flung ENTIRE contents of wardrobe on floor. Then could only find one shoe, so flung entire contents of shoe cupboard (yes they do take up a whole cupboard) on floor. Then tried to open the door and it got wedged between pile of laundry and pile of shoes with me in the middle with a violin and suitcase. I was completely stuck, unable to move and late, and my flat mate had to come and rescue me!

Jen looked gorgeous, and we played/cried her up the aisle! It was a true country wedding; she arrived in a horse and cart, and we all sat on hay-bales at the reception. There was a ceilidh band and when my feet got tired dancing – I took the violin off the fiddler and joined in! Hope he didn’t mind!?

The following week had me playing on a couple more recording sessions for people’s pop albums, and I also played with a different quartet at a party at the V and A Museum. We were amplified, wearing black dresses, long evening gloves and pink scarves, and playing Bohemian Rhapsody and I Will Survive – v good fun!

During the last few days, I have played with Paul Potts on This Morning, visited Armani to borrow dresses for our quartet photo-shoot next week, played violin duets for a awards ceremony inside Tower Bridge for the 20 most influential women in facilities management (??!?), and played in an outdoor Prom concert, where the fireworks went off too early in the 1812 Overture, we were stopped dramatically before the end by a massive power cut, and then had to run across a muddy field in the pouring rain to catch our train!

Quote of the year – came from a male cellist sitting with us on the train the other day... ‘So, are you a girly quartet, or a real quartet?’
!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Switzerland for the day

2007-06-08T11:49:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday we gave a performance of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet in the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland. As we were only going for the day, I thought checking-in at the airport would be so easy with no suitcase, but no! When trying to get through the departures gate, I was stopped by the man checking our passports and boarding cards. The usual story; he was insisting I was only allowed one piece of hand luggage, and I therefore would have to put my 300-year old violin worth tens of thousands of pounds, which doesn't even belong to me, into the hold. I wearily explained yet again that the rules of his airline state that you are allowed a musical instrument as well as one piece of hand luggage, but he wasn't having any of it. I could have just gone to a different gate, where there no doubt would have been a more enlightened security person, but I thought he should learn the rules to save the next poor violinist who tries to get past him. I returned with his superior who told him he was wrong and had to let me pass, but I didn't get an apology - just my passport flung back at me!

Then as if I wasn't late enough, my bag was searched. All because there was a stray lipstick at the bottom of it that apparently I should have been carrying separately in a see-through plasic bag, And then the lady took the plug off my hair-tongs and put it on again. Why? Why?

Very late by now.. desperately trying to fit everything back into my bag. I love the way they unpack it for you and then just hand you everything back in a heap. How did I fit it all in?

Ran towards the gate and then the final insult - a man asked me to take off my boots for inspection. For goodness sake! Do they realise what a hassle it is trying to balance on one foot to take a boot off, with a violin on your back???

Anyway, the performance went really well, and I even had time for a short walk around the town centre before jumping back on the plane. Unfortunately, the British education system has left me talking a strange hybrid of French, German, Italian, Spanish and Cockney Rhyming Slang every time I visit a European country, so it was probably a good thing that I didn't have time to attempt to talk to anyone or buy anything!

Have just started a 2-week run of being the solo violinist in Fiddler on the Roof in the West End. When I was booked for it, I stupidly asked if the part was hard or exposed. The answer; the clue's in the title! Durr!

Meeting the ambassador/spinsterhood

2007-05-25T23:31:00.000+01:00

I love my job - you never know what's going to happen when you wake up in the morning.

We were doing a normal days' rehearsal yesterday (11 till 5, or until the tendonitis sets in), and I was vaguely aware that we had agreed to go to the Portuguese embassy afterwards, to check out the acoustics/space for a concert we are giving there in a few weeks. Natalia now seems to be a celebrity over there now thanks to our CD!

The doorbell went at 5 and we peered out the window to find this waiting for us....

With the number plate '10 Port' and a driver wearing a cap!
Everyone was staring inside the car to see who we were, and I had ro resist doing the royal wave.
Apparently the Ambassador has been listening to our CD whilst driving around Portugal and his favourite track is 'Singin in the Rain'!

I got the driver to drop me off afterwards on the Strand. I am going to be the solo violinist in 'Fiddler on the Roof' at the Savoy Theatre for 2 weeks in June, and wanted to sit-in and follow the part.

Its a really long show - and had to rush home because was due in Pinewood studios at 9 the next morning. I had a drama when my taxi crashed into another car, but still got there on time, if without breakfast. We were recording the music for 'Grease is the Word' and also some tracks for 'Britain's Got Talent' (has it? where?)

Then 5 hours of reheasing Elgar's string quartet with the girls and then off to teach a little boy who lives round the corner from me. His parents have installed these immense cast iron security gates and I have to throw my whole bodyweight onto them to enter, after having first explained who I am through the speaker system to the nanny who doesn't speak English.

Yet again, our quartet are playing on 2 TV Channels at once tomorrow (Saturday). Bryony and I are playing on 'Joseph - Any Dream Will Do' on BBC1, whilst Jenny and Natalia are in the ITV studios recording 'Grease is the Word'. Then on Sunday, I am playing with Leona from X-Factor, who is singing with Il Divo.

My washing pile is threatening to take over my flat. How am I expected to do the two jobs of doing the PR for the quartet and playing in it AND do my laundry??? No wonder a younger member of my family (who shall remain nameless) called me a spinster the other day - I spend every second of every day either looking at 3 other girls, or my computer screen!!!!!!!!

PS Look out for us on Classic FM TV - they are about to start showing our DVD of 'What a Wonderful World!

Pavao travels

2007-05-21T00:09:00.000+01:00

I love my job - I get paid to go on holiday and play great music!Have been sorting through some
old photos and found loads of quartet memories...

Us in Jerusalem in 2004

Venice 2006

The Vatican 2004

Launch of Landor Records 2006

Oman 2000

Central Park, New York 2005

And the Great Wall of China 2007

Josephines

2007-05-20T22:14:00.000+01:00

Spent most of the week trying to sort out a mess with my bow - am trying to sell one and buy another, but the dealer buying the old one has spotted a fault on it. The man I bought it from insists there isn't a fault, and have spent hours to-ing and fro-ing between the two. Am going to take it to some independent experts for a conclusion - one of them must be wrong!

Spent all day yesterday at the BBC, playing in the band for 'Any Dream Will Do?', which has been labelled quite correctly in the press as 'the gayest show on TV'! Tears all round when they voted off Daniel and stripped him of his Dreamcoat. I can't take the emotion - I'll be a wreck by the Final!

Spent today at my sister's, playing Poker in the garden and giving violin lessons to my nieces. Think they are training up to be in Junior Pavao!

The T-shirts they wore to our CD launch!

And me talking to their school when we gave a surprise concert there last summer!

Vienna

2007-05-14T23:34:00.000+01:00

What a strange week - went to Vienna for the weekend with Quartet to perform Shostakovich with the dance company. Stayed up till 4 in an Austrian nightclub, and actually did the splits on the dance floor! (Never go out with dancers..)

We reheased today for our 2 new albums, and then on Weds, am recording at Pinewood Studios for 'Grease is the Word' on ITV.

Then, on Saturday night, will be playing on 2 channels at once, as am in the band for 'Any Dream Will Do' on BBC 1, whilst our pre-recorded backing tracks for Grease are playing on the other side! That really is multi-tasking!!

I've been teaching my nieces to knit, (as well as play the violin), and this is the coat Melissa made for her toy dog! I'm so proud of her! It even has a hole for the tail (although that wasn't intential..)

Knitting on the Great Wall of China

2007-04-05T21:29:00.000+01:00

I can confirm that Katie Melua is right and there indeed 9 million bicycles in Beijing. I think every single one of them was trying to end my life. You think you’ve spotted a gap, and set about trying to cross the 8 lanes of traffic, when you look to your left and see a stream of bicycles of all shapes and sizes heading in your direction faster than any car, with no regard for any pedestrians in their path. And that’s at a pedestrian crossing. But when there is such a congestion problem that it’s quicker to walk anywhere in the city than drive, I can understand why everyone has taken to riding a bike. The most comical ones looked like they were half moped and half bike, with a motor AND pedals. Why??

We were in China with the Henri Oguike Dance Company, giving 4 performances of a choreographed version of Shostakovich’s 9th Quartet. Part funded by the British Council, and in part by Milky Way Productions (I was most disappointed to find this was nothing to do with chocolate), we were put up in very nice hotels, first in Hangzhou, then Beijing.

The spitting was the first thing we noticed after arriving – we were waiting in the hotel foyer when I exclaimed with horror, ‘did that man just SPIT before getting into the lift??! What’s going on?’ I feel let down – this should be one of the things they teach you in school! That everyone spits in China – all the time. Even the toddlers. It strikes me as one of the vital things you should know about the world, shortly after your 12x table and definitely before algebra or the name of Henry viii’s 3rd wife.
When walking along, you spend the whole time dodging the puddles of phlegm, and leaping out of the way as soon as you hear the first signs that someone is about to spit. It’s not just a dainty spit. It’s real hacking up from the depths. I’m totally surprised that anyone on China has any internal organs left in there.
It even happened during our performances, filling up all the quiet bits in the Shostakovich, and there was an incident just before curtain up. One of the Chinese stage hands had been sweeping the stage. Once finished, he confirmed his satisfaction that he’d done a great job by spitting on it! Luckily someone spotted that this might be a slipping hazard to the dancers and quickly cleared it up.

I didn’t believe it when someone told me that all Chinese children have slits in their trousers to save time taking them to the loo. But then I saw it with my eyes; a young child being held over the kerb in the middle of a busy shopping street! So glad I didn’t put one on my knee…

The shopping was great – especially the pearl market. Pearls upstairs and electronics downstairs – fake Ipods everywhere. Had to make an early exit when I saw a goldfish being kept in the humidifier machine – made me feel slightly queezy.
Was extremely pleased with a coat I purchased; such an unusual style! I then realized when walking down the street, that it was the exact same style as the policemen wear in China!!
Asking for directions is pretty much hopeless. No-one seems to like to say ‘no’, or admit that they don’t know where the place is you need to go. Or, indeed, where you are on the map at the present moment. Although people were eagerly offering their assistance, we were continually sent in the opposite direction to where we needed to go. The system of road signs didn’t seem to make any sense either (even the English translations), and it took Jenny and I three hours to find our hotel one night.

The food was a bit of a shock to the system. We went straight out to a Chinese restaurant on our first night in Hangzhou, only to find the duck was served with its beak still attached and with a side plate of cow’s tongue sliced into pieces. And our main course was still swimming happily around the tank in the corner. Any appetite I had left was quickly lost when the table of business men next to us got up to leave; but not before spitting on the restaurant floor. MacDonald’s did very good business later that night. I found a ‘greasy spoon’ equivalent one day, along a side street, but outside were washing up bowls full of fish, and even a bullfrog chained in a bucket. You were supposed to select what you wished to be fried before entering. Gross.

What with the lack of hygiene, and people coughing in your face, without feeling the need to put their hands over their mouths, I was very glad we’d got all vaccinations before we went. Although the poor Irish nurse at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead didn’t know what had hit her, when Jenny, Bryony and myself arrived in her room with a cello and 2 violins. I felt faint before even setting eyes on a needle, Bryony (usually fine with all things gory) had her injection then immediately wanted to be sick, and Jenny only got through it because I told her to try and remember a song from the Sound of Music to distract her. We came out to find a full waiting room that had just been treated to a nervous rendition of ‘Do, Re, Mi’!

We, of course, did a Pavao Quartet trip to the Great Wall of China. Jenny even left one of our quartet cards in a hole in the Wall! It was freezing up there, and although I had my knitting in my bag, couldn’t knit fast enough to keep us all warm! As soon as you took your hand out of a glove to take a picture, it went numb with cold and you ran the risk of dropping the camera over the edge of the Wall. The views were spectacular, but are attempts to take a nice photo of the 4 of us up there were ruined by my hair blowing across my face, and everybody else’s. It looks like Tina Turner was making a guest appearance with the Pavao that day! Men and women kept asking if we would pose in a photo with them. Why on earth they’d want a picture of a random person they don’t know on their mantelpiece is beyond me. The women kept saying ‘You beautiful! You beautiful!’. Natalia at one point got video footage of me trying to get down some stairs and being stopped by 10 Chinese men to pose with them in a photo!

Having not anticipated the number, and uneven-ness of steps that the Great Wall involved, I went for a Chinese massage as soon as we got back to the hotel. Although, I’m not sure that it didn’t make my aches and pains worse.

Natalia and I visited the preserved body of Chairman Mao. Having left our bags with random man, who might well have had nothing to do with the left luggage office, but was more than insistant that we should leave him our bags, we were herded in a line along with hundreds of Chinese people all clutching yellow flowers to lay by his body. We were led across a large courtyard in solemn silence, Natalia and I both had the feeling that this was a bit like being led into Auschwitz. I was half expecting them to ask us to leave our shoes at the door of the Mausoleum. I was so excited once we’d been herded past the body that I immediately rang my Dad to inform him of what we’d just done, forgetting that it was 4 in the morning for him! Mao was so short – I don’t know how he managed to kill 60 million people.

So, all in all, although we thoroughly enjoyed our Quartet trip to China, I have to say that even a simple walk along the road in their capital city was nothing if not eventful. If you weren’t dodging the spit from passers-by (not specifically aimed at us I hasten to add), dodging the excrement from young children, trying not to breathe in the pollution too deeply, nursing the bruises from market traders who grab your arms and don’t let go till you buy something, crossing 8 lanes of traffic in the path of 9 million bicycles, you were trying to avoid being grabbed to appear in photograph with 3 Chinese men you’ve never met before nor will again.

The plane journey was made bearable by my knitting a pair of socks. If security had confiscated my knitting needles, I was fully prepared to knit with a pair of chopsticks instead. As it was, I didn’t have sewing needle for the seam, and had to sew the sock together using the back of Bryony’s earring!!

We must have been jet lagged, when we returned, because we managed to get on the wrong train going to a quartet recital a few days later. Well, how were we to know that there were TWO trains leaving from the same platform at London Bridge at the same time???? To our horror, we realized that the train we were on didn’t stop for 45 minutes – in Maidstone! Luckily, the lovely lady checking our tickets rang the driver, and they stopped the train for us at a station in south London a few minutes later, and we made our way back to London from there. Phew!

I played with Noel Gallagher a few days ago – to 20,000 people at the MEN arena in Manchester. He had a jean-clad 8-piece all-female string group behind him. The atmosphere when he did an acoustic version of Don’t Look Back in Anger, was unforgettable! We’d been given electric blue eye make-up and nails, and even some body-art!

Two days later found me in Lyon, with my friend Alison. We went out there to do a competition, but it was a really great holiday. We hired bikes and cycled to the conservatoire with my violin on my back! In between rehearsals and watching the rest of the competition, we sat outside restaurants and cafes, consuming more cheese, wine and crepes than is healthy, and either knitting or reading Jane Austen – we couldn’t have looked more English if we’d tried!

Now off on a family holiday to Cornwall. Happy Easter!

Kylie and cruises

2006-11-04T16:28:00.004Z

Am still in the horrible process of unpacking from our cruise.
We boarded the Oriana on Monday 2nd Oct. I had been away for a dance weekend (at Pontin’s- has to be done once in your life) and as soon as Jenny and I had located our cabin, I set about attending to my dancing injuries. Cuts, blisters and bruises everywhere, and mild concussion as I had attempted the ‘advanced aeriels’ class on the last day.
Great fun though – the highlight had been a pole-dancing class with Julia and Alison at 11am the Sunday morning; when we should have been at church!!!!

Settled in well on the cruise. Days at sea were spent learning to ballroom dance (despite a distinct lack of spare men) and going to soft toy-making classes. I made a dalmation for my niece, but at the moment he only has one eye and his head is not attached to his body. Perhaps I will give it to her as it is and tell her its about time she learnt to sew! (Only joking Missa if you’re reading this!!!!)

Port stops were wonderful – from Katakolon we visited Olympia and got a picture of the quartet on the original starting line of the first Olympic track. Natalia won the 200metres, but the rest of us wearing flip-flops possibly put her at an advantage.
Some officers on the ship took me to a gorgeous bar in Dubrovnik, cut out of the side of a cliff. Absolutely stunning view. Especially of the officers having a macho competition of who can jump off the highest rock (!). I slid off the smallest rock on my bottom into the sea, then discovered that getting out again was not that easy!! Had to be hauled out by a sailor, taking several mussels with me along the way!
To end out lovely day in Venice, we had been invited by the Captain to his suite to watch the sailaway. There was a masked ball afterwards and we were able to parade the masks we had bought in Venice. The other three had beautiful eye masks, but I always have to go that one step too far (see picture). It was pink, made out of manuscript paper and had peacock feathers; I couldn’t NOT buy it! Also persuaded the guy in the shop to sell it for half price of 25 euros – he was probably keen to get rid of it as it was taking up most of his shop.

In Korcula, we went snorkeling – a sight to behold (us not the fish) Returned to the Oriana with a badly sun-burned back. Unfortunately we were playing a room where the audience sits all around you, so felt I had to explain the redness before I was attacked by caring grandmothers armed with moisturiser. Luckily, I could make a joke out of it because we were playing the Dvorak ‘American’ Quartet and I always mention how Dvorak wrote a bird call into the 3rd movement - a bird aptly named the ‘red-backed tanegar’!

When we returned, we went straight into rehearsals with Elaine Paige, for her UK tour. We are her support act, and also play in her backing band in the 2nd half. I have had to turn down a trip to Australia to do this tour. I had bought a ticket to see Kylie in Sydney. Such a dedicated fan. Could NOT believe what happened after our first rehearsal with Elaine; I came out of the rehearsal room and Bryony was flapping like a demented woman at someone standing behind me. I turned round and just saw a really big man with a beard. I mouthed to Bry, ‘who’s that? Is he famous?’. She replied ‘Kylie! Kylie!’ and the first thought that entered my blonde head was that I don’t know any men called Kylie. Then the light dawned and I realized the delicate creature at about the height of his knee was Miss. Minogue HERSELF about to rehearse for her homecoming tour!!!! Shock set in and I now realize I will be totally hopeless in an emergency. All I could do was stand there like a rabbit in the headlights, hands clasped by my side, breathing in for about a minute, forgetting to breathe out. I was vaguely aware of Jenny hopping from one foot to the other not knowing what to do, and Natalia trying to push me towards Kylie to start a conversation. I could have told her I was going to fly half way across the world to see her gig, even had a backstage pass and was bitterly disappointed that I wasn’t going to meet her, but ha ha how funny that I’ve met her know anyway, and the reason I’m here is because we’re rehearsing for our tour, which is the reason I had to miss her concert in the first place. And that I once threw a Kylie party, where everyone had to sing a Kylie song before they were allowed to come in, and even the pizza delivery man had stood in the street and sung ‘I Should Be So Lucky’. Most importantly I could have given her our CD and offered our services as a backing string quartet. But all I did was hyper-ventilate.

Bishops

2006-09-30T02:38:00.000+01:00

It’s a good job my birthday drinks on Sunday were only in our local bar; I was able to just fall across the street and to sleep. With a full recital of Janacek, Mozart and Dvorak the next day in the depths of Suffolk, I needed my sleep!
The Bury St Edmunds concert went very well; I had lots of family members there. I was pleased to see even my 90-year-old uncle Jack even made it. When explaining what our quartet name meant, I was able to joke that there was a whole row of Peacocks in there somewhere!
The venue was wonderful; the beautiful Atheneum, with lovely acoustics and even chandeliers. We got a huge cresecendo of applause for every curtain call. Hopefully that cheered Jen up; she had found out in the interval that her new flat in Clapham had been broken into. I’m so impressed she made it through the second half!

Tuesday found us in Valladolid, near Madrid, playing in a monastery (!) to every Catholic bishop and archbishop from England and Wales (!!), who were there on a conference. It was one of Dom Alldis’ talks on the relationship between music and management, using our quartet and a jazz quartet as examples. The Archbishop of Westminster, after a chat over pudding and wine, is now my new best friend and invited us to give a quartet recital in his church in Rome! He said he would have to invite all the other cardinals!! What about the Pope? I always said that if the Spice Girls can meet him, then so can we!!

Cucumber sandwiches

2006-09-21T22:57:00.000+01:00

Am sitting in my local pub typing away on my brand new laptop (pink of course), sipping G and T’s to help me through the boring emails to concert organizers. ‘Yes, cucumber sandwiches before the concert would be lovely’, ‘no, I’m sorry but we need more than one small toilet cubicle to change into our concert dresses’, ‘yes, we realize it’s Mozart’s 250th birthday this year’, etc etc.

Have had lots more Sound of Music this week – the grand final on was Saturday, plus recording sessions for the winner’s album. The fireworks and ticker tape explosions caught me unawares during the final; I hoped the cameras weren’t on me at that moment. After-show party was good fun; free alcohol till 3am ( so THAT’S where our license fees go),10 wanabee Maria’s dancing to ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, and a very drunk Graham Norton. Bryony and I thrust our CD onto Andrew Lloyd Webber. Connie, the winner, is unbelievably thin – I tried to steer her towards the buffet.

Also played at Credit Suisse this week – a corporate event. They were having a conference on management and Dom Alldis gave a talk on the similarities between an orchestra and a management team – orchestra provided. The highlight was getting one one them to conduct us! It always looks so easy…

Quartet starts again tomorrow; rehearsals all day in the local church, then I have a Pilates lesson to help my ailing limbs. Then I teach a girl around the corner – then am off to the 80’s bar in the City where my 21-year-old niece works and dances. Good job I have a day off on Saturday!

Sound of Music

2006-09-15T01:25:00.000+01:00