It is 10 in the morning and it is dark and very wet outside, like a scene from a Scandinavian police procedural. It is about a mile’s walk from home to the Elgar School of Music and my shoes, socks and trousers are still very damp from the experience. To cheer myself on a very bleak walk in I thought about a couple of contrasting, cheering events during the last week.
Made My Day
Yesterday, the library received a request from the “New Years Eve Choir” for 15 Vivaldi scores needed for rehearsal the following day. I rang the number on the request and found myself talking to Hilary Elgar. Now this was a bit of an oh-yeh for me because I remember singing at her house about a dozen years ago on NYE, invited by her sister Margaret RIP, and didn’t realise it was an annual event.
I explained about the situation with the library being abandoned by the county and Hilary said that, sadly, that was the way things were with classical music these days.
I invited her to the library to pick up the scores and showed her around. She was cheered, thrilled almost, by what she found. I told her that we did not plan to go gently, that we wanted to develop and grow the resource, to fight back. As she left said: “You know, this really has made my day!”
I offered to carry the scores to her car for her but she refused. “I do a lot of gardening, you know”.
Made my day, too.
Hoedown
ESO’s concert with Penelope’s Dance Studio at the Arttrix was a blazing highlight of the Christmas season. The orchestra played half the concert on the stage, half in the pit, sometimes accompanied by dance, sometimes not; conducted when necessary by Stephen Roberts (who had composed the music for a new ballet piece for the occasion).
It was an EVENT. The dancers, aged I would guess 5-25, were very disciplined and obviously loving the chance to dance with a band actually playing live.
The highlight of the highlight for me was Copland’s Hoe Down, something which the String Orchestra always play brilliantly. This time it was accompanied by a new ballet, performed by all 50 dancers, that was so perfect for the occasion that just thinking about it brought tears to my eyes that were warmer than the raindrops they displaced.
These are times of doubt for all Arts organisations but let no-one doubt that when ESO puts a show like this on they are bloody good at it! The feedback we have been receiving ever since could not have been more in line with what we were hoping for – here is a glimpse:
I just wanted to say thank you to all of the musicians for a thoroughly enjoyable evening, Your performance was superb and the light-hearted humour really made it an entertaining and relaxed evening. Thank you also for the respect shown to the children, it was evident throughout the performance that this was mutual. My daughter considers this to be the most enjoyable and important performance she has ever participated in and I feel sure she is not alone in this thought. I have been to see a number of orchestras over the years, all of them excellent. The difference about Saturday was that this was more personal, not only did you make our children feel special, but the audience felt special too.
Quite! Just the kind of endorsements that we would be hoping for in a week leading up to the launching of plans for a possible Worcester Arts Quarter on the site of the old porcelain factory…