A very exciting & challenging 10 days have just gone by. Concerts in Holland with The New London Chorale followed by overnight flying to Baku for the first Production Meetings for the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games Opening Ceremony (which is in May 2017) and then back to Holland for three more concerts with The New London Chorale.
Wonderful groups of people in both ventures - Baku involves working on the largest scale with people whose lives revolve around the biggest ceremonies - people like Catherine Ugwu, Nathan M Wright, Scott Willsallen, Adam Bassett, Kate Hinchliffe, Nikos Lagousakos, Piers Shepperd, Joanne Scotcher - and then in Holland with four of the best singers - Lance Ellington, Janet Mooney, Jenna Lee James and Gordon Neville - working in 800 seat theatres with audiences whose lives have literally been changed by their love of The New London Chorale. The group itself was started by Tom Parker back in the late 70s and over the years they have created a huge fanbase in Holland - Gordon is one off the original singers. When Tom sadly died a few years ago I went along as MD/Pianist for them and am pleased to say that I was asked back!
I will have many visits to Baku over the coming year and there will be many stories to tell. Suffice to say that at the moment we are in process of developing the Ceremony so that it has an originality and a freshness about it that will make it unlike other similar events.
Later in the year I will also be going back to Holland with The New London Chorale for their MAX Proms event under the watchful eye of Jan Slagter - who also promoted these recent concerts with great energy.