Sunday morning and I’m on a train from Edinburgh to Manchester – thanks to GNER’s ‘Wifi on the move’ I can blog from the train. Very good.
Just had a very satisfying two days with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, preparing players for the Double Concerto for Sarod, Cello and Strings that we’ll premiere next year with Maestor Amjad Ali Khan, and now it’s down to Manchester for the BBC Phil and a week of workshops and Turnage.
I’m particularly excited about this week, as it’s the first time I’ve had a concerto directly linked to a major community project. We will work with some players from the Phil, a group of A level students and a community choir to create new music based on the work of composer Mark Anthony Turnage. On Wednesday, conductor Charles Hazlewood comes to join the fun, and on Thursday and Friday we rehearse, record and perform the Turnage chamber concerto, Kai, and the new piece. There will also be a VJ, Gemma Briers, filming the week and projecting her images as we perform on Friday night – which makes me wish I’d had time to get a haircut – as my daughter astutely observed, it looks like I have a sheep on my head…
Can’t wait to meet the students and choir, and see what kind of piece we’ll come up with!