This year has got off to a pleasingly slow start; a fair amount of rehearsing but not too many concerts! It's great to be back on stage, of course, and this is most definitely the calm before the storm. Next week sees us on our first foreign trip of the year, and from then on we're pretty much on tour until Christmas. It's great work, though, and we're singing well.It's allowed me to be at home this week to help our new au pair settle in - absolutely crucial to have the right setup at home when you're touring - and I'm pleased to say that she's wonderful. The children love her and she'll give Stephanie some much-needed help when I'm off abroad. Our eldest daughter had her first boarding experience at school this week, and it was great to be here to hear how it went. She loved it, so we may never see her again...On the musical front, now that we've recorded and programmed for next year, we're in the process of honing the music itself for live performance. Many people are still surprised that we don't sing everything from memory - instead, we memorise only when we feel it adds something tangible to a performance. There's no point in memorisation for the sake of it, and often in masterclasses we have to smile sweetly when enthusiastic directors proudly tell us that their charges are singing without copies; it's actually very difficult for us to change or improve anything if the singers are doing it all from memory: directors take note!You'll all be pleased to hear that 2018 is essentially full of concerts, now! It promises to be a wonderful commemoration of the group's 50-year history, and in reality we're kicking off next month as we launch our season alongside celebrating 25 years of our record company, Signum. Incidentally, huge congratulations to Steve Long and all the team at Signum for recently being voted Label of the Year at the Gramophone Awards!
This year has got off to a pleasingly slow start; a fair amount of rehearsing but not too many concerts! It's great to be back on stage, of course, and this is most definitely the calm before the storm. Next week sees us on our first foreign trip of the year, and from then on we're pretty much on tour until Christmas. It's great work, though, and we're singing well.It's allowed me to be at home this week to help our new au pair settle in - absolutely crucial to have the right setup at home when you're touring - and I'm pleased to say that she's wonderful. The children love her and she'll give Stephanie some much-needed help when I'm off abroad. Our eldest daughter had her first boarding experience at school this week, and it was great to be here to hear how it went. She loved it, so we may never see her again...On the musical front, now that we've recorded and programmed for next year, we're in the process of honing the music itself for live performance. Many people are still surprised that we don't sing everything from memory - instead, we memorise only when we feel it adds something tangible to a performance. There's no point in memorisation for the sake of it, and often in masterclasses we have to smile sweetly when enthusiastic directors proudly tell us that their charges are singing without copies; it's actually very difficult for us to change or improve anything if the singers are doing it all from memory: directors take note!You'll all be pleased to hear that 2018 is essentially full of concerts, now! It promises to be a wonderful commemoration of the group's 50-year history, and in reality we're kicking off next month as we launch our season alongside celebrating 25 years of our record company, Signum. Incidentally, huge congratulations to Steve Long and all the team at Signum for recently being voted Label of the Year at the Gramophone Awards!
This year has got off to a pleasingly slow start; a fair amount of rehearsing but not too many concerts! It's great to be back on stage, of course, and this is most definitely the calm before the storm. Next week sees us on our first foreign trip of the year, and from then on we're pretty much on tour until Christmas. It's great work, though, and we're singing well.It's allowed me to be at home this week to help our new au pair settle in - absolutely crucial to have the right setup at home when you're touring - and I'm pleased to say that she's wonderful. The children love her and she'll give Stephanie some much-needed help when I'm off abroad. Our eldest daughter had her first boarding experience at school this week, and it was great to be here to hear how it went. She loved it, so we may never see her again...On the musical front, now that we've recorded and programmed for next year, we're in the process of honing the music itself for live performance. Many people are still surprised that we don't sing everything from memory - instead, we memorise only when we feel it adds something tangible to a performance. There's no point in memorisation for the sake of it, and often in masterclasses we have to smile sweetly when enthusiastic directors proudly tell us that their charges are singing without copies; it's actually very difficult for us to change or improve anything if the singers are doing it all from memory: directors take note!You'll all be pleased to hear that 2018 is essentially full of concerts, now! It promises to be a wonderful commemoration of the group's 50-year history, and in reality we're kicking off next month as we launch our season alongside celebrating 25 years of our record company, Signum. Incidentally, huge congratulations to Steve Long and all the team at Signum for recently being voted Label of the Year at the Gramophone Awards!
This year has got off to a pleasingly slow start; a fair amount of rehearsing but not too many concerts! It's great to be back on stage, of course, and this is most definitely the calm before the storm. Next week sees us on our first foreign trip of the year, and from then on we're pretty much on tour until Christmas. It's great work, though, and we're singing well.It's allowed me to be at home this week to help our new au pair settle in - absolutely crucial to have the right setup at home when you're touring - and I'm pleased to say that she's wonderful. The children love her and she'll give Stephanie some much-needed help when I'm off abroad. Our eldest daughter had her first boarding experience at school this week, and it was great to be here to hear how it went. She loved it, so we may never see her again...On the musical front, now that we've recorded and programmed for next year, we're in the process of honing the music itself for live performance. Many people are still surprised that we don't sing everything from memory - instead, we memorise only when we feel it adds something tangible to a performance. There's no point in memorisation for the sake of it, and often in masterclasses we have to smile sweetly when enthusiastic directors proudly tell us that their charges are singing without copies; it's actually very difficult for us to change or improve anything if the singers are doing it all from memory: directors take note!You'll all be pleased to hear that 2018 is essentially full of concerts, now! It promises to be a wonderful commemoration of the group's 50-year history, and in reality we're kicking off next month as we launch our season alongside celebrating 25 years of our record company, Signum. Incidentally, huge congratulations to Steve Long and all the team at Signum for recently being voted Label of the Year at the Gramophone Awards!
This year has got off to a pleasingly slow start; a fair amount of rehearsing but not too many concerts! It's great to be back on stage, of course, and this is most definitely the calm before the storm. Next week sees us on our first foreign trip of the year, and from then on we're pretty much on tour until Christmas. It's great work, though, and we're singing well.It's allowed me to be at home this week to help our new au pair settle in - absolutely crucial to have the right setup at home when you're touring - and I'm pleased to say that she's wonderful. The children love her and she'll give Stephanie some much-needed help when I'm off abroad. Our eldest daughter had her first boarding experience at school this week, and it was great to be here to hear how it went. She loved it, so we may never see her again...On the musical front, now that we've recorded and programmed for next year, we're in the process of honing the music itself for live performance. Many people are still surprised that we don't sing everything from memory - instead, we memorise only when we feel it adds something tangible to a performance. There's no point in memorisation for the sake of it, and often in masterclasses we have to smile sweetly when enthusiastic directors proudly tell us that their charges are singing without copies; it's actually very difficult for us to change or improve anything if the singers are doing it all from memory: directors take note!You'll all be pleased to hear that 2018 is essentially full of concerts, now! It promises to be a wonderful commemoration of the group's 50-year history, and in reality we're kicking off next month as we launch our season alongside celebrating 25 years of our record company, Signum. Incidentally, huge congratulations to Steve Long and all the team at Signum for recently being voted Label of the Year at the Gramophone Awards!
This year has got off to a pleasingly slow start; a fair amount of rehearsing but not too many concerts! It's great to be back on stage, of course, and this is most definitely the calm before the storm. Next week sees us on our first foreign trip of the year, and from then on we're pretty much on tour until Christmas. It's great work, though, and we're singing well.It's allowed me to be at home this week to help our new au pair settle in - absolutely crucial to have the right setup at home when you're touring - and I'm pleased to say that she's wonderful. The children love her and she'll give Stephanie some much-needed help when I'm off abroad. Our eldest daughter had her first boarding experience at school this week, and it was great to be here to hear how it went. She loved it, so we may never see her again...On the musical front, now that we've recorded and programmed for next year, we're in the process of honing the music itself for live performance. Many people are still surprised that we don't sing everything from memory - instead, we memorise only when we feel it adds something tangible to a performance. There's no point in memorisation for the sake of it, and often in masterclasses we have to smile sweetly when enthusiastic directors proudly tell us that their charges are singing without copies; it's actually very difficult for us to change or improve anything if the singers are doing it all from memory: directors take note!You'll all be pleased to hear that 2018 is essentially full of concerts, now! It promises to be a wonderful commemoration of the group's 50-year history, and in reality we're kicking off next month as we launch our season alongside celebrating 25 years of our record company, Signum. Incidentally, huge congratulations to Steve Long and all the team at Signum for recently being voted Label of the Year at the Gramophone Awards!
This year has got off to a pleasingly slow start; a fair amount of rehearsing but not too many concerts! It's great to be back on stage, of course, and this is most definitely the calm before the storm. Next week sees us on our first foreign trip of the year, and from then on we're pretty much on tour until Christmas. It's great work, though, and we're singing well.It's allowed me to be at home this week to help our new au pair settle in - absolutely crucial to have the right setup at home when you're touring - and I'm pleased to say that she's wonderful. The children love her and she'll give Stephanie some much-needed help when I'm off abroad. Our eldest daughter had her first boarding experience at school this week, and it was great to be here to hear how it went. She loved it, so we may never see her again...On the musical front, now that we've recorded and programmed for next year, we're in the process of honing the music itself for live performance. Many people are still surprised that we don't sing everything from memory - instead, we memorise only when we feel it adds something tangible to a performance. There's no point in memorisation for the sake of it, and often in masterclasses we have to smile sweetly when enthusiastic directors proudly tell us that their charges are singing without copies; it's actually very difficult for us to change or improve anything if the singers are doing it all from memory: directors take note!You'll all be pleased to hear that 2018 is essentially full of concerts, now! It promises to be a wonderful commemoration of the group's 50-year history, and in reality we're kicking off next month as we launch our season alongside celebrating 25 years of our record company, Signum. Incidentally, huge congratulations to Steve Long and all the team at Signum for recently being voted Label of the Year at the Gramophone Awards!
