September 30, 2019

Richmond, London

I'm writing this from my garden, in the middle of a glorious day of admin. I've had a haircut, read the paper, been to the bank and the post office, been for a 5k run, booked some work flights for next year, put the bins out and am now composing an arrangement for our next recording. Yesterday was equally splendid, with a highly enjoyable singing lesson in the afternoon, after a shopping trip and a lazy breakfast in bed. I, like Jules' fiancée Vic, am a big fan of the autumnal feeling -- slightly colder winds, beautiful colours on the trees and the renewed feeling of coziness and sanctuary in one's home. Maybe I'm a romantic, but I love it.

It's been a great start to our touring term too. Very gentle after a nice long summer break. It was lovely to be back in the Czech Republic a couple of weeks back, and then in the glorious foothills of the alps, in northern Italy for a concert in Merano. Last week saw us doing a few days of 'professional development', taking expert advice and coaching in several areas of our work, to make sure we're at the top of our game and always engaging with new ideas. We also took a day to sit down and think creatively about our concert programmes for the coming 2 years, building a range of programmes which reflect the different areas of our library, the different unique qualities of the group, and which we'll look forward to performing each night. It's a very nourishing process!

One of the things we've discussed in our meetings this last week has been our blogs! By definition of you being here and reading this, you're one of the (seemingly many) people who's interested to read our outpourings each week. As you may or may not notice, we're a bit intermittent with our blogs, as during busy periods it's sometimes difficult to find the time to sit down and write something worth reading! So - shock, horror - we are considering at the moment the merits of reducing our blogs to just 1 per week, rather than (supposedly) 6, but each one regular and reliable, and probably a bit longer. If you have any thoughts about this plan, do get in touch to let us know, going through 'Contact Us' at the bottom of the page and using the enquiries email address.

I hope that you're all happy and well, wherever in the world you are, and that you're as excited as I am for the release of our EP (Extended Play) digital album this coming Friday, called 'The Library: Vol. 1'. This will be a series of EPs in which we explore our close-harmony library, digging out old favourites as well as commissioning brand new arrangements especially.