February 19, 2019

Shreveport, LA

I am writing this from a ‘new’ state! This is my first time in Louisiana, where we arrived this afternoon having flown pretty much the length of America this morning after an early start and an icy drive.


Last night we had a very enjoyable concert up in Bay City, Michigan. The acoustics were some of the best we’ve had in a long time; the space was intimate (in the round), but with a lovely warm reverberance. We were singing our programme ‘An Audience with The King’s Singers’, which has a lovely range of music, including the fiendishly difficult but highly rewarding ‘Scenes in America Deserta’ by John McCabe. One of my favourite moments in the programme is when we finish a 7 minute motet by Lassus, with a triumphal cadence, then almost seamlessly merge into The Lord’s Prayer, in the version by The Beach Boys. These seemingly incompatible composers actually wrote sit alongside each other perfectly, and the sacred texts in both make for a beautiful thematic sequence, as well as the music slotting together surprisingly well. So that was enjoyable!


We also had the pleasure of meeting two particularly important people last night. The President of our Global Foundation — Ken Fischer — and his wife Penny, drove to see us last night and it was great to catch up with them. Also, we met a future collaborator, who is in the process of writing some arrangements for us at the moment. I shan’t mention his name just yet, so as not to give away too much, but we were super excited to meet him face to face for the first time last night and talk about the songs he’s arranging and what they mean to him. It promises to be a very special collaboration.


Tonight is our first night off in 5 days, so I’ve been enjoying some time unwinding in our hotel, catching up with Ellie on the phone, eating a lovely bit of roast chicken and salad, and watching an action movie. Delightful!
I’m also nursing myself better as I’ve come down with a bit of a cold, or ‘thick head’ as my predecessor would call it. There’s lots of unwelcome gunk behind my eyes and nose... I’ll be better soon though, and frankly it’s no wonder, given the average temperatures in some of the places we’ve been lately!