Mea culpa

Dear Reader

Firstly I wish to reassure you that I am perfectly well and that the Choir’s tour of Paris was a resounding success. There are a number of very good reasons for this, but I do wish to apologise if I have concerned anyone with my lack of prose. Some of you may be relieved by the respite from my drivel while others will be disappointed that I am not planning to upload any photos at this stage, due to the cost of internet at the hotel where I am currently residing. There is a Gloucester chunk missing – I will add this later. Sorry for the non-sequential nature of the blog.

I can report that our tour of Paris was in fact a resounding success. In short, here are the highlights...

The Concert in Notre Dame was extremely well received and there are likely photos of us all over China and Japan. On the whole those who listened were deeply respectful and appreciative. And interested in photography. Most of them did not use their flash, thank goodness, as this is rather distracting. Actually, very distracting. At various times I have shown people how to TURN THE FLASH OFF!

The program included eight of our Top Ten Hits;  Locus Iste of Bruckner, Ave verum corpus of Byrd, Three Kings of Dove, Beati Quorum of Stanford, Lully, Lullay of Leighton, Twist’s How shall we sing a new song, Durufle’s Ubi caritas, Palestrina’s O Magnum Mysterium and Walton’s What Cheer.

The combined concert with Ensemble Vocale de Pontoise was an interesting and positive experience. We rehearsed with them one night then sang a concert last Saturday with them at St Louis-en-ile. We sang some numbers, they did too, and we had a number together. We sang Byrd’s Ave verum corpus, Stanford’s Beati Quorum, Twist’s How shall we sing, Walton’s What Cheer, Dove’s Three Kings and the first performance we have done of the Leek Kondalilla. They sang a number of pieces including two Warlock pieces and the latter part of the Palestrina O Magnum Mysterium mass. The joint items were the two Palestrina motets, O Magnum Mysterium and Quem Pastores, Bruckner’s Locus Iste, Harris’ Faire is the Heaven, Howells’ Here is the little door and finishing with an encore of Waltzing Matilda.

The after party with the Ensemble will be remembered for the excellent food (provided by them) SA wines (provided by us and brought from the UK), the Epiphany Cake and the large coffee table book about Paris  given to our DoM by their DoM, Graham O’Reilly.  They were pleased that the concert returned a profit (rather than a loss) and so were we.

One of my personal highlights was seeing my German Sister, Carola Wichert, who now resides in Paris. I have not seen her since 1980. She came to the concert and then walked with us for a while, also catching up with Annie Coughlin nee Gambling, whom she met at Woodlands.

The concert on Saturday at St Merri was extraordinary.  Finding the place and the entry was no mean feat. But we did. Then we wondered if anyone would come. They did. The boys (David Heah and Alexander Paine) were due to play the organ. The big one doesn't work but the little one does. So they did. Very well. We sang Bruckner, Byrd, Stanford, Chilcott’s Shepherd’s Carol, Dove, Twist, Leek, Britten’s Te Deum, Walton, Vaughan Williams’ Wassail and Matilda. This church seems to have a lot of concerts which are free. I wonder if they are all so well attended.

The Kondalilla performances at St Louis and at St Merri were particularly well received. The music is has underlying parts for the gents with the trebles and altos singing their own parts in their own time. Trebles and altos are spread around the front half of the audience. The sounds of the Australian bush come through the music at first, and then are made by the gents who make their own variety of whistles, rustles and wind noises. I really like it, despite the stress of trying to get it right. No two performances will be the same.

The security issues in Paris in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre were significant, especially as our hotel was just around the corner from the Charlie offices and the site where the Muslim police officer lost his life was just across from our hotel. To be able to pay our respects in person was a moving thing indeed. Never before have I felt safer in this city, with the very, very obvious police presence and the strong sense of community backlash against the events. But this did mean that the parameters for the young people were set very tightly, and we had daily meetings and briefings at 8am, where the day’s activities were discussed and planned and unaccompanied choristers were allocated to families. The younger members of the group could then decide whether they wanted to scale the Tour Eiffel, shop for bargains in the sales, absorb culture with a walk in the Parisienne streets or increase their wisdom and understanding in one of the many galleries. Or just visit Disneyland. Margot kindly agreed to be the second adult which allowed us to take Brianna and Jola there for a most magical day.

The tour has been hit by a series of respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses, perhaps more so than on previous tours. But we have battled on, always fielded a strong team and lifted our voices higher and higher.

The final dinner was a real hit. We were on a bateau on the Seine, and floated past the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks a number of times, which was so very beautiful. There was a gift giving  ceremony hosted by Hugh McP and two performances. One was a rendition of the People’s Psalm, the chant for which you have already seen. Alana, Robin, James and Andrew were the composers and performers. I am awaiting a copy of the libretto – when I get it I will post it, as it is most amusing and reflects the activity of tour. The other performance was an appropriately modified version of My Favourite Things by Sophie, Amelia and Harriet, with interpretive dance from Alice and Miranda and the key note from Charlie. They were sweet. Very sweet indeed. And funny. There was dancing on the roof of the boat as well as the couples having romantic photos taken under the Tour Eiffel, and others taking less romantic shots. The night was a tribute to the committee and in particular, the King and Queen, Rex and Regina, Geoff and Annabel. Nice work, G&A.

There was a sense of sadness when those of us left behind to continue our holiday waved farewell to the busload of 23 who were returning to Australia. I can inform you, Dear Reader, that they have been safely returned to the bosom of their families and are probably awake about now reading this as they battle the jetlag that awaits the rest of us.

Alice, Sophie and Bella, along with Alana and I left soon after the busload to head to Disneyland, where we had spoilt ourselves with a night in the hotel on site and two days in the two parks. More will be said of this later, but for now I will note that it was VERY cold and that Sophie is the new queen of roller coasters. Alice on the other hand is the queen of souvenir shopping.  Especially shopping for cat stuff.  And that food was very expensive, although the Planet Hollywood dinner was not too costly, and the warm food was much appreciated, as the day had been notable for its frigidity. Frog socks, blanket capes and double tights were the order of the day.

After this, Alana headed off to meet Geoff and Alex in Germany and the Cromptons and I checked into a very classy hotel in the 8^th Arrondisment. We crashed.  We had room service, where they brought a table full of pasta and wine into our room. Lavinia, you would have been proud.

Today, after a slow start, we went on the hop on – hop off bus and saw the main sights of Paris. We quickly abandoned the open top, especially when the temperature “hit” -1C. We got off at Notre Dame where we paid our respects and lit candles.

After this, tired and a little emotional, we headed for home, and decided that a blanket picnic was in order. There are three supermarkets within 300m of our hotel, according to Google maps. The Picard was my first choice, as it had an excellent review. However, it seemed to be made up of 95% frozen stuff. However, there was a Monoprix around the corner, which was just marvellous, and the picnic of ham, cheese, fresh bread, apples, mango, tomatoes etc was scoffed. There is snackage for tomorrow too. It looks like this might become our daily bread for evening meals with a hot meal in the middle of the day.

Well, Dear Reader, that is the synopsis. When I reach better internet I will add photos and expand on our experiences. And include our service in Gloucester, along with the excellent master class from Adrian Partington, a Howells Master.  (Both master classes on this tour were given by DoMs with the initials AP. Does this bode well for Alexander Paine?)

Praise be that our main tour party has safely returned to their families. Be patient with them as they regale you with their accounts of their adventures. Please continue to think about and pray for our remaining tourers who are currently all over the UK and Europe. They will return in the coming days and weeks with more stories of their travels, and may require even more patience from you, as they may just tell you one or two yarns that you have already heard.

Above all, though, know that your Choir has worked hard and sung well, and been worthy ambassadors for our Cathedral, our diocese and our state.  You can be proud of your young ones and the not so youngsters.

A demain, as they say here!

Cxxx