I have just had an absolutely fabulous first week at The Royal College of Music, I met some wonderfully enthusiastic students, I attended several well-structured and informative introductory lectures and sat enthralled during two masterclasses. 🙂 If this is a sample of what is yet to come then I am in for an exciting time over the next two years, and I can’t wait to share my experiences with you all.

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First Day Ready To Go To The Royal College of Music

On Monday I got up early and double checked that I had everything that I needed to register at the College, then off I went to catch the tube and make my way over to South Kensington. The tube was really busy and was a new experience for me, one that I’m sure I will get used to very quickly.

I walked along Exhibition Road between the Natural History Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. You get a real sense of the history of the area with these grand, imposing buildings on both sides. I arrived at the Royal College of Music and after spending a few minutes just enjoying the moment I walked up the stairs and I was inside.

I had such an exciting first day, finding my way around, taking in the surroundings and meeting some of the other new students, it was so much fun. 🙂

As the week progressed, we sat language assessments in Italian, French and German, and several of the faculty members and their amazing administrative staff introduced themselves to us during our induction lectures.

On Wednesday the College hosted Dame Gwyneth Jones in the Britten Theatre who gave a vocal Masterclass and provided us with some insightful observations and useful suggestions as we started the new term.

Then on Friday I attended another Masterclass, this time, it was from an instrumentalist’s perspective, a Violin Masterclass given by Maxim Vengerov in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall. His playing was so vibrant and full of musical storytelling, quite an experience and one that I left feeling enthused, with my mind buzzing with fabulous ideas to try out in my practice sessions. I have now received my new timetable for the coming week, and I can’t wait to get started.

haugtussa
Pascal Barnier Kindly Created This Beautiful Image For My Album Cover

 

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To bring to end such a memorable week for me, I am excited to share with you the release of my new album, which is a recording of Edvard Grieg’s “Haugtussa” accompanied skilfully on piano by George Todica. I have loved learning these beautiful songs and wanted to record them and share them with you. The support and encouragement that I received from you all following my first album, Canzone D’Amore, made me even more determined to press on with my dreams. The money that I raised helped me to take up my place here at the Royal College of Music and the proceeds from this my second album will allow me to continue my studies and take a few more steps towards my goal. At the moment it is only available to download on iTunes and CD Baby ( if you want FLAC files ) and as soon as it is available as a CD, I will let you know.

iTunes USA  https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/haugtussa/id1151773586
iTunes UK  https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/haugtussa/id1151773586
CD Baby  https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/charlottehoather2

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I have some other news to share with you, following my summer trip to Berlin, Nestor Bayona, a conductor and pianist that I performed with there, invited me to fly over to Catalonia to perform alongside him in two concerts that he has organised. We will be performing songs from the “Haugtussa” song cycle, and it will be my first concert in Spain, Olé !!

 

74 thoughts on “Here I Go Again.”

  1. Ah, your enthusiasm for and excitement about what you are doing is an unfailing tonic, Charlotte, dear. I’m looking forward to more of your bulletins, having been on this adventure with you for a few years now. Your mentioning South Ken, and the Tube Stations, and the road between the two Museums took me back to my own first visit there, only in March, when I went to an awesome Exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Lovely area. I’m going to be in London again next Saturday, but a long way from where you’ll be. I shall metaphorically wave, however.

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  2. What a spectacular opportunity, Charlotte. You are getting such a world-class education/training/experience. Languages too and you look gorgeous doing it. You must be the belle of the class! More please. 😀

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    1. Thank you, Beth, I’ve really enjoyed settling in, my halls are fabulous, although the wardrobe size is made for a boy! I’ve had to put all my concert dresses under the bed lol.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  3. Love hearing all your good news! I’m sure you will relish every day at the Royal College—and the many adventures that are sure to follow!

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  4. Sounds like you had a great first week at The Royal College of Music! And a week before your “Spanish debut”? I hope it’s a great concert! I’m glad you decided to do another CD. It makes sense you chose Grieg with all of the time you spent on his songs. I’ll have to give it a listen.

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    1. Thank you, Trent, I hope you enjoy listening to them I love the song cycle and I’m still growing into singing it and learning something new every time I get the chance to perform it so that’s good.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  6. Your looking fantastic as ever Charlotte, I’ve bought your cd and I am enjoying it immensely, well done and thank you for sharing your awesome talent. So glad you’ve settled in at the RCM you deserve all your success. Xx

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  9. Many blessings on the new adventure (s) spoken of herein. School sounds exciting and I am convinced the new recording will be a true classic. Yes, I am looking forward to the CD release. Cheers, dear Charlotte. <3

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    1. If you have a streaming service like Spotify you can listen to it on there Annette 🙂 I hope you enjoy it. Veslemoy, the Haugtussa or Mountain/fairy maid in English, is very spiritual and the themes of the poems in the songs are closely related to the supernatural and mysticism.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  10. Congratulations on the start in London and the new album (Woot!). How is London different from Glasgow? Or does it have the same feel? With the Friday Masterclass, I assume Vengerov doesn’t sing, but plays violin. Yet, you mentioned the storytelling in the music. Is the storytelling from the shifts in melody or tempo? Then, you can apply these changes to singing? Spain sounds great. Your hard work continues to pay off. Don’t forget to bring back the Spanish food. 🙂

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    1. Thank you, Eric, it’s all very exciting, the past two weeks have flown by in a whirlwind. London is a bit warmer about 17 degrees C, and I’ve brought my winter wardrobe 🙂

      Yes, he plays the violin. It is hard to put into words Eric; his playing was just so beautiful, and you could sense that it came from his heart as if he was reciting poetry from memory. I have a few technical ideas that I can try out to see if I can mirror his playing, for example, I want to try not to jerk at the ends of phrases and try to sing through smoothly.

      I’m very excited to be in Spain for my first performance in Catalonia. Hope I get a few photos.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  11. It is such exciting along with you about your beginning time at The Royal College of Music. Your place looks very lovely. Think there will be so many fun things for your up coming classes and around big place too. Have fun and great years ahead!

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    1. It’s lovely to have you alongside my adventure when I have settled down a bit I will try to get some photographs. I’m very comfortable in my new room and have put some homely touches in now. I’ve enjoyed my classes and finding my way around. Thank you.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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    1. Nestor has organised two concerts; one Saturday night and one Sunday lunch time. When you read this I’ll have arrived. My plane was delayed so I caught up with my blog.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  14. Is Gwyneth Jones still alive? It never crossed my mind that she was still around. I still remember her in Mendelssohn’s Elijah and the Boulez Ring Cycle. Sounds like you’ll have an awesome time anyway.

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    1. She most certainly is Matt I believe she is 80 this November and still passing her passion and knowledge on to our generation of training singers. I would have loved the opportunity to be coached by her and wish I could have seen her live in a large production like you did, how wonderful.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  15. Glad that things are going so well for you. I hope you manage to get to see those museums some time. A couple of veterans tips about making the tube journeys a little more bearable: firstly, always head for the end of the platform – end carriages are generally less crowded than those in the middle of the train, and secondly it sometimes pays to deliberately miss the first train and get the next one that arrives – I have had occasions when due to a quirk in the timetabling a ‘sardine can on wheels’ type train has been almost immediately followed by one that is much less crowded.

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    1. My younger brother is the museum man, I’ve visited them all with him several times and I love the V&A so I’ll be sure to pop in there lots. Thanks for the tips on the tube, you certainly can’t hold back, can you!

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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    1. I have my first performance in the Parry Rooms at the Royal College of Music next Wednesday just one song but I’m excited for that. I’ll hopefully get the chance to blog about Barcelona this Sunday, if not I have something written about the story behind the Haugtussa song cycle.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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    1. It’s such a small world this music world; I’m bumping into people I know all the time in London. It’s very fast paced. I hope I get to see a bit of Barcelona while I’m there but I’ve two concerts, so I’m not sure I will. I checked the weather today, and it is 26 degrees compared to 17 in London, and I only had my autumn/winter clothes! Oh well, I’m sure there are shops lol.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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    1. I’m settling in nicely, I’m really pleased with how everything is going. I had my first lesson with my singing teacher Rosa on Thursday, so far something new every day.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply
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  20. Keep on enjoying your intro week (and all the rest of your time at the Royal College of Music)! I have never known a more enthusiastic person in my life than you are, Charlotte: reading one of your blog posts just always makes me happier. All the best to you for your upcoming endeavours–you deserve it!

    Best regards,

    Cate

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    1. Some people think I can’t possibly be this enthusiastic all the time but when they get to know me they realise I am. I’ve always been a glass half full person and try my best to ride over negative things. I loved your message Cate keep being happy.

      All my best,
      Charlotte

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  22. How cool it is to cap off a memorable week like the one you’ve just had with the release of your new album. I am not familiar with Edvard Grieg’s “Haugtussa” but definitely will check it out. There is nothing quite as exciting as seeing ‘possibilities’ ahead of you and along with your awesome gold shoes…you are set for a great time and great ride 🙂

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    1. Thank you, Randall, I’m hoping to write a post about the poems behind the song cycle and what each song is about, it fascinated me from the start. I feel really in tune with the character of the story. My gold shoes are awesome aren’t they, I used to have a pair in silver and wore them until there were holes in the sole. The best bit is they were in a sale I think they’re a bit loud hehe.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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    1. Thank you for your lovely work on the album cover, you did a fabulous job I see something new in it every time I look. I’m looking forward to getting my scarf and snood your new website is looking good.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  25. Such an exciting time! I am so pleased you had a successful first week at the college. I am also quite envious of your masterclasses with Dame Gwyneth Jones and Maxim Vengerov. I am looking forward to purchasing your CD but if I can get my i-tunes account to work I will also buy a digital copy. I look forward to hearing about your Spanish adventures!
    Best wishes, Clare x

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    1. Thank you, Clare, I’ve chosen my modules last week and been writing plans out, learning new music and making new friends it’s been a great experience. I’ve been too busy to get homesick and I’m in bed early most nights, facetime and skype are coming in useful.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  26. What a wonderful first week. Can’t wait for your CD. Looking forward to Catalonia, another great adventure to share. All the best, Charlotte, Darlene

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  27. Wishing you every success with your new life in London, Charlotte. Oh, and I’m so excited about your second album! I’ve downloaded it this morning and will be listening to it all day. How you found the time to release it is, well, completely beyond me. Charlotte, you’re indefatigable!

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    1. Thank you, Marcus, lovely to hear from you I hope you’re well. Thank you for downloading my new cd I hope you enjoy it, I love the story I’ll be putting up a blog post about the story soon so please check back. I wish I had an extra couple of hours a day 🙂

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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  28. That’s wonderful news, Charlotte. So glad you’re settling in to your new college in London. What a fantastic opportunity you have created for yourself. I’m sure you’ll enjoy every minute! My wish for you – May all your wildest dreams come true.

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  32. Hi Charlotte, am pleased that the Royal college is is going so well for you, sounds awesome so far. I loved that walk up exhibition road, which I used to walk up, to book for and attend Prom concerts. I would the walk into park to the Albert memorial, and then through the parks to Oxford road. I once walked up exhibition road behind a young woman who was reading a paperback novel as she went, not bumping into any one or any thing, that was amazing. That whole area is so full of wonderful looking buildings, including the Royal college itself. Enjoy this first term, while you find your feat in London. Best wishes and blessings, Charles.

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    1. Everyone seems to do multitasking, I’ve been amazed at the pace Charles it’s a very stimulating environment. I got to see Imperial University complex this week the architecture is wonderful I agree.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

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      1. Yes the city swings all the time, it is very inspiring, the art of it is to be able to pull back a bit every now and again, and relax into a slower space. There is certainly no lack of things to do and see in London! Best wishes and blessings Charles.

  33. That’s a beautiful cover image!! And its so exciting to get the opportunity to be a part of such a fantastic college and follow your dreams. Wishing you all the best with all your endeavours and concerts!! 😀

    Reply

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