But before leaving London I had to make sure that I returned all the books that I borrowed from the RCM library for my recent project ‘Women In Music’, my backpack was a lot lighter on the way home 🙂
I arrived back in Glasgow late on Thursday night and it was great to team up with my friends again on Friday morning for rehearsals to refresh the show for the French audiences. It is amazing to see how this wonderful mini-opera, written by Lliam Paterson and directed by Phelim McDermott, has progressed since we first got together back in December 2016. I can remember seeing the set and the costumes for the first time, designed by Emma & Giuseppe Belli, trying to visualise how the babies would respond to their imaginative use of props and move around the fabulous space created for each performance.
Following our performances in Manchester, Edinburgh, and Glasgow last year I can’t believe that we will now get the opportunity to perform in several venues around Paris organised by the Théâtre du Châtelet, who have embraced the idea of making this production accessible to a wider audience. We will start the tour on 6th April performing twice a day in various locations until the 11th April. On the 13th April through to the 20th April, we will perform twice daily at Cent Quatre. The shows are free for babies with a small charge of four euros for each accompanying adult.
It will be such fun to practice my French with the audiences after each show and I hope that the babies can cope with my pronunciation. I’ve already started revising my French conversation skills and I would love to hear of any recommendations for nice walks, places to visit, French meals I should try to cook over the course of my visit. (The perks of having a self-catered apartment). It is such a fantastic opportunity for me to spend some time in Paris and experience the French culture which will hopefully influence my interpretation of French song. I will let you know how it goes and hopefully get some pictures to share with you.
Following my blog anniversary, I said that I would select three people from those who commented or placed a like on the post and send them a signed copy of my ‘Haugtussa CD’. There were 139 people in total so I used a random number generator to select the winners.
I am pleased to announce that the three-people selected were John Howell, Peter Alexander, and Dora Buonfino. I managed to contact John and Peter and have posted their CDs to them which should arrive this week (fingers crossed). I have just received Dora’s forwarding address and will try and post it to her before I leave for Paris.