Remembrance
It’s been a lovely weekend. Yesterday I had the very great pleasure of singing the Mozart Requiem with the St. Michael’s Singers and the ESO. Both fabulous. Among the other soloists I was delighted to have Kate Manley alongside me on the platform. Those of you who know Kate will know of her very brave fight against breast cancer, which she is clearly winning, and I’m happy to report that she is looking and sounding super. The concert was in Tewksbury Abbey which is such a beautiful church. I’m just coming to the end of Ken Follet’s wonderful book “World Without End” which is the sequal to “The Pillars of the Earth”. Both books (as I find with most of his works) are unputdownable, and the action centres around a Cathedral in a place called Kingsbridge. Whether Follet had Tewksbury in mind or not I don’t know, but certainly the abbey there is almost exactly the way I imagine Kingsbridge Cathedral, which added to the evening for me.
This morning it was back to Bledlow, to conduct my choir in the Remembrance service. We sang two pieces “For the Fallen” by some guy called Jeff Stewart and “Turn Back O Man” by Holst. The choir were on great form, I don’t think I’ve ever heard them better. It’s truely been a Remembrance weekend to remember.