Thursday, August 16, 2007
Summer post
Firstly, apologies for not posting sooner; I was horrified to see that my last update was as far back as June! I've been kept enormously busy since then, with a variety of chamber, solo and orchestral engagements. Casting my mind back, late June especially was a manic period, including concerto performances with the Hamburg Camerata (cond. Max Pommer), playing Torelli's Sonata in D G1 and the Tartini concerto in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern festival in Germany. No sooner had I arrived back in the UK I was heading down to the Suffolk coast to perform with the Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestra - sporting my Keavy natural trumpet, I performed 3rd trumpet (the wonderful principale role, doubling timpani!) in Bach's Mass in B minor under Masaaki Suzuki, a wonderful Japanese maestro who regularly leads the acclaimed Bach Collegium Japan. The concert was a magnificent experience, and I can honestly say that this piece has now become one of my firm favourites, especially the two 'Ladamaus te' movements, one of which concludes the work....magnificent!
Soon after B-P followed my end of year recital, performing the Telemann concerto, Ravel's Kaddish and Cascades by Allen Vizzutti. Added to that the inaugural Brass Collective concert, engagements with QuintEssence and the RAM end of year festivities and graduation ceremony concert meant that I was ready for a holiday....what happened next, however, was anything but.....!
I was enormously priviledged to be the sole UK representative in the Pacfic Music Festival Academy in Saporro, Japan, and after a 12-hour flight it was pretty much right down to business. Working with our tutors from the Vienna Phil, Berlin Radio Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra (Gotthard Eder, Falk Maertens and David Bilger respectively), we performed over 20 concerts in just over a month, ranging from symphonic concerts (with meastri Riccardo Muti, Philippe Jordan and Andrey Boreyko) to chamber music recitals (with conductor Ian Bousfield) and new works by Herbert Willi. The brass also had the opportunity to work with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra (under Tadaaki Otaka) and perform in the 10th anniversary concert of the beautiful 'Kitara' concert hall. Several of our concerts, however were on the Leonard Berstein 'Outdoor Stage' at the Sapporo Art Park, with crowds of over 3,000 people sitting on the grass watching numerous ensembles and the PMF orchestra. We were warmly welcomed by all the Japanese people, throughout the northern island of Hokkaido to our concerts on tour in Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya. The food and hospitality were second to none, and the company fantastic...not only was it a great experience, but also a learning curve. It has to be said that the 'outreach' concerts we performed were some of the best experiences, with hoards of identically dressed children clamouring for autographs and photos....I can only imagine how the Beatles felt!!
Well, having been back now for 2 weeks, I'm about to leave for a brass course with Jens Lindemann & Chris Martin in Santa Fiora, Tuscany, Italy. It promises to be another exciting week, and I'll let you know about it soon after.
Meanwhile, my website will be updated in the forthcoming weeks, so if you fancy a browse, feel free to pop along www.huwmorgan.net
Posted by Huw Morgan
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