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I spent the weekend in Anghiari, working with the singers there in preparation for the performance of the Verdi Requiem at the end of the Festival.  It was a restorative experience, and not just the singing, and I particularly enjoyed the lazing on a Sunday afternoon after the rehearsals were done and dusted, sitting outside Bar Baldaccio in the late spring sun watching the world go by.  The Requiem is part of the Italian cultural DNA, of course, and the singers’ excitement and dedication to the project is almost tangible, and it was good to be reminded that I can make a difference to a performance.

In the shadow of Verdi...

In the shadow of Verdi…

Back at home on Monday evening, I was in London once more on Tuesday for some singing and composition teaching, and have now retreated to the country cottage for the time being.  It is market day in Wells, and I have the joy of various domestic duties as well as the terrace continues its transformation from bare patch of outside to verdant Mediterranean haven.

There is some arranging to get done as well for a concert next month, and also some admin to tidy.  I am ahead of things at the moment, which is a good feeling, and that is allowing me to plough on ahead with different projects while also taking time to breathe here and there (although that breathing is just a touch laboured, thanks to a stinking cold which settled in at the end of last week).

I think that the next performance of one of my pieces will be Flyht in Exeter Cathedral on 13th June, and I am looking forward to that performance very much indeed.  Then it will be Runnymede and then my focus will shift wholeheartedly to the Anghiari Festival, with that performance of the Requiem.

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