edition of Les Noces, who gave the students insights into how the work was conceived and developed. Later that evening there was a rehearsal with the local choir who were to join us for the Paris performances.


The next day Linnhe Robertson, Head of Vocal Studies, joined us and Joshua Mills arrived to replace our indisposed tenor. That evening saw the first of two Paris performances. The following day Jonathan Vaughan joined us for the final performance in Paris as did Armin Zanner, who, having recovered from laryngitis, stayed for the remainder of the tour.


outside, sounded like a freight train approaching once inside. Strangely contrasting with this was the surprisingly loud sound of birds singing! We found JP, who had gone ahead to set up the special double-ended pianos, battling against this cacophony, trying to tune them (the pianos, not the birds!). There are only 40 of these unusual pianos in the world and we would be using 8 of them during the course of the tour. The inside of the barn was bone-chillingly cold so our conductor, Leonardo Gasparini, told the students to keep their coats on for the concert. Luckily the rain eased off and the birds fell silent by the time the concert started and the extremely appreciative audience gave the performers a standing ovation.


The following morning we made an early start to go to the next venue, St Omer. On arrival we had lunch and then on to the venue where there was a short rehearsal followed by the concert at 4.30pm. Then straight on to Paris (making a total of 585 km for the day). Unfortunately one student developed a painful abscess under a tooth and had to return to London to seek treatment.


For our first full day in Paris we had the day free to explore the city. The 5pm rehearsal was replaced by a talk by Margarita Mazo, the editor of the new


GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS • AUTUMN / WINTER 2010 19


The final leg of the tour took us north to Rouen Opera House; with 1000 seats it had


three times the capacity of any of the previous venues.


The following day we returned to Paris to catch the Eurostar home. Weary from long coach journeys (around 1700 km in all) and sleep-deprived we went our separate ways. All the concerts had been extremely well received and it was a valuable experience for all concerned. We all learned to cope with the sometimes adverse conditions and still managed to put on six super concerts.


v Janet Farmer Co-ordinator, Opera and Vocal Studies


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