Back to London

So I am now sitting in my room trying to write the first major assignment of the year. I have to finish it today but it will be fine by now.

I am very happy to be back in London. The first week of classes has been fun and invigorating. I had a fantastic lesson with my teacher Walter Reiter. It was one of those lessons where I turn up tired but totally forget that I am by the end of it. My academic classes were also exciting and things are getting quite busy with lots of performances planned for the spring semester. Indeed the first is comming up in little more than a week. We are performing core pieces from the 18th century orchestral repertoire at a lunchtime concert at Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich on Tuesday 22nd at 1pm. (It is really at 1.05 or some such but that is hard too remember.)

In other news I have moved rooms in the house where I live in Kentish Town. I still share a room but we now have more space which is really nice. It is also warmer since we have double windows! I am getting started on lots of new repertoire and things are looking good. I really hope I can keep this positive. It makes such a difference.

3 month revisited

So I never got around to writing any more in 2007. I willtry to give a little survey of what I have been doing since I stoppd writing in October.

Early November at Trinity College of Music means "Greenwich Early Music Festival." I saw a chance to get a my first payed job at this occasion and I thus ushered for the entire 3 days of the festival - both for the instrument exhibition and for various concerts. I also performed in a concert in the Royal Naval Chapel with the other early music students... Pretty busy.

Trinity College is sometimes turned into a film set so one fine day we could see the following from our rehearsalroom...

The rest of the fall I was very focused on writing a thesis proposal which was part of my application for the DMus program at Royal College of Music. Right now I am waiting to hear from them. If they take me on I will be very happy but if not I have other things I can do - I can continue my studies at Trinity but I am also considering just taking private lessons and getting a part time job as a music teacher... Time will show.

My housemates were very kind in letting me use their computers at lot. I turned in the thesis proposal right before I left for Denmark for the holidays so there were some hectic times in December.

My travels home were rather uneventful and I was expecting to have a quite few weeks at home. Indeed my stay started out that way but...

One day I was reading a local paper where I learned that a production of New Years Concerts were being put on in Rønne (the biggest city on my home island). I called my old highschool music teacher to tell her that if they needed more violins I was around...

Turned out they did and the very next day I had a call from the conductor Mogens Dam. Right before christmas I got a big stack of music and peace was over.

I spent the rest of 2007 (from 26th and on) in rehearsal and performance and I must say it was a great initiative. The concerts took place in the old "electric plant" which is very beautiful but has been neclected. The team hehind the procution had transformed the space into a concerthall and built a stage and podiums for audiences.

Apart from the orchestra a choir, professional opera singers, local dancers (children, adults, folk), jugglers and dancers from the Royal Danish Ballet took part in this huge production. There were 4 concerts and all were close to sold out (the first two were). It was great fun.

Now I am getting ready to go back to London for another semester. It looks like I am going to be rather busy with lots of concerts and projects for classes I am taking.

I am also going to visit the U.S. (Oberlin and NY.) in early April about which I am excited and hopefull for the next term