Friday, August 22, 2008

An EUBO summer


After having updated and translated most of my website into Danish I thought it was time to have a look at my blog which I have neglected for better or worse for quite a while. Not that I could have done much differently - I only got my own computer back a few days ago and I have been quite busy.

Most of my summer has been occupied by the European Union Baroque Orchestra's summer tour. Before the tour I spent quite a while speculating and getting ready - and when I got home it took quite a while to get back to a normal life.

I had no idea what to expect from the EUBO. However the learning experience was much greater than I would ever had thought both as a musician and as a person. I cannot say exactly what I learned but by the end of the tour I had a confidence that I have not had before about being part of an ensemble and I cannot wait to get back to my two ensembles and apply the things I have learned.




The ensemble met up in Echternach, Luxembough for 10 days of rehearsal. I was somehow surprised about the free time and enjoyed walking around town and the surrounding country side alone or with colleagues. Echternach is on the boarder of Luxembourgh and by crossing a river one is suddenly in Germany! The picture of Echternach is taken from the hills just acrosse the River. Apart from this there was time to practise and of course going out for dinner and the (for me) occasional drink at the local bar in the evening.

The rehearsal period seems now to have taken place in the very distant past! We did however have a wonderful time. We worked hard, had lots of fun and sometimes some fustrations. We also had a team of film makers following us. They were making a pubicity dokumentary about the orchestra. Lars Ulrik Mortensen - our director - was amazingly inspiring. I have experienced him one before when he came to direct the Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music so I had some idea of what it would be like but I really came to respect him during this period. The rehearsals were the best structured I have experiences so far. We covered what was intended and there was time both for play throughs and for polishing details. Apart from that LUM is just lots of fun and so full of energy and excess body movement! In addition we had sectionals where the ensemble within the groups were founded.

After a concert in Echternach the tour went on to Estonia where we performed in Tartu and Talinn in Estonie, Riga in Latvia, Reims in France, Hannover in Germany and finally in Turku in Finland. We stayed in a variey of hotels all of high standard but also very different. The most 'interesting' was the hotel in Tartu which had art on the walls. I was happy I did not have to stay in a room with naked ladies! We performed in a variety of venues such as old churches, Guild halls, theaters and concert halls. Each hall had it's own character and the rehearsals on tour were often focused on getting used to the hall. We had wonderful audiences.
Most impressive were the audiences in Reims. The first concert had free entrance and the line formed more than an hour before the concert. We had a full hall for both concerts there. In Talinn we had a very samll audience but made up of true music lovers and it was a joy to perform in such a setting...
I could tell much more about the tour but it is getting late and I am sure that other people from EUBO will report around the internet. Several members have posted pictures on facebook and I will also post some more pictures on my website soon - hopefully.
Right now I am getting ready to move back to London. I will join EUBO again in December. In a way I am sad that I will not be going on the two other fall tours - but I need the time to get started on my new degree and to work with my ensembles and get a job.

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