Amazing music

Have just been to a lovely concert at Holy Trinity tonight. It was Bach's cello suites by candlelight, given by Orlando Jopling, as part of his cello pilgrimage.

This is quite an amazing effort on his part to help churches all over the country raise money towards the restoration or maintenance of their buildings. He plays and the church organises everything and then keeps the proceeds.

But this was not only worth doing to help keep the church roof above our heads for a bit longer. Orlando performed beautifully. I'm no great cello or Bach connossieur but, as a musician, I know that the technique, musicianship and dedication needed to be able to play music like that is breathtaking. At one point his solo cello sounded like a string quartet, playing 3 or 4 notes at the same time.

It was such a treat, not only to be in the audience (don't do that nearly as often as I should or as I'd like) but to hear such a good performance. If he's coming to a church near you, I'd heartily recommend him.

Town Hall debut

Been meaning to post about this for the last week but events have overtaken somewhat.

One of the great treats I get in my musician guise is to be able to appear in the same performances as Mike. I guess that it shouldn't be a surprise, as we met through musical things, but it is a lovely thing to be able to do. It's made even more special these days as it's such a rare occurrence, because one of us is generally babysitting.

However, last Saturday was one such occasion and a great experience to share. WMP Brass Band played in a Coppers for Kids concert at the recently re-opened Birmingham Town Hall and I was asked to sing a "number" with them. The Town Hall is absolutely amazing and one of the more intimidating places I've sung in as the balcony seats just feel like they rise up right in front of you and keep going up.

The Hall has been very beautifully finished. The ceiling is glorious but, to improve the acoustics, they have had to put sound "buffers" (not sure of their real name) in. However, they haven't lost the beauty of the ceiling as the buffers are simply made out of clear stuff (technical term is quite beyond me, sorry) so you can see straight through them to the intricate work underneath.

This isn't the ceiling - obviously it's the organ....

All in all a great treat. The band played well, I got to sing in an amazing venue, the choirs we joined were very good and the good folk of Birmingham were treated to the sight of the drum corps, bagpipes and fanfare team practising outside the stage door in Chamberlain Square. Let's just say that they've had more private rehearsals.....