My 25th wedding anniversary. Tess Knighton (author, broadcaster, sometimes journalist and lecturer at Cambridge University) and for me most importantly, my wife and mother of our beloved son Samuel, are separated by some thousand kilometers today. This being the distance between the best Music Festival in the world and our house near Granada in Andalucia. Thank you Tess for putting up with my craziness and moods this last quarter of a century. I am a lucky...
5.00 am I continue markings for Haydn 'Stabat Mater' which begins rehearsal this weekend. Music of serene beauty from his Esterhaza years and a most extensive setting of this most celebrated text. It clearly meant a lot to Haydn as his setting runs to over 70 minutes. In fact it was not common for Austrian composers to set this Marian text in the late 18c. The tendency was to set the 'Salve regina'. All of which speculation will not get this job done (there are many discrepancies in the urtext bowings and phrasings, which I must resolve) so I press...
A morning spent marking orchestral parts and then a delightful lunch at the home of Mike and Ute Schlie in Hallwang. There I meet the fine director Johannes Schaaf,who is in Salzburg for take part in cultural forum on the Festival for O1(The impressive Austrian classical radio station). Afterwards I have a restful afternoon in anticipation of this evening's 'Theodora' performance. Possibly our best yet and the public response is overwhelming. There is a truly Festival-like atmosphere afterwards at Triangel where performers from both Theodora and the impressive Nono opera 'Gran sole' have congregated. I leave (relatively) early as...
19.00 One hour before the concert and I am shown to my makeshift dressing room in the sacristy. I enjoy a privileged stroll through the St. Peter's gardens and inner cloister, a place of mesmeric beauty and tranquility not normally publicly accessible. In front of the church guests and performers are arriving from all directions to congregate in the beautiful square accompanied by the sounds of first, our soloists and then shortly afterwards, the choir warming up. I am mistaken for a priest by a group of the same,when I explain that I come from London I hear them discussing amongst...
10.30 am Dress Rehearsal. We do the job... and well. This General Rehearsal has , for me at least ,a special atmosphere. We make small corrections at the end, with the public still in place. Stefan Rosu (manager of the Mozarteum Orchestra) introduces me to an American conductor who will take part in a two-orchestra project our Mozarteum orchestra will take part in as part of our Autumn USA tour. I would love to have lunch but the previous days exertions lead me to decide to rest before the evening concert. For the same reason I do not attend...
Long day ahead. Three rehearsals planned on this piece. I arrive to hear a little of Alois Glassner's warm-up rehearsal with the Bach Choir. They are working very hard and also in the middle of preparations for two other projects as well as singing our Theodora performances. We cannot fit as many singers in St. Peter's as we can on the stage of the Festival house and the C minor mass divides into two choirs at various points. I rehearse choir and orchestra all afternoon putting most of my energy into the choir at this point. My orchestra is wonderfully...
After last night's late finish I am relieved there is no morning rehearsal. I do however have a lunchtime meeting with Roland Geyer (the Intendant of Teater an der Wien) for which I am late, thanks to the torrential rain and the consequent impressive queue on Neutorstrasse leading to the Moenchsberg garage. His charm and erudition shine through in his conversation as does his balanced view of life. We discuss our future projects as well as our families and the difficulties of work/life balance. It turns out that we have both at some point taken on a 'rescue' dog and...
I wake up very early knowing it will be a long time before I see my bed again. Today we have the second Mozart Matinee Concert and in the evening a concertante performance of Theodora in Ingolstadt. This is a yearly event for the Salzburg Festival for the main sponsor AUDI and this year we are the final concert in their summer music Festival.I arrive at the Mozarteum at 9.30am and Rob Howarth, our fine harpsichordist is on tuning duty as Ken (Smith) has to tune for six different events this Sunday! Concert goes really well. Mozarteum Orchestra on great form...
Early start do drive my family to the airport. Our two whippets (Minky and Thierry) will be missing Tess and Sam. After a brief stop at our Cambridge home they are heading to our house near Granada in Andalucia where many visitors are expected. I will join them after the festival. Then over to the Mozarteum to meet with Ruth (Ziesak). Our interval rehearsal the previous evening was of course not very long! We organise ourselves and meet the Mozarteum Orchestra at 10.00 am. Ruth is naturally musical and wins the orchestra's admiration quickly with her professionalism. Concert proceeds well. Our...
Many phone calls regarding our soloist situation and various plans are made for possible scenarios including putting the Mozarteum Orchestra on standby for extra rehearsal with any new soloist. We expect news from Genia by midday. I spend the morning marking orchestral parts for future projects. 12.00- Bad news. Genia cannot sing. She must be careful with the incipient one. We understand but must now move fast. A few hours later Matthias has secured the services of the formidable Ruth Ziesak who has agreed to sing both concerts despite having a Lieder Abend planned for the Attersee Festival on Sunday night....
