Northern Serenades

Rehearsing in the Johannes Church, Helsinki, Finland

This past weekend, I took a trip to the most northern place I've ever visited so far - Helsinki, Finland. I had the most fantastic time exploring the city and spending time the English Chamber Orchestra, who were my phenomenal musical partners-in-crime for our performances of Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings. The most stunning thing about being so far North was how long the daylight would last - I've never experienced so many hours of light in one day before. Our second concert was also the final concert of the Helsinki Spring Light Chamber Music Festival, which is aptly named. Even though our concerts didn't end until just after 9pm each night, the sun was still quite high in the sky, not setting until well after 10pm. It was nice to leave concerts during the daylight for a change.

Our final concert was broadcast live online - in case you'd like to see it, you can still watch it online here until May 24. The Britten Serenade starts roughly around minute 57:00.

I hope you enjoy!

Questions on the Train

Hi there...

Sorry for my absence this past month. I got a bit overwhelmed with all the music and travel and good times. It was fun, but I fell of the blogging wagon, so to speak...

I'll have more soon, but in the meantime, here's a video I stumbled across last month. Interesting questions, interesting responses - stick with it until the end, if you have the 12 minutes or so...it's worth it.