Well done to everyone. An adventurous return journey, but everyone safe and returned to their parents.
We will release a DVD in the near future which documents our trip. Now to start planning for the reciprocal visit next June when we hope Markham students will join us in the Royal Albert Hall!
The next Symphony Orchestra performance will be on Saturday 19th September in Alexandra Palace. Rehearsals for that are Wednesday 9th and 16th.
PD
Thursday, 3 September 2015
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
On our way home
Today we visited the Larco Museum which is full of ancient Peruvian pottery.
After lunch we set off for the airport and then queued for about two and a half hours to check in. The first group have now set off for Amsterdam and the second group is about to board. All going smoothly so far...
After lunch we set off for the airport and then queued for about two and a half hours to check in. The first group have now set off for Amsterdam and the second group is about to board. All going smoothly so far...
Tuesday, 1 September 2015
Last concerts
Today (Tuesday 1st September) was an easier day in that we took most of the morning to relax, although the guitarists had a workshop with Markham students.
After an early lunch we gave our final two concerts in two assembly slots at the end of the school day. We were very well received and it was quite emotional realising that these were to be our last performances in Peru and also the last concerts for some of our older players.
After the concerts, we had a group photo in front of the school library and then relaxed for half an hour before attending a recital of Andean folk music directed by Wilfredo. This was very inspirational and they played beautifully on traditional instruments, including the charango, quena and zamponas. We were enthralled if a little tired after the adrenaline rush of our own concerts.
Tomorrow is our last day and involves a visit to the museum before travelling to the airport for our journey home.
PD
After an early lunch we gave our final two concerts in two assembly slots at the end of the school day. We were very well received and it was quite emotional realising that these were to be our last performances in Peru and also the last concerts for some of our older players.
After the concerts, we had a group photo in front of the school library and then relaxed for half an hour before attending a recital of Andean folk music directed by Wilfredo. This was very inspirational and they played beautifully on traditional instruments, including the charango, quena and zamponas. We were enthralled if a little tired after the adrenaline rush of our own concerts.
Tomorrow is our last day and involves a visit to the museum before travelling to the airport for our journey home.
PD
The big concert and the longest day
Monday was the most tiring day for us. We started with Stage
Band visiting one school and Guitars another to give short concerts on the way
to Newton College, a beautiful private school up in the hills on the way to
Manchay. At Newton, we gave 2 concerts in the extremely large theatre
before having a lovely lunch in the large cafeteria, with wonderful views of
the surrounding mountains.
After lunch we had a brief half hour to
relax, though some of the youngsters chose to play football or race each other
on the running track! We then split into three groups; strings, guitars
and wind/brass, for workshops with Newton students.
At 4.30 we left Newton and headed back to
Markham College. Following a brief snack, we then gave our big public
concert. HYM had the first half:
Guitar Group:
Sailor's Hornpipe
Pirates of the Caribbean
Wild Mountain Thyme
Venezuelan Waltz
Big Band (including several guest players
from Markham):
Encuentro
At Last (featuring Frances Cummings &
Henry Davidson)
Orchestra (conducted by Thomas Gregory):
Suite from Holst's The Planets
Mars
Venus
Jupiter
Massed ensemble:
Bohemian Rhapsody - arranged and conducted
by Thomas Gregory
The audience were extremely enthusiastic
and we also had the opportunity to publicly thank the school and the host
families.
The second half of the concert was shared
with the choir and orchestra of Sinfonia
por El Peru, directed by
Espartaco Lavalle. After some beautiful performances of Peruvian music, we
joined them to form an orchestra of nearly 200 young people and played
Radetzky March
Trepak (from The Nutcracker)
1812 Overture
El Condor Pasa
La Mariposa
This morning we are relaxing, though the
guitar group are doing a workshop with Markham students...
Monday, 31 August 2015
Orquestando and Parque Kennedy
Yesterday was possibly the most musically rewarding to date. In the morning we visited Educadores, which is a school in a more deprived area of Lima where the Orquestando programme runs on Sundays. The director there is Wilfredo Tarazona, who also works in the National Conservatoire of Music and is highly esteemed by everyone who knows him from students to professors. A very clever, gentle and kind man.
His orchestra played some Peruvian music to us and then we squeezed in amongst them (it was not a big room!) to read through Danzón no. 2 by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. This is an exciting piece of music with lots of contrasts and some very exciting rhythms that are a little unusual for European players to sight-read.
After this we played the first of Malcolm Arnold's Four Scottish Dances to them before inviting them to play Lord of the Dance with us which is the music taken from the show Riverdance, featuring some mean Irish fiddling in the violins. It was fun to see the Peruvians grappling with that too! I was very emotional conducting this huge orchestra of young people and realising a dream that started with my visit here a year ago. It was very exciting.
As the room was so small and we could not rearrange quickly, the Big Band then played Impact Zone, directed with great energy by Chris Stripp. Some of the Peruvian trombone and tuba players joined in, resulting in an awesome sound at the moments when it cheekily quotes the main theme from Holst's Mars, which we have also been playing this week.
Nick Walker was nervous that the guitar group would be an anticlimax after this, but Wilfredo told everyone to be very quiet and listen. The guitar group performed Wild Mountain Thyme (aka "will you go lassie go") to all of us and many were moved to tears by this sublime moment. We then had a group photo in the playground. We will meet Orquestando again tomorrow, when we will give a joint concert (our final performance) at Markham College.
The afternoon was no less exciting with the Big Band & Stage Band performing in Kennedy Park. On arrival I realised that my romanticised memory of a park full of ferule cats was somewhat incomplete as the smell, particularly in the small sunken auditorium where we were to perform, was a little overpowering! Setting up was a challenge as the steps on which we had to sit were already occupied by several pensioners who go there everyday to dance Salsa (albeit very sedately!). Most of them moved for us but one old couple stubbornly held their ground despite some deliberately enthusiastic warming up immediately behind them, much to the amusement of others in the audience who could see what was going on!
The auditorium was packed and we played for an hour and a quarter to rapturous applause, alternating Stage Band and Big Band numbers, but daring not to change seats for fear of losing them. Our last item was Sing, Sing, Sing, which concludes with the whole band standing and playing with assorted moves, making for quite a spectacle. The audience insisted on an encore, so we then played Blues for John, and every member of the band stood at some point to improvise a solo. It was very exciting and Nathaniel's drum solo at the end was fantastic. Everyone was delighted and we left on a high.
PD
His orchestra played some Peruvian music to us and then we squeezed in amongst them (it was not a big room!) to read through Danzón no. 2 by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. This is an exciting piece of music with lots of contrasts and some very exciting rhythms that are a little unusual for European players to sight-read.
After this we played the first of Malcolm Arnold's Four Scottish Dances to them before inviting them to play Lord of the Dance with us which is the music taken from the show Riverdance, featuring some mean Irish fiddling in the violins. It was fun to see the Peruvians grappling with that too! I was very emotional conducting this huge orchestra of young people and realising a dream that started with my visit here a year ago. It was very exciting.
As the room was so small and we could not rearrange quickly, the Big Band then played Impact Zone, directed with great energy by Chris Stripp. Some of the Peruvian trombone and tuba players joined in, resulting in an awesome sound at the moments when it cheekily quotes the main theme from Holst's Mars, which we have also been playing this week.
Nick Walker was nervous that the guitar group would be an anticlimax after this, but Wilfredo told everyone to be very quiet and listen. The guitar group performed Wild Mountain Thyme (aka "will you go lassie go") to all of us and many were moved to tears by this sublime moment. We then had a group photo in the playground. We will meet Orquestando again tomorrow, when we will give a joint concert (our final performance) at Markham College.
The afternoon was no less exciting with the Big Band & Stage Band performing in Kennedy Park. On arrival I realised that my romanticised memory of a park full of ferule cats was somewhat incomplete as the smell, particularly in the small sunken auditorium where we were to perform, was a little overpowering! Setting up was a challenge as the steps on which we had to sit were already occupied by several pensioners who go there everyday to dance Salsa (albeit very sedately!). Most of them moved for us but one old couple stubbornly held their ground despite some deliberately enthusiastic warming up immediately behind them, much to the amusement of others in the audience who could see what was going on!
The auditorium was packed and we played for an hour and a quarter to rapturous applause, alternating Stage Band and Big Band numbers, but daring not to change seats for fear of losing them. Our last item was Sing, Sing, Sing, which concludes with the whole band standing and playing with assorted moves, making for quite a spectacle. The audience insisted on an encore, so we then played Blues for John, and every member of the band stood at some point to improvise a solo. It was very exciting and Nathaniel's drum solo at the end was fantastic. Everyone was delighted and we left on a high.
PD
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Yesterday we drove up into the hills to a shanty town called Manchay. The living conditions are markedly different to Lima and very definitely 3rd World. People live in very basic buildings or shacks perched precariously on steep hillsides with narrow dirt tracks leading to the bottom. Despite this the people seemed happy and were extremely welcoming to us. We went to visit a "Sinfonia por El Peru" project based in a church. Santiago, the administrator, told us a little background to the project and explained that the children come everyday. Most of them do not have fathers as a consequence of the civil war.
They had a small jazz band who played a couple of tunes to us. Our Big Band then played a couple of tunes to them before we did a massed performance of "Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones, a tune which may be familiar to you from the "Austin Powers" films.
We then heard their orchestra play some Tchaikovsky and some traditional Peruvian pieces. The oldest players are around 14 and they were very impressive. Our orchestra reciprocated by performing a piece of Irish music which was also well received. We were the treated to some very tasty locally prepared food, which we had not expected and was very humbling. Esme and friends then showed off their Spanish, engaging in discussion with some of the Peruvian kids whilst taking a welcome break from the intense sunshine.
Whilst this was happening the Guitar Group and the Stage Band were performing in the National Conservatoire of Music in central Lima, where they also had a terrific reception.
We all met up again at the Municipal Theatre, where we were treated to a tour of the opulent building (a marked contrast to where we had been) and an impromptu performance of traditional Peruvian music and dance in the courtyard. Nick Walker did sterling work as our translator, though looked rather shocked when the chief dancer produced a very large pair of scissors, which turned out to be a hand held percussion instrument. The dances were amazing!
This was followed by our second rehearsal with the massed orchestra with Sinfonia por El Peru in the Municipal Theatre. We will share our only public orchestral concert with them tomorrow evening.
The day was rounded off by a meal in the Eau de Vie restaurant which is run by French nuns. The atmosphere was very welcoming and the food very tasty. Before leaving, we listened to the nuns singing and reciprocated with an off the cuff vocalisation of "La Mariposa" which we have been playing at the end of most concerts.
The end is in sight, but still a lot of music and fun to experience...
They had a small jazz band who played a couple of tunes to us. Our Big Band then played a couple of tunes to them before we did a massed performance of "Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones, a tune which may be familiar to you from the "Austin Powers" films.
We then heard their orchestra play some Tchaikovsky and some traditional Peruvian pieces. The oldest players are around 14 and they were very impressive. Our orchestra reciprocated by performing a piece of Irish music which was also well received. We were the treated to some very tasty locally prepared food, which we had not expected and was very humbling. Esme and friends then showed off their Spanish, engaging in discussion with some of the Peruvian kids whilst taking a welcome break from the intense sunshine.
Whilst this was happening the Guitar Group and the Stage Band were performing in the National Conservatoire of Music in central Lima, where they also had a terrific reception.
We all met up again at the Municipal Theatre, where we were treated to a tour of the opulent building (a marked contrast to where we had been) and an impromptu performance of traditional Peruvian music and dance in the courtyard. Nick Walker did sterling work as our translator, though looked rather shocked when the chief dancer produced a very large pair of scissors, which turned out to be a hand held percussion instrument. The dances were amazing!
This was followed by our second rehearsal with the massed orchestra with Sinfonia por El Peru in the Municipal Theatre. We will share our only public orchestral concert with them tomorrow evening.
The day was rounded off by a meal in the Eau de Vie restaurant which is run by French nuns. The atmosphere was very welcoming and the food very tasty. Before leaving, we listened to the nuns singing and reciprocated with an off the cuff vocalisation of "La Mariposa" which we have been playing at the end of most concerts.
The end is in sight, but still a lot of music and fun to experience...
Thursday, 27 August 2015
Comments from some players
Some great performances were given yesterday, firstly by the whole group in St George's, another local school, then later by the Big Band in the open air at Markham College. The Markham students had a picnic lunch whilst we played and were especially enthusiastic whenever our players stood up to take solos.
Here a few comments from HYM on their experiences so far…
Here a few comments from HYM on their experiences so far…
So far my experience in Peru has been amazing I can’t
believe that the kids here love playing an instrument because for me it is just
torture. I’m really grateful that I have been able to come on tour with
Haringey Young Musicians and meet new friends, but mainly I’ve enjoyed
performing and shining like a star. :)
All good in Peru.
A OK.
Peru has been fun so far and it is great experience. I feel that I have grown a few mm closer to the majority of people in HYM and I feel that this will be a great memory to look back on later in life.
My experience in Peru so far has been great. I love the atmosphere, the culture, the food, and I am pretty sure I will love what is yet to come.
I’m loving being in Peru with HYM. The host families have been wonderful, and the food has been delicious. It’s been great meeting the other students and learning about the history and culture of Peru, not to mention how much our playing has improved. I can’t wait to go sight seeing with the family on our day off and exploring other aspects of Peru further.
All good in Peru.
A OK.
Peru has been fun so far and it is great experience. I feel that I have grown a few mm closer to the majority of people in HYM and I feel that this will be a great memory to look back on later in life.
My experience in Peru so far has been great. I love the atmosphere, the culture, the food, and I am pretty sure I will love what is yet to come.
I’m loving being in Peru with HYM. The host families have been wonderful, and the food has been delicious. It’s been great meeting the other students and learning about the history and culture of Peru, not to mention how much our playing has improved. I can’t wait to go sight seeing with the family on our day off and exploring other aspects of Peru further.
Being in Peru is an amazing experience! Our host family is
lovely and we love the food, the music is great. We can’t wait to come back for
future visits. We’ve played in many different venues and
are getting better as an orchestra every day. Every one is so friendly here and
we’re all getting on well together. I’ve made some new friends, which is nice.
It’s such a nice friendly atmosphere, can’t wait for the rest of the trip!
We have never felt so zen in our lives, until last night
when we joined in on our host’s yoga session. We now look forward to our crazy
Saturday night during which we have planned to go out salsa dancing. Hopefully
we won’t be too tired for the Peruvian Maestro in the morning!
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