All safely home

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

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...

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

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)

clip of Frances singing "At Last"

Sing, Sing, Sing

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...