Grim Challenge 2007

Last Saturday i partook in what has become Guildhall tradition, a tradition which I was involved in the starting of four years ago...........

Every winter, a group of rather brave (or nuts?) souls, travel south to Aldershot to run eight miles through mud, water, obstacles and the pain barrier. This year four people survived the GRIM CHALLENGE!!!!


This years GRIM was a bit of a fiasco though, as the rental car acquired for the day refused to start wit a flat battery. This meant that two of the seven runners had to miss out as the rest of us squeezed into a Fiesta. The fifth member was forced not to run with a duff knee and stayed to take photos on the sidelines.

The next fiasco was that, after half an hour trying to start the rental car, we were running rather late. We arrived just on time to hear the announcer on the tannoy shout 3,2,1 GO and watch the 3000 runners setting off. The clock was at 5:00 by the time we got our gear on, pinned on our numbers and crossed the starting line. It took about 5 minutes proper running to catch the main group and the rest of the race, sometimes waist high in freezing water, was spent overtaking. Finishing time was 1:39:14 and my place was about 1100th, although did not get an official placing because my chip fell off in the rush to the start line. The others finished at different times one 310th (having disappeared into the distance about 10 minutes in) and the other two in the 1300s

At the end, four rather stiff but very pleased runners received T-Shirts an piled into the car for a pub lunch, a lazy afternoon and, definitely in my case anyway, an early night.

Photos can be found on my facebook or one official one here

Baby you can drive my car.......

As a freelance musician, one is left at the mercies of public transport, relying on catching every connection on a train journey, or else spending a night sleeping on a train platform or a small fortune on taxi or B and B are a very real possibility. Turning down work because there is no nearby train station is equally depressing.

Having decided that I have gone long enough depending on public transport for every single gig, I decided last month to finally get a license and a car. Horrid waiting lists in Ireland and 4 years studying in london have hindered this process somewhat, so the best and easiest option was to do t over here.

28 days and 3 lessons after receiving my Provisional license, I am now a fully qualified driver (that must be some sort of record). I was incredibly lucky to get a cancellation test only a week after starting to look and the test itself went very smoothly.

I am now looking for my first car, with the assistance of an old friend of our favorite organ tuners. Reanault Clio, Ford Fiesta or Vuaxhall Corsa have all been suggested as resonable cars which will not cripple me on insurance. Next week I am doing an advanced course which will significantly reduce my insurance cost also. Will keep you updated on my progress as I plan to own my own car within a few weeks. Aren't you proud?......

London Son BMus (Hons)

The horns of 2007:

Having achieved what many thought was impossible, and acquiring a degree (albeit a music degree). The time came for me to collect my degree. I was very honored that Our and Our Mother were able to attend my graduation ceremony. It was also a superb chance to catch up with my colleagues of the year of 2007, many of whom are studying or working abroad. The horns of 2007 reconvened for the first time in over 6 months.



The ceremony was held at the impressive and very prestigious Great Hall of the Guildhall of the City of London; not the unimpressive and not very prestigious Semigreat Hall of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as the parents had assumed. Once the robes were donned and many thousands of photos taken we filed into the Great Hall to receive our degrees and various points of wisdom from the Mayor of London and other important people. It was actually a very meaningful and dare I say moving ceremony, followed by free wine and food.

As an extra bonus, Our Parents had time the following day to travel down to the Isle of Wight, where I was working and managed to get to my concert that evening. I believe they had a super day exploring and rediscovering spots of interest from Our Fathers past, I presume their blog contains details?? They then drove me home which was rather nice, although we did get rather lost in London. They even bought me a nice coat before leaving the following afternoon.

Catch Up

In my efforts to remember what I have done in the last 6 months it has dawned on me what a busy boy I have been.

I left you in Zurich, towards the end of the EUYO tour. This then went to Kazakhstan where we played in two cities, the new capital Astana (only ten years old and nothing more than a building site the size of a medium sized city) and the old capital Almaty (beside the mountains that form the border of Kazakhstan and China. The culture of this country was so different than anything I have ever seen and the girls were incredibly beautiful, combining the best features of China, Mongolia and Russia. Borat could not be any further from the truth.

After the tour most of my efforts were concentrated on preparing my final recital and passing my degree. I am now the proud owner of a degree from a respected music college and my name is now eight letters longer (See updated name above) . Not quite in league with our father but working on it as I will shortly be starting my Masters, also in the GSMD.

This summer I was a traveling musician (or minstral) My dulcet tones were heard in Bantry House, Devon, Cornwall, London, Dublin, several Italian towns, all over Surrey and various other interesting places. I also feature in two new Irish/Pop crossover DVDs, for Celtic man and (real originality here!) Celtic woman. If you see either of these bands on tv in the near future there is a reasonably good chance of also seeing me.


That pretty much brings us up to date. An update on the various animals is still to follow.

Long Absence

It has been a rather long time since anything has been written on my blog. I will update you briefly on the rest of the tour (now 6 months late) and give a quick synopsis of my many and varied activities since. The progress of the animals (tarantulas and housemates) must also be commented on before normal service can be resumed. Watch this space......

Italy

Zurich behind us I found myself in Genoa, although not really in it. The hotel chosen for us was a good half hour travelling from the centre. The management and arrangements were passed on to another group for these two concerts in Italy. Genoa is quite a rough place but quite pretty and full of life. After well over an hour searching the town centre on palm sunday we found a place to eat a pizza.

The next afternoon was a little more successful, with me and the pianist visiting the aquarium, the largest in Europe. The concert that evening was in the most impressive theatre. The stage and area above stretched upwards by about 14 storeys and downwards about 5 below our feet. And a really big hall.

The next evening we played in Bologna, which is a pleasant place but most were too tired to explore, my memory of the hall and the concert are quite sketchy, I think that it may have something to do with the 5 O Clock start the next morning to reach Bologna Airport for a flight shortly after 8 to Kazakhstan

Our Parents art in Zurich

After another mammoth bus journey I found myself, for the first time, in Switzerland. We have reahed the stage in a tour where people often have to ask "hang on... what country are we in" and I start getting strange looks for talking German in an Italian shop ect.

I was distinctinctly looking forward to arriving in Zurich as it was planned that kid sister would be visiting. The meeting happened without incident until kid sister said to me "I am really sorry" and I saw our parents grinning at me from across the hotel foyer. This was a pleasant surprise indeed, but not the first time the parents have snuck up on me on a tour. In 2005 they appeared in Berlin at the end of a 10 hour train journey and gave me the a little shock.

Our Parents buying me dinner:

Kid Sis and Brand New Classical Buff:

Kid sis was accompanied by a friend from college and it would turn out to be her first classical concert, I hope a rather good introduction to the genre? We went for a nice italian meal near their hotel in the old town before I had to run and change for the show. They then (eventually) worked out how the tram worked and joined me briefly in my hotel for a drink before saying goodbye. A unexpected and fleeting visit, but one that gave me much joy, I thank all four of you for visiting, and I hope you enjoyed your time, even though I was probably phased out from too much travelling.


After one night in a brand new (2 weeks old) and really pleasant hotel we left for Italy again, and less than 24 hours after crossing the border we said goodbye to Switzerland.

Travels in Foreign Lands

This is the view from a Mc Donalds somewhere in Austria on the way to Bolzano
"Would you like some amazing view with your cheeseburger, sir?"

First of all, apologies for the lateness of this post, also check earlier posts for photos.

Having left Garmisch-Partenkirchen our first port of call was a familiar place, Bolzano in the Italian Alps, A city which has been changing hands between Germany and Italy for hundreds of years. Therefore they haven't really decided which culture and language to use. It is nevertheless a pretty, energetic and friendly place.

View along the river in Bolzano:

This section of a tour is always hectic, often travelling and performing on the same day, which means that there are some citys on this tour which there is not much to say about. In Bolzano we did have a little time to convene with some old friends in our rival orchestra; the Gustov Mahler Youth Orchestra who were resident in Bolzano before setting off on their own tour.

Another highlight was being taken, with the flutes and other Irish people for dinner with Sir James. Expensive Italian food, fine wine and lots of anecdotal stories were on the menu.

One concert and ten hour bus journey and we found ourselves in Wiesbaden, Germany. Here we had our first 5 Star hotel of the tour as well as the nicest hall of the tour. I finally managed to get a hair cut, but achieved very little else. For the entire travelling part of the tour, the only effective survival method for all but the craziest (lithuanian) people is the afternoon nap, so I had one of them instead of exploring this pretty, but quite industrial city.

Final update before tour.....

Grüß Gott......

Last nights concert went very well and if you turned on the news at the right time you would have seen the Berlin group playing at the big conference treaty signing thingy. Tonight we perform Don Juan, the Rosenkavalier Suite, Ravels' Rapshodie Espagnol and The Nielson Flute Concerto (quite a sweet concert concert for the horns, as those of you in the know might realise)

After a week and a half I still never cease to be taken away by the beauty of Garmisch.... Although the mountains remain the same shape, they rarely look the same for more than a day. After 5 days of snow I am now wearing a T-shirt, even as the snow still melts on the side of the road. The sky is now so clear you feel like you could reach out and touch mountains over 10 miles away. Two days ago I was making snow angels on a balcony after a sauna.....

Tomorrow morning we leave this town, I am looking forward to reconviening with kid sis in Zurich in a few days, now I must go pick up my washing and have a nap, tonight is a big show and tomorrow will be a long day, I believe we are taking a bus through the Alps and into Italy, our destination tomorrow is another beautiful town called Bolzano. A place which already holds memories from previous trips, which reminds me that I should buy some shorts before we leave.

By the way, that little piece of German at the top is the typical Bavarian greeting, literally meaning "Hello God" or "Hello, God!" im not quite sure....

Ice hockey, diving boards and chamber music.

Since the last update there has been a lot of snow, snow ball conditions have been very good and the piste for arse sledding has been exceptional. It has also been quite cold outside so some time has been spent investigating some of the indoor activities available in the town. As an old Winter Olympics city there are many resourses for those sort of activities. Swimming has been a regular on the menu and ice skating (and ice gnomb racing) kept me very busy on thursday evening and the memories are being kept fresh by two nice blisters today.

On Friday the local ice hockey team were playing in the Play-Offs for the 2007 German League. That was an amazing event, really good atmosphere and I hadn't realised what a quick and exciting game ice hockey is. What I noticed was how much interplay there was between the announcer and the fans. whenever he said anything the spectaters would reply in perfect unison. Whenever Garmisch scored (they won 7-0) a giant flag would appear at the bottom of the fans stand and would be spread out by the fans until it covered the entire stand, quite an impressive sight in a big stadium.

Yesterday about a third of the orchestra headed for Berlin and we were left here preparing a chamber programme for tonight (Sunday). Tomorrow is the full concert and then on Tuesday morning we head to Italy.

Wedding Bells

On Wednesday the orchestra witnessed a first, the marraige of two current members during a tour. Erik and Laura were married in the Richard Strauss Instituit in Garmisch on a cool, sunny morning. As well as friends and family, members of the orchestra were allowed to attend and many people came as the couple have a long history with the orchestra.

The wedding march was played by four horns (we even got a mention in a local newspaper).

That evening a buffet was provided for the whole orchestra and the drinks were free. 280 liters of beer, several hundred shots, some cheeky scandal and a nightclub in town later and everyone was feeling a bit worn out, but a lovely night was had by all and we all give the lucky viola and harp playing couple our very best wishes.

First Snow

View from Hotel room window:
Same view the next morning:

Here is my first update, we arrived in Garmisch almost a week ago, I had forgotten how beautiful this place is, I can see the Zugspitz, the tallest mountain in Germany, from my hotel room window. The weather until today has been gorgeous and warm and just on cue today I woke up to find it snowing, once the clouds lifted this morning I saw that the mountains have changed their close and were wearing white to celebrate a new week.

As we did last year a select group of us have rented bikes, the best and only way to get around this city quickly, a few trips up the neighbouring valleys and mountain tracks have produced some spectacular views and shortness of breath, and a nice graze on my shoulder and hand from when my front wheel forgot to do its job on some gravel. I will work out how to upload pics soon I hope.

Rehearsals are going very well, the sectionals have finished and the whole orchestra have been together for two days now. I am finding my feet as the new official fourth horn of EUYO, every horn on the course auditioned for high horn so someone had to take on this different and sometimes challenging role. I am enjoying it immensely and the horn section is as good as any I have played with in this orchestra.

I am not with a small group who are making a little extra stop in Berlin but instead will be playing in a chamber music concert here before we embark on the quite busy tour schedule.

So, so far it is going really well, must go now to pick up my washing, have a hair cut at the Frissuer and dry clean my suit. Next update very shortly, there is a lot to tell.

Preparing for the Travels

The Beatles gave way for Strauss, who has surrendered to Elgar, while my preperations continue. Once the next load is out and hanging, and the sheets on the bed are changed, I will be running to buy a jacket, new suitcase and some happy crickets.

Tomorrow I am leaving on my four week oddesy of Europe and Kazakhstan. I will be spending 11 days in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the German Alps, then on to Bolzano in Italy, Wiesbaden, Zurich, Genoa, Bologna, Berlin, then across to Kazakhstan for concerts in Astana and Almaty. I suspect there will be a few other stops on the way to keep us on our toes too.

Meanwhile preparations here are only beginning.

With luck you should be able to see pictures while the tour happens. Highlights will include mountain cycles in Garmisch, Football matches, concert halls, hopefully an Italian beach or two, sun and snow (possibly on the same day, on my previous stay in Garmisch I have cycled to the hall in shorts and a t-shirt to find a fresh layer of snow in the evening)

The orchestra is the European Union Youth Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, who also happens to be a rather fine pianist, Sir James Galway will play on his flute, with his wife and Janine Janson will be with us on the Violin.

Keep checking, I am expecting many colorful pictures and storys over the next month, but for now, I'm off to buy some crickets.

Apologies for my absence......

Having recieved several threats, I believe it is about time to post something.......

Life has been super hectic, I have been playing two operas at the same time last week. Since the last post I have been in about 20 performances, three audtions, spent maybe 60 hours commuting, horn lessons, lectures, rehearsals, three games of squash, 11 frames of snooker, abused via blog 6 times, 12 crickets consumed by spiders, 2 exams, I even managed to fit in a few hours practice.

As you can see it has been a busy few weeks, it does unfortunately mean that I have had little time to do something blogworthy. The good news is that in two weeks I will be embarking on a four week tour to Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Kazachstan. Hopefully providing blogworthy news and pics of the Alps, beautiful cities, concert halls, European ladys and somewhere near Russia. As you might imagine I am looking forward to it immencely, it does mean that a return to Cork is unlikely during the Easter hols.

More news to follow soon. Please stop abusing me.

Another new blog on the block.....

Our heartiest congratulations to Kid Sis, the fourth clan member to have their very own blog. Her move to Strasbourg will mean that every child of Our Father and Mum of... will live in a different country. Our combined blogs should therefore be stimulating and varied reading.

We wish you the very best for your new blog.

I can take photos........

A turning point in the history of my blog has occured. After four years in London I finally have a credit rating worth mentioning. This means I can scrap the pay-as-you-go phone and move onto a much better value contract. The real upside is 3.2 mega pixels at no extra cost.


I have posted a few proper pics of my two lady's for your leisurely perusal....


Stella





Josephene
She is a little shy and I don't think these pics show the true size of this beast. In due course I will find better ways of giving a decent scale. Especially if I start take her out of the tank for a walk...

New Blog on the Block.....

The other cold one has finally joined the ranks of the blogger.
I look forward to many very chilly adventures, skiing children and musical adventures.
Welcome.

Guildhall Squash Club

Due to recent increased interest in the game of squash, which I have played on and off for the last 3 years, it has been decided to form the Guildhall Squash Club.

A ranking ladder has been concieved, upon which, after the initial qualifying matches of the founding members to decide ones starting place (or seed), members will be allowed to challange a player up to three places above them on the board. A succesful challange will allow the winner to take the other's place on the ladder, dropping the other players overtaken by one place. An unsuccesful challange leaves the challanger in the same position.

Matches will occur during the week and particurarly a weekly group session, lasting an hour and a half, attended by about 8 people.

Could the it minded among you please advise me as to the best way to set up the gsc website, preferably for free. As co-founder I have decided that things should be done properly.

Josephine

Firstly, apologies for the lack of new posts in the recent past, I have been a little busy back in London.

I am very pleased to announce the safe arrival of my second baby Josephine.

Being a Goliath Bird eater (T.Blondi) she is one of the largest breed of tarantula. Having been purchased in Cork, smuggled to Britain in a horn case and having a little time to settle down, I have appropriated a suitable habitat for her to grow into. Her new tank is approx. 2 feet * 1 ft * 1 ft. I then spent a happy evening squeezing out two bucketfuls of this soil stuff which expands in warm water and landscaping the cage (pics as ever will follow shortly)

Since arriving in her new home two days ago she has mainly sat in her prefabricated burrow, although at some stage she ate two crickets and I have now left her with another cricket and a locust to see how she manages. I plan to give her to give her bigger prey to encourage her to feed more aggressively, she has been understandably a little lazy since the big move.

By the way, locusts are mental, and rather fun too, as long as they don't escape. They don't so much jump as go pop, their steering can be a little haywire too. Maybe not for the faint of heart when there are 2 inch insects which can jump two feet sleeping in the bedroom.

Stella doesn't mind though, when offered one of the smaller ones (about inch and a half) she had immobilised it in less than three seconds of it hitting the floor. 30 minutes later she was doing the tarantula equivalent of sitting on a couch, watching TV with a beer, feeling absolutely stuffed and quite content, she really is a legend.....