Well, this was a whole new level of singing today ! I was expecting another raggedy bouquet of Everywhere I Look, not smelling terribly sweet, but no, apart from one or two out of 47 I heard some fantastic voices, great technique and lots of happy faces ! I was hard pushed to split three young ladies who really did sing like extremely talented Junior RAM students, wonderful diction, great tuning and a bit of X factor. This made the morning go with a real swing ! Once again there were a couple of English native speakers but they did not win this time, two girls from the renowned Diocesan Girls School sang so beautifully I found it hard to write. Given the material they have, ie words that make Enid Blyton sound like Virginia Woolf, they did magnificently !
I wandered about at lunch time trying to buy a decent coffee to no avail ! I ended up in a 7/11 and a very indifferent capuccino, but it hit the caffeine spot, which was all that was required ! I was on the 19th floor of a large Congregational church which looked like an office block in Belgravia or Westminster ! They clearly have some rich congregations or associations here to finance such a mammoth building. Everyone had told me that on the said 19th floor you would see workmen looking like ants scurrying about on the ground. I don’t know quite why they did look so small because I am on the 22nd floor in the hotel and it doesn’t seem nearly so far off the ground ?! Maybe I am losing my sense of spacial awareness, if indeed I ever had any ! Lefts and rights flummox me !
I ate my lunch in the wonderfully song free and isolated hall hoping I didn’t get caught…..the sign says ‘No Foods Or Drinks Here’ in ominous loud capitals, and a threat of a fine. I concealed my peanut butter sandwich, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and slightly mangled and vaguely warm babybel cheese under my napkin. Subterfuge is not my strength really and I would have fooled no one except a blind donkey with dementia. Coffee done my assistant Betsy came back and we started the afternoon session. She is of the dragon school and even the parents sit up to attention ! No crowd control issues here !
I had the only Open oratorio class in the festival this afternoon and WOW, it was brilliant. Only 9 competitors but what quality. If you remember back on my first day I had the Open Art Song class which was, to put it bluntly a vocal car crash, well, a pile up of gargantuan proportions. This was a whole different ballgame.
We had an equal number of girls and boys and a fair spread of arias from My Heart ever Faithful, Rejoice Greatly, Mozart’s Alleluia and such a fine But Who May Abide sung by a diminutive alto with such style and fast runs it was a very safe tour de force. Then with the boys we had If With All Your Hearts from Elijah, Lord God of Abraham from Elijah and a Bach Christmas Oratorio aria to die for. Actually the Bach won and it was the same young man who won the Open Baritone party which I enjoyed so much ! Oh to hear a class of this quality in the U.K. of 16-20 year olds. Truly fantastic.
Betsy propelled me like a whirling dervish to the MTR to get the train home. I came by taxi as I had never been to the venue before, but I am going back twice more I think, so now I can do the public transport thing, which always makes me feel proud of myself in a sad kind of way ! These tiny, retired Hong Kong ladies move like the wind, walk like an Olympic racer and must think I am a lumbering elephant in a world of gazelles. Most often that is what I feel like, without the cuteness of an elephant !!
On my walk back to the hotel I took a picture of what passes for scaffolding here. It is all made of bamboo strung together with raffia, or in the really posh construction areas, with plastic garden ties. Not entirely sure how ‘elf and safety’ would cope with it, apoplexy and therapy I imagine. Bring it on …….!
Janet is just arriving at Newcastle Airport as I write. I have ordered her a taxi, with man and sign, at HK Airport, well our concierge man Justin has done the honours. He is just divine, so insistent upon things being just so, checks everything 6 times, and then checks again. Every home/hotel should have a Justin ! My colleague Ben has booked the three of us to have dinner and aperitifs at the Hong Kong Club on Thursday evening…..dress up and look like you belong I reckon. Good job you made me buy some new outfits, fit for such elevated institutions. He likes his drink so pre dinner aperitifs were an essential part of the evening ! Dress code says Suits, Evening wear, no white soled shoes ?!? Is that trainers then ? Ben is a member of a club in the uk and this is a reciprocal arrangement abroad. Going up in the world, will report on that on Friday.
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