"Stand! ... And BE!"

This was Jamie's instruction for the end of Shostakovich 2 (i.e. don't move, stare at the audience till the piece ends) and I must admit I was totally in the moment when it got to that bit. For a second I worshipped Lenin :-)

Gig went pretty well. Not much to say, which is just as well as I have a million things I still have to do before I can sleep, and I was already nodding off hours ago in the concert (not because it was in any way boring, I was just so tired). The ladies' new red sashes made their debut... here are Delphine and Claire modelling them:



I thought they looked pretty good, although there was quite a wide variety in how they looked. A surprising number of people had actually managed to find time to sew them, but there were also loads (including me, naturally) who couldn't have done it if we'd had a week off work. Pat said it would only take a couple of minutes, and I do own a needle - but not a sewing machine, and I'm not entirely sure where the needle is, so it may as well be in a haystack... So I looked at the instructions yesterday with the intention of having a go. But when I saw that step one was "remove the velcro from the shoulders of your choir top" I abandoned the plan there and then, as I knew that step alone would take easily an hour, and there were quite a few more steps! But it was fine, because Pat, in addition to sewing all the sashes in the first place, found the time - and patience! - to help everyone pin theirs on if they hadn't been able to sew them. Thanks Pat :-)

(I must admit I kept expecting someone to accuse me of laziness, saying that if I had time to write a load of waffle on my blog, I must've had time to sew my scarf. But please believe me - writing a load of waffle takes me 10 minutes. It'd take me longer than that to find the needle!)

Claire pointed out that the audience might think the reason we'd got new sashes for this gig was that we were playing the part of revolutionaries, so red was more fitting. I never thought of that! Wonder if Petroc Trelawney mentioned them? He was sitting with the altos, you know. I did a double-take when I realised it was him. He was sitting all on his own with a pair of headphones and a huge furry mic, which he talked quietly into between pieces. It was really weird to have the total silence in the hall broken by this man muttering "Now, Mahler..." etc. The Mahler was the Rückert Lieder, sung by Sarah Connolly, who was fabulous. (I must admit I preferred the Bach, though, which was the first item on the programme - some bits from The Art of Fugue.) And when I left the hall she was sitting in the artists' entrance and admired my hat! It is a great hat, though. I bought it yesterday and it has occasioned much comment since.