Walking the Wire in the Regentenkamer!
I’m sure some of you’ll have seen the Facebook update regarding one of the pieces I played last Sunday. For those who didn’t – it very subtly encouraged me to premiere a week-old piece by announcing to the world that it was finished and pondering whether or not I’d be able to play it within the week.
Challenge, of course, accepted – and therefore last Sunday, I officially premiered a piece that didn’t exist yet the Sunday before.
Sleep is for the weak, I guess..!
Anyway – performance at the Regentenkamer! An hour’s worth of music performed by the Artist Collective Walking the Wire (I still haven’t asked what the name stands for, but I’m sure it’s very clever. As soon as I find out I’ll share. It ís catchy, though, isn’t it) – in this particular case, pieces written (by Jannum Kruidhof) for string quartet performed by string quintet and a drummer (because we can, that’s why).
Awesome setting – I’d never been to the new location of the Regentenkamer. In my day (read: four whole years ago) it was around the corner of the Prinsengracht, but it’s up near MCH Westeinde now, and looking pretty snazzy! One downside, though – rough concrete floor.
Why is this a problem, you ask?
Well, I was wearing cute little concert pumps, a fairly short dress, and stockings.
Or in other words, I was bloody freezing within an hour of walking in, which was still more than two hours befóre actual performance.
I am só wearing woolly slippers and a fleece vest next time I play... well, probably not, but seriously – bleeding fingers is one thing (glissandi, of course – shouldn’t happen if you’re doing it right, but sadly one doesn’t always have time to do it right), being blue-lipped is something else entirely!
Another decided downside of the concrete floor: Flow Performing Arts couldn’t pitch in with some beautiful ballerinas. To their credit, they did try – even came ‘round all the way from Amsterdam, but the floor was simply too uncooperative for them to properly dance on. So we only had music for this particular evening...
Though I’ve been told that a new floor will be commissioned soonish, and will probably be ready when I play there again the fourth Sunday of February – likely a solo programme, or again in combination with dance (Gaspard, anyone?). So grab your year planners and write it down – specifics of the concert will be following in 2015, but it’s always a grand idea to block very important dates!
Also, it has been decided that a proper recording of “Mon Livre Rouge” – aforementioned week-old piece – needs to be made. Recording date has been set for next week Wednesday. I think a camera might also be involved.
So for those of you who were unavoidably detained last Sunday – fear not, all is not lost, you’ll still be able to hear this fantabulous piece soon – and perhaps there’ll also be some footage from the actual performance published because yes, there were cameras.
Oh, and in case you guys were wondering – yes, I ám wearing Thami’s hat again in the photo above. He is so never getting that one back.
