“The weekend before the Lyon concert, we all headed to Caen to rehearse with the Ensemble. We were left somewhat in the dark by their mysterious French administrator (who never showed up on this entire project) and ended up being late for the first rehearsal because we had no idea where the venue was. We were looking for the Théâtre des Cordes, were directed to the Théâtre de Caen, and finally ended up here – which was right.

Comédie de Caen

I was on hand for the weekend to make sure that all was well - sort out any balance, tuning, rhythmic issues etc. Many of the singers were new to the piece, and I was looking forward to being out front where I could listen properly. Unfortunately, it was difficult to get any idea of the balance as the sound engineer spent much of the time preparing various settings, and there were no proper front-of-house speakers. That said, when we eventually got a mix on headphones, it did sound great.

Rehearsal sound desk

The players were absolutely marvellous. I really like this chamber version, though you do miss the brass. When they started however, we all had quite a shock. The tempo was about double that of Xian Zhang’s at the Barbican. It was like The Desert Music on speed! It did calm down a little bit over the next couple of days and I have to say that, once we got used to it, it sounded very exciting.

The conductor, Dominique Débart, was obviously very happy with the singers. I can only remember one short passage he rehearsed for their benefit. The rest, it seemed, was for the players. Still, he was very nice and always had a smile.

The rehearsal schedule was fairly full-on, but we did have a bit of time for a wander round Caen, and a couple of meals out together – one of which ended in a power cut just as we were about to pay the bill. We resisted the temptation to do a runner!

Anyone for lunch?

At the end of the weekend, Rob Kearley was appointed team leader, and Sarah Simmonds very kindly agreed to finish the diaries for this tour……

(Micaela)

Sarah, Rachel and Julia during rehearsals in Caen

“It was with some trepidation that I took to the stage for my first performance of this amazing piece! The nine other singers were, for the most part, experienced Synergy singers, and although rehearsals the previous week in Caen had gone extremely well (particularly once we’d found where the coffee maker was!), I knew that the first night is always the final stage of the rehearsal process.

Simon, Micaela, Amy, Lawrence and Rob – found the coffee!

L’Ensemble de Basse-Normandie and Percussions-Claviers de Lyon are a lovely bunch of people – very friendly, enthusiastic and committed to making the best music possible, and Dominique Débart provided a much-needed clear beat. Although the monitoring on this first night wasn’t ideal, the sound crew genuinely tried their best to please us!

Of course, I needn’t have worried. From the first vocal line ‘de de de de’, which crescendos and diminuendos throughout the opening pages, I found myself completely engrossed, and the necessary concentration and focus (keep counting!) came naturally. What a fantastic piece of music! I had some doubts when I was learning the piece in my music room at home in Nottingham, but there’s nothing like the thrill of singing with nine great singers and an orchestra to bring music to life. Steve Reich – we are not worthy!

Lyon

From a tourist’s point of view, Lyon is a great city. Two rivers, the Rhône and Saône, great shopping and a beautiful old town with cobbled streets, churches, crêpe stands and the magnificent Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière at the top of the hill. In spite of the 500 plus steps leading up to it, I went twice! The second time, I spent a wonderful hour just sitting in the café looking out over the city as the sun went down, and watched the place light up! Very romantic..

Another must-see is the Musée International de la Miniature, where I spent several hours gaping slack-jawed at very small things.

One final thing – if you like chocolate go to CHOCOLATERIE BERNACHON at 42, Cours Franklin-Roosevelt, and buy some palets d'or. Enough said! (Thank you to the lovely Pierre for taking me.)”

Sarah