represented by

Suzanne Wilson, Amanda Morrison, Micaela Haslam, Heather Cairncross, Andrew Busher, Gerard O'Beirne

 

Jim Preiss

"Poor Jim really wasn't well this morning, and had to stop the bus en route to the airport to throw up.  Little did we know what was in store for the rest of the group....
 
We got to Paris and the good old Holiday Inn opposite the Cité, which we concluded could really do with a facelift. Mandy, Suzanne and I headed straight off to Rue de Rivoli for a spot of retail therapy.  Then we met up with the others for a drink and a lovely meal in a restaurant recommended by Lisa Moore (pianist).
 
The following day, Jim still wasn't well.  Music for 17 really isn't an option, especially when the missing 1 is the vibraphone player, responsible for most of the cues.
 
One of the percussionists from Ensemble InterContemporain had been called up and, as Steve was talking him through how to play the piece, it quickly became clear that this wasn't going to work.  I immediately thought of Georges-Elie Octors of Ictus, who has played the vibraphone part (superbly well) many, many times in concert.  Unfortuntely GEO was in Barcelona, so I tried Michael Weilacher, also of Ictus.  We were just trying to sort out how he could get from Antwerp to Paris in 5 hours (which would have been possible), when Steve called Jim in the hotel and concluded that Jim would be with us for the concert.

Music minus one

We did the "Music minus one" version of Music for 18 in the rehearsal, with Steve shouting "cue" whenever Jim would have played.  Garry Kvistad said we'd missed an opportunity there - we should have recorded it and sold it to music shops for whoever want to learn the vibraphone part!
 
We were delighted to see Jim for the concert, but it wasn't uneventful.  Jim was OK, but Nurit (piano 1) had to leave the stage at one point as she was also sick.  Suddenly it began to look as though Jim's illness hadn't just been straightforward food-poisoning...
 
Even with two unwell players, this concert was even better than the one in Porto.  The concert was sold-out, and the audience absolutely loved it.
 
Fine champagne and canapes were served afterwards, then most of us retired while a few hardy souls headed to the hotel bar to try more champagne..."
 
Micaela