"Having just done a concert in Glasgow the night before, I didn't have time to go home so flew directly to Heathrow, met up with Will and checked straight in for Boston. Heather, Rob and I flew together, Will arrived on another flight a couple of hours later, and Mike was the last to arrive in the middle of the night after a delayed take-off from London. We were in a lovely hotel (The Colonnade), a little way out of the centre, but very handy for a huge supermarket, plenty of nice restaurants, a posh shopping centre and easy transport links to Macy's and downtown Boston.

Rehearsing in Masonic Hall

We had a breakfast meeting the following morning with composer Steve Mackey, Sarah (his impossibly beautiful wife), Rinde (actor/writer/composer/singer of extraordinary talent), Gil (conductor) and the 4 guitarists. It was great to see everyone again after nearly 4 years - was the premiere really that long ago? Then off to Harvard to rehearse in the Masonic Hall. Fortunately we didn't need any of the passwords we'd thought of, or secret handshakes, to get in.

BMOP were a joy to work with. We know how difficult Dream House is to play, having done the piece once before in Amsterdam. These guys and gals made it sound easy. Gil and the orchestra obviously have a very strong rapport and mutual respect. The rehearsals were efficient, concentrated and yet delightfully easy-going. The amplification set-up was somewhat rudimentary, but we had been warned. It was fine for rehearsing.

Guitarists from right to left - Wiek, Seth, Patricio, Mark

The only real negative about this week in Boston was that it wouldn't stop raining. The evening we had arranged to go out for a team Thai meal (15 mins or so walk from the hotel) it absolutely threw it down and we got completely soaked. At one point, Seth stopped in the middle of the street and addressed the heavens with "Stop bloody raining! It's May, for goodness sake!!". Sadly, it didn't do the trick and it continued to rain for the rest of the week.

Steve, Rinde & Sarah

       
Rob, Mike, Steve & Heather                                                    Will & Micaela        

The only plus point about the rain was that we felt a lot less guilty about all the shopping we did in our spare time. Will and I bought a new case and obviously felt obliged to fill it. The great thing about going to the States is that the airlines allow you to bring back more than twice what you arrived with. Not so good for Americans coming over to England, with the mean luggage allowance and one-hand-luggage-bag nonsense at our end. I could say it serves those Americans right for all the hassle they give us getting US work visas, but that would be unkind.....

The day before the concert, we rehearsed in Sanders Hall (Harvard) for the first time. It's a beautiful wood-panelled hall, very like (and I believe modelled on) the Sheldonian in Oxford, though larger. The technicians had to hit the ground running with the vocal and guitar foldback set-up, front of house and general balance. There was to be no rehearsal on the day of the concert, so we had just 3 hours to get it right. We singers were perched precariously on the front of the stage with Rinde, Gil and the guitarists but somehow we managed.

Rehearsing in Sanders Hall

Mandy & Nev came out to hear the concert, and to stay with friends for a couple of days. It was nice to have a free day so that we could enjoy a relaxed lunch with them. That morning, I'd bumped into Mandy spending a fortune in Victoria's Secret - surprise, surprise!

Although we were rather squashed on stage, I really enjoyed the concert, and I was particularly pleased for Steve because the audience loved Dream House (as did the reviewers apparently). Rinde stole the show with a fantastic performance, the guitarists gave it some, and I thought we were pretty marvellous too!

Steve taking a bow

I just hope now that word gets around, and that more conductors and orchestras are tempted into taking on this piece. Dream House is wonderfully theatrical and extremely accessible, without any loss of integrity or craft on the part of the composer. Perfect for the BBC London Proms, for example....."

Micaela