AMSTERDAM (12th June 2008)

from left to right - Micaela Haslam, Amanda Morrison, Heather Cairncross, Rachel Weston, Gerard O'Beirne, Andrew Busher, Paul Charrier Martin, Gabriel Gottlieb

"Now we were into the run of shows, we could relax a little and enjoy being in sunny Amsterdam. I think all of us had friends or family come out to visit for a few days. Most hired bikes, and a few of the hardy-types went off for a couple of 30 mile jaunts - crazy loons! I love exploring Amsterdam on foot when the weather's nice. It's just so pretty

Heather cooked us a fabulous meal at the alto apartment one evening. On another occasion, Mandy and I had the rest of the gang round for drinks, then went on to a wonderful Thai restaurant.

Andy doing a spot of gardening at Heather's place

drinks chez nous

A friend of mine knows the owner of this restaurant well, and he'd devised a special fixed-price menu just for us, which was great because it meant that no-one had to worry about what they wanted and there was no hassle over the bill! The food was amazing and so fresh. I think it's one of the best Thai meals I've ever had, despite the chef (sweet but barking mad) coming up to our table for compliments between each course. It was a really lovely evening - and great to get everyone together on a night off. Although we were all together in Amsterdam, we rarely saw each other from one show to the next.

Micaela and Monica

I finally found time to catch up a bit with Monica Germino, after a week of waving to each other across the rehearsal room. We first met Monica about 8 years ago, whilst performing Steve Reich's Music for 18 in Porto with the Remix Ensemble. She was playing violin with Remix, as well as working extensively with Louis, and it was she who suggested that Louis might like to work with Synergy Vocals. Monica is a member of the fabulous all-girl ensemble Electra. She very kindly gave me a copy of their latest recording "Able to Be" and it really is excellent - I highly recommend it. It was also lovely to see Wim Voss, whom we've known for years through Ensemble Modern, coaching at The Hague, and Het Residentie Orkest. Wim and his percussionist colleague were right next to us in the pit, and they were on the move non-stop with a fabulous array of noise-making equipment.

It's funny how small the world is, musically speaking. It turns out that Louis Andriessen was Cathy Berberian's accompanist for years. In the 60's, Louis was really into Les Double Six and the early Swingles etc and it was he who brought this music to the attention of Luciano Berio - who was then prompted to write Sinfonia. Heather, Rachel, Andy and I were all in the Swingles together; Synergy Vocals is renowned for the group's interpretation of Sinfonia; Cathy's daughter, Cristina, was very kind about my performance of Sequenza in New York (and even gave me some video footage of Cathy working on the piece) - and here we are now working with Louis.

Andy and Paul hard at work

We'd become quite attached to the Carré, and it was a shame when the run came to an end, but we were all delighted that La Commedia had been such a huge success. On the last day, I asked the soloists and Louis to sign a poster for our archive. They all wrote the sweetest things about our collaboration - especially Louis - and I was determined to treasure this. I guarded the poster during the last night party; I hid it under my coat in the pouring rain on the way to the airport; I wrestled with it and 3 bags through various ticket barriers en route; I got it safely through the X-ray machine; I held on to it all round the duty-free shops - and then went and left it on a windowsill in the departure lounge.....duh!"