Synergy represented by:
Amy Haworth, Micaela Haslam, Amanda Morrison, Julia Batchelor
Steve Reich on Piano 4, and Amy on knitting needles!
“Amy and Mandy both had throaty colds on this trip, so it was something of a relief to get through these two performances of Music for 18 without incident. Fortunately, Julia was fine and so was I – for a while at least.
Mandy, Julia & Amy waiting for a train in Düsseldorf
“Which carriage did you say was ours?”
Düsseldorf went by in a flash – good concert, well received, in a very nice venue, where we were provided with delicious pre-concert scran – so off to Bonn. Our hotel in Bonn was considerably nicer than the one we’d stayed in the night before, it was very close to the Hauptbahnhof, and was opposite a pharmacy – fortunate for me, as I had a headache that I couldn’t shake off and needed more drugs!
We made our way to the Bundeskunsthalle and discovered that we had an apartment set aside for us at the top of the building. Nice idea – rehearse, rest, do gig, party in bar, then sleep – with no travel involved. Not quite our schedule, sadly, but it was nice to have a lie down before the gig.
Ueli (piano 2), ready to play his maracas
Rainer with matching shirt and sticks
Rainer was sporting a lovely new purple shirt which matched his vibraphone sticks perfectly. One of the other players also had a purple shirt, and some of the band thought that I must have taken them out shopping. Our endless supply of matching Synergy costumes is legendary!
L-R: Jagdish, Julia, Mandy, Michael – captions on a postcard please...
In my opinion, this performance in Bonn was rather better than the one in Düsseldorf, and the audience was great – though they weren’t so keen to stand up – just a gentle standing ovation from a few brave souls. It’s interesting what prompts audiences to respond as they do. You never quite know what will get them on their feet – not always the performances you think. Anyway, I thought we were brilliant, and we retired to the bar in good spirits to enjoy some post-concert dinner and a drink or two. The following morning, I said my farewells to Amy, Mandy and Julia, and headed off to Strasbourg with Ensemble Modern, for our first performance of The Cave.”
Micaela