“Our first day in New York was absolutely lovely – cold, dry and sunny – so Will and I headed straight for Central Park early in the morning. It looked like a film set; perfectly manicured in a wild sort of way; lots of beautiful people running, cycling and roller-blading; and every type of dog you can imagine being taken for walkies; no cars, no litter, and apparently no dog poo anywhere – just like London – not!

Later the same morning, we headed up to the “Top of the Rock” at the Rockefeller Center for the best view in the city, and to see where we’d been. Central Park looks like a forest from above, but is surprisingly open and spacious from within. It really is a vast, and very beautiful, space.

Central Park from Top of the Rock

From the other side, I wasn’t sure which was more impressive, the view of the Empire State Building or this fabulous old view finder. Looking down the Hudson it was difficult not to think about the plane that landed on that very stretch of water just a few weeks ago. Captain Sullenberger is now a national hero. I wonder what he’s doing now – anything he likes, I imagine!

Alien on the Rock!

Hard to believe then that only 2 days later, Manhattan looked like this.

The temperature plummeted to -11C and we had 8 inches of snow. The Americans are much better equipped than us for this kind of weather, and daily life seemed to carry on pretty well as normal. People still went to work, traffic was flowing and the underground seemed fine. The only problem for us was that, once the snow started to melt, there were huge puddles at the edge of the “sidewalks” so the only thing for it was to buy some wellies. I actually wanted to buy some good sturdy DM-type boots, but the shops were full of spring clothes and flip-flops. Hilarious, considering what was going on outside.

Alice Tully Hall

Anyway, we were in NYC for a concert to celebrate the re-opening of the refurbished Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center with Steve Reich & Musicians. The new exterior of the building was very impressive, and the 1,100 seater auditorium looked fabulous too. We were slightly concerned at first to see so much wood and to hear about the “great acoustic” – usually a disaster for amplified sound. Fortunately the new hall has all the latest acoustic mod-cons. There is a new stage ceiling over the musicians that can be tuned to enhance onstage hearing and projection of sound to the audience, acoustic banners that drop from the ceiling for amplified sound, and speaker systems behind the walls that can support top-quality film sound, jazz concerts, and indeed new music festivals.

That said, Steve’s players do like a lot of level in their foldback speakers, and it kept feeding back in rehearsal. The low ‘cello notes in particular were causing problems. We could hear the frequencies building up to the point when you didn’t know whether to yell at the sound engineer or run for cover! Still, it was just great to see Steve’s merry men (and women) again. They don’t play together so much these days, and are drafted in from all corners of the US & Canada, but they are still legends – especially the “originals” like Jim Preiss, Russ Hartenburger and Bob Becker. It’s a real honour to work with them.

There were quite a few familiar faces at the drinks reception after the concert, and we were especially pleased to see Beryl Korot (Steve’s wife). I hadn’t seen her for absolutely ages and she was looking as gorgeous as ever. Apart from being a huge support to Steve, she is a very fine video artist and her latest project (about Florence Nightingale) sounds fascinating. Beryl talks about her work with such enthusiasm and passion, it really makes you want to see it.

Dreamhouse team – Left to right: Micaela Haslam, Heather Cairncross, Rob Kearley, Steve Mackey, Mike Dore

Sadly we couldn’t join the band for late-night cocktails, as Heather and I had to be up early the following morning to start recording in East Harlem. Amy and Mandy flew home as Rob Kearley and Mike Dore flew in, and we set to work recording the vocals for Steve Mackey’s Dreamhouse. Steve had already recorded the orchestra and guitars so we were relatively lucky in having most of the piece already in place. Steve conducted our sessions (extremely well, I have to say) and though we did have 2 long days of hard work, there was plenty of merriment thrown in. Rob Kearley finally had to leave the room for Heather’s beautiful solo which contains the line “see the pool”. Unfortunately the word “pool” is set on a long note, so all you get for a while is “see the poo” – hours of fun!!

Anyway, once Rinde Eckert puts the icing on the cake with his amazingly athletic lead vocals, Dreamhouse should be ready for release. Watch this space for a date….”

Micaela

Micaela Haslam, Amy Haworth

Novello Theatre

“At the end of last year, I was delighted to be asked to sing in the band for the RSC’s run of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in London’s West End. The invitation came from Paul Englishby, the composer, with whom Synergy has worked several times on various film scores. The music was really lovely, even though it did contain the Sword of Damacles in the form of a top D half way through the first act. Never having sung a top D in public before (at least not deliberately), I was somewhat nervous about it, but I’m happy to report that, having stuffed it up in several rehearsals, and possibly even the 1st preview, I managed to pull the rest out of the proverbial bag. Amy Haworth was my dep for a few of the shows. This is a soprano who can sing top Ds all day without breaking into a glow, never mind a sweat, so you can appreciate the enormous pressure I was under!

The band (keyboard, violin, clarinet, flute, voice, trumpet, trombone, horn, percussion) was packed tightly into an under-stage shoe-box. There were actually 2 shoe-boxes, to be precise, with brass and percussion in one (size 11), and the rest of us packed into the other (size 6). The larger band box had an air-conditioning unit (so they were generally too cold), while the rest of us baked in the little room. We did have some fans dotted around (later upgraded to a monster fan with remote control and a digital display!), but they just blew hot air around and generated yet more heat. When I stood up to sing, my head touched the ceiling, and we had to climb over each other to get in and out. Julian Winn (MD) suggested we should come to work in towelling robes, get a stove for the middle of the floor and have done with it. Think of all the weight we’d have lost! If only the audience could have seen us, it would have been hilarious. Speaking of hilarity, I was lucky enough to spend most of the run with Louise Bevan (violin), Nina Robertson (flute), Nick Moss (clarinet) and of course Julian.

Louise

Nina and Nick

Julian

Apart from being excellent musicians, and extremely supportive colleagues, this team was such a laugh. As the weeks went by, conversations got more and more zany and surreal. I haven’t laughed so much in ages. We always had a good supply of Percy Pigs (Julian’s favourites), and various other goodies from M&S. We also frequented a fabulous cafe just across the road from the stage door where they made very fine cakes, and very necessary cappuccinos – particularly necessary when you couldn’t face the idea of scaling 92 stairs to the green room to make a cup of tea. The only down side was that, by the final week, sugar and caffeine, combined with a general lack of oxygen, and cabin fever, had sent us all just a little bit barking!

Primrose cafe

Stage door

Nina made herself at home with a selection of family photos taped to her music stand. Lou brought in a picture of her dog, and I had a picture of Will chatting to Pat Metheny. It was just to impress Nick really – also a huge Pat Metheny fan! Julian brought in his son’s Buzz Lightyear and appointed him assistant conductor.

Towards the end of the run, we all went out for dinner with Paul Englishby at Zizi’s, down the road. It was great to see Paul again. It was just a shame we had to go and do the show afterwards. We were all ready to make a night of it.

The whole team

Paul and Julian

We did have one bonus free evening on the now famous “snowy Monday” when most of London ground to a halt, and the West End went black. Further excitement when HRH The Prince of Wales came to see the show – but not as exciting as when James Corden came. I met him at the stage door and just had to say “hello”. I love Gavin and Stacey. More please!

During the run, Louise tried her hardest to get on with a foundation course for a history degree, while the rest of us had rap-finger-snapping coaching from Nick. I think we got the hang of it after a couple of weeks.

Nick and his gals

Anyway, it was huge fun and a great experience, and I sincerely hope we all manage to stay in touch.“

Micaela

Amy Haworth, Micaela Haslam, Amanda Morrison, Heather Cairncross

Concert poster

“We were quite intrepid (for us) when we got to Frankfurt. At the airport we bought a group travel card so that we could take a train to the central station (for our hotel) and then a tram across town to Ensemble Modern’s rehearsal place.

Ensemble Modern in action

Great as always to see Steve Reich, and doubly great to be at the stage where we can just play through Music for 18 once with Ensemble Modern, fix a few corners, then go out for dinner. Very civilised! We were delighted to find our favourite restaurant open at the Golden Leaf Hotel. Down the road from EM’s studio, the hotel is in the middle of nowhere but houses the most fantastic Italian restaurant – real Italian cooking, with the best salads and steaks in Germany!

Mandy, Heather and Amy lost in Cologne

Cologne cathedral – too big for my camera!

The following morning we took the train to Cologne. We hadn’t realised that the fast train from Frankfurt doesn’t stop in the centre of Cologne. It drops you off in the outskirts and you have to take a local train into the centre. Still, we got there in the end! Amazingly, I hadn’t been to Cologne since my school days and I had a vivid memory of the most magnificent cathedral. Although the cathedral is indeed magnificent, I confess I was very disappointed to see it looking so dirty, and surrounded by so many hideous concrete buildings. They must have been there when I visited as a child (I’m not that old!) but I just hadn’t remembered them.

Our concrete hotel

Our hotel was just around the corner from the cathedral, and seconds away from the stage door of the Philharmonie. That meant being able to change in our rooms and not having to worry about leaving valuables in dressing rooms. The concert wasn’t until 10pm so we had time for a leisurely lunch by the river and a nice afternoon nap. The sound check went without a hitch. Steve was bombarded by reporters and photographers, as usual.

Steve’s a star

I knew I’d arrived when I came across a personalised water glass just next to Steve’s on the side of the stage – classy!

Executive water glasses

At 9pm, Steve and a few of the EM players performed Drumming (Part 1) in the foyer of the art gallery next door, where there was an amazing Gerhard Richter exhibition on. Apparently the place was packed to capacity. Our concert was also sold out with over 2000 people in the audience. The place was buzzing. We all really enjoyed the concert and there was a lot of energy in the performance. An attentive, enthusiastic audience really does make a huge difference.

What better end to a great gig than a large cool beer! At the side of the stage, we were greeted by bar staff bearing many beers in ingenious circular glass holders. I think this should be compulsory at every gig – remind me to add it to our rider.”

Micaela