I got home late last night from London after an amazing few days. We stayed very near to St John's Smith Square and I came to realise what a fantastic part of London this is. The weather was amazing on Sunday evening and it was great to feel like a tourist walking over Westminster Bridge past the London Eye and back through Whitehall. We took the picture below of me outside St John's during our walk when we had a quick look around ahead of the big day.
Me outside St John's the night before the concert
Then came the day of the concert! There was so much to do and I was lucky I could take a back seat from this as my manager Andy Berry took care of everything so I could focus on the music - getting the tea and coffee ready for the performers during the rehearsal, making sure that the risers on stage were out and at the right height, that seats and stands were in the right place and making sure everyone had their music etc etc.
In all we had five hours of rehearsals - Edward Higginbottom polished the choir-only items and then the orchestra arrived with the soloist singers. The rehearsals ended with Clio Gould playing 'Angel Song' which left us all in a wonderfully mellow mood ahead of the concert.
Then the audience started to arrive with lots of people buying tickets on the door and the hall was almost full. As I walked on to the stage I could see a mass of faces and this really fired me up. It was great to see some of the Classic FM team there including John Suchet, Jane Jones and Margherita Taylor.
L-R: John Suchet, me, Jane Jones
Every single item went according to plan and I couldn't have asked any more from the performers with wonderful solos by Nick Pritchard (tenor) and Grace Davidson (soprano). The final cadence of Handel's 'Let their celestial concerts all unite' from Samson was nothing short of electric and sparked off rapturous applause. For me to conduct such wonderful music by my absolute hero George Frideric Handel alongside my own music with world-class performers is an experience I will never forget. Thank you to all who took part and thank you too to the warm appreciative audience.
Taking a bow: Me with the RPO, Choir of New College Oxford, Edward Higginbottom, Nick Pritchard (tenor) and Grace Davidson (soprano)
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