Archive for June, 2010
by Juliette | 06.29.10 | Domestic Diva, Latest News, Record Producing
As you can see from the picture we had Mr Blessed in the studio last week and boy oh boy, is he larger than life! The man can tell a tale or two and has some incredible stories about Everest and Mallory. The babies found him very entertaining too but think it was the beard that did it rather than the conversation. He was with us doing some voiceover work for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme – all for free which is pretty nice of him really.
We spent an idyllic weekend in Cornwall at a family wedding in the beautiful church of St Endellion made famous by the classical music festival held there (established by the late Sir More »
Tags: Brian Blessed, Duke of Edinburgh's Award, St Endellion Music Festival
by Juliette | 06.22.10 | Domestic Diva, Latest News, Performances
What an evening. Just sat down. Why oh why does Seth insist on adding his own offering to the bath water?
Enough of that though and onto a mention of perhaps the prettiest village in the country; Naunton. I have a feeling there is a price tag attached to living in such a village but a friendlier community you won’t find. The only downside of the outdoor Prom concert James and I were giving last Saturday there, was the weather. The attached picture really doesn’t show the extent of my refrigeration. Boy was it cold, even with tights and boots under my evening dress. One of the highlights of the evening was to see the lovely David (of forum moderator fame) and Tricia again. I was totally bowled over by their brilliant retro camper van whose charms were only enhanced by the fact that it was parked by a babbling brook with a view to die for. More »
Tags: bathing twins, Naunton Outdoor Prom Concert, prettiest village in England, retro camper van
by Juliette | 06.15.10 | Latest News, Performances, Record Producing
Desperately holding in my tummy after an enormous bowl of pasta for lunch...
Glad to report that the Elgar went well and despite it being the same evening as the 1st England game (bet someone was in trouble for scheduling that one), we still seemed to be pretty well sold out. Guildford Cathedral doesn’t have a great acoustic for a piece like the Music Makers; everything quickly becomes a big wash of sound and Elgar’s choral works tend to be very densely scored, particularly for me as a mezzo when he probably had a contralto in mind (indeed the wonderful English contralto, Muriel Foster gave the 1st performance).
We met Julian Lloyd Webber for lunch last Friday to discuss his forthcoming 60th Birthday celebrations. I have to say, he looks 10 years younger than that and with no obvious signs of any botox! We also met his charming wife (no.4) who we’ll hopefully be recording with Julian in a duet to go on a special celebratory CD next spring. It was by some very strange coincidence that I had seen him on Cbeebies earlier that morning playing the Elgar Cello Concerto surrounded by a More »
Tags: 1st performance of Music Makers, Cbeebies, Elgar Cello Concerto, Guildford Cathedral, Julian Lloyd Webber
by Juliette | 06.08.10 | Domestic Diva, Latest News
It was half term last week and my Mum offered to have the kids overnight. I was going to ask her whether she was insane when something told me I should say nothing but embrace the opportunity. Offers like this one don’t come round very often when you have 1 year old twins and an 8 year old who can out-chat Oprah.
But the pressure of making sure we enjoyed the 24 hours of freedom to the maximum was immense. The food had to be perfect, the hotel good, a bit of culture to visit and most important of all, the sleep had to be guaranteed. Not for us a hen/stag party going on in the bar downstairs. More »
Tags: Eurostar, Oprah, Paris
by Juliette | 06.02.10 | Latest News, Performances
Full steam ahead this week with Elgar’s Music Makers which I’m singing in about 10 days time at Guildford Cathedral. I simply adore singing Elgar so it doesn’t really feel like work having to practice it. It quotes lots of his other works such as Sea Pictures, The Dream of Gerontius, the Violin Concerto and of course, Nimrod – all of which are huge favourites of mine but the vast majority of the work is new. Elgar wrote to Ernest Newman about his composition:
“Please do not insist on the extent of the quotations” and “they form a very small part of the work”
The poem itself often gets criticised as not worthy of Elgar’s music and I have to say I have been struggling with some of it but it’s growing on me. It clearly had huge significance for Elgar. The first line begins: More »
Tags: Dream of Gerontius, Guildford Cathedral, Nimrod
As you can see from the picture we had Mr Blessed in the studio last week and boy oh boy, is he larger than life! The man can tell a tale or two and has some incredible stories about Everest and Mallory. The babies found him very entertaining too but think it was the beard that did it rather than the conversation. He was with us doing some voiceover work for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme – all for free which is pretty nice of him really.
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