US tour - a photo diary
In October last year we set off on a three week tour of the US and Canada with Iestyn Davies. It was an epic journey, and now seems like a good opportunity to relate the highlights, with the aid of a few photos…
At Heathrow, waiting to fly out to Washington, we were desperately hoping for a repeat of the double upgrade to first class we’d all received on the Fretwork tour three years earlier - alas it was not to be! Still, spirits were high… here we are after landing, on the way into Washington DC.
Outside the Fretwork house share in Washington, where we played our first concert in the Library of Congress. We were lucky to see and play their fascinating collection of original viols. This photo gives you a glimpse of the military operation we had to undertake every time we needed to travel with our collection of viols!
An important feature of the tour that began almost straight away was the hunt for Impossible Burgers - very convincing (vegan) burgers… how many did we need to eat to offset our transatlantic flights?!
Second stop was New York, for one of the highlights of the tour - a sold out concert in Carnegie Hall.
The Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall.
On the drive from Boston to Cleveland we stopped at Buffalo to visit Niagara Falls - a once in a lifetime opportunity. Unfortunately it was absolutely pouring with rain on the morning we set out to see it, but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits!
The Falls were truly spectacular.
A huge ‘truck’ was required for five people and six viols!
Almost all of our concerts on the tour were programmes of music old and new with the wonderful countertenor Iestyn Davies, but in Cleveland we presented a concert of music connected (loosely) with Michelangelo - it was interesting and challenging to explore music by composers that were unfamiliar to us, including Alexander Agricola, Johannes Ghiselin, Hayne von Ghizeghem and others.
It was an absolute joy to be back in Vancouver, and to play again at Christ Church Cathedral. Truly one of the most beautiful cities on earth.
Another real highlight was the ferry journey to and from Vancouver Island - spectacular scenery, but sadly no whales were spotted this time.
Playing the Art of Fugue in Victoria, where we received a very warm welcome.
A quick stopover back in Vancouver allowed for a spot of sightseeing…
Tucson, Arizona provided a real change of scenery. It was amazing to play consort music in the desert, and luckily our instruments survived the single figures humidity.
Chicago provided more wonderful scenery…
…and in San Francisco there was a view of the Golden Gate Bridge from afar - we didn’t have time to get any closer on this occasion!
Just one of the many delicious meals we ate along the way.
After 20 days and 11 concerts we were all fairly exhausted! It was an amazing journey, and we met many wonderful people and there were too many musical, social, culinary and scenic highlights to mention here. We hope this gives you a flavour of our trip though, and perhaps if lock down goes on for a while longer we can relate some of the stories in more detail…
