LSC's Riga Tour wasn't so much about images but sounds - though some of these shots reflect something of the time we spent in the Latvian capital. They're generously being hosted by The Filter^, which was our official Media Partner for the tour. If you're interested you can view them here http://thefilter.blogs.com/photos/riga_2005/.
Apologies, but this last Riga 2005 blog is coming from London. LSC returned to England yesterday and I'm afraid that things just got a little too busy on Thursday/Friday for a live blog from Latvia.
Our last concert in Riga on Thursday evening was another resounding success - we sang for an audience of well over 100 under the vaulted ceiling of St Peter's Church, concluding with Allegri's Miserere Mei, in which our Principal Soprano Anne Kan, the soloist for the piece, gave a performance which one can only describe as breathtaking. This had me wondering just how a week in Norwich in 2001 with a group of mates from Liverpool had brought us to this - electryfying musical moments in Riga coming after days of sleeping, eating, drinking and singing together. I guess that's the whole point - when you assemble a truly extraordinary group of human beings who you love spending time with there's only one way you can enhance the already fortified fabrics, and that's by aiming for something inherently higher than human life, and journeying to another level through performance.
Leaving Riga was full of mixed emotions- pride, relief, sadness, and even some regret. I think I'd been expecting the geographical implications of our first foreign tour to be the great catalyst - but as it happens, it was simply LSC that fuelled the great fun and artistry, with the excitement of travel and profile seeming almost irrelevant.
My thanks to everyone, including The Filter^ and its readers, for their interest and support. But also my thanks, admiration, respect and overwhelming gratitude to the 13 people who sang their hearts out and drank their livers out for LSC last week - and especially to Anna our Concerts Manager who brings to the group all the qualities that I demonstrated I lack during our time in Riga - for her calmness, unflappability (is that a word?), and personability. I can only think of one way to repay them all - get cracking on the organisation of the next tour. Watch out for details of 'LSC Tyneside 2006'!
Here's the latest from LSC in Riga.
We've just got back from Salaspils Concentration Camp, about fifteen miles from Riga - and the site of the murder of over 200,000 innocent civilans by the Nazis. This was a truly extraordinary experience - after passing under a huge concrete slab bearing the words 'Beyond These Gates the Earth Moans', we found a clearing in a small copse, and sang Gregorio Allegri's Miserere Mei, something I and the LSC members won't forget in a hurry. The site seems strangely beautiful and almost uplifing; sculptures reinforcing a sense of humanity that you wouldn't associate with the scene of such a terrible atrocity.
Lunchtime today saw our first concert - at St Saviour's Church on the banks of the river. You couldn't wish for a better acoustic (we've been rehearsing and recording there all week), and as we emerged onto the platform from downstairs the site of almost 80 people in the audience was very encouraging. They didn't want us to stop when we finished our last piece. We weren't expecting foot-stamping and cheering, and I wasn't expecting to be presented with a huge sunflower by way of thanks from the Church's Organist Kristina - but we got both. After some very late nights we were all getting a bit tired, and this gave us a welcome boost. Listening to the live recordings on the train to Salaspils, I can ensure anyone who's purchased our tour CD that they are in for a treat and a bargain.
The journey to Salaspils gave us the chance to get slightly off the tourist trail, and this is where you see the parts of Riga that don't feature in the guidebooks. There's a soviet air to the buildings and subways of the outskirts of the city that remind you you're not in France or Italy.
Something tells me that tonight is going to be a big one for food and drink, so I'll have to leave it there and catch up with my lovely singers. Talking of whom, they've been somewhat slow to take up the offer of blogging themselves. I'll see if I can do any bargaining tonight after a few pints of Zelta!
Great day today. Waking up in a sun-drenched Riga for the first time is a delight - the city is clean, prosperous, uninfested by tourists, and a dream for performers (the beer's quite cheap too). More Paris that St Petersburg - you're more likely to be confronted by a keen restauranter than a woman selling illegal cigaretes and potatoes (are potatoes still illegal in ex-soviet states?).
Today's rehearsals in The English Church very exciting - we're achieving something musically which is in a completely different league that we've ever managed before. Tackling 7-part Tallis motets and getting real results. We perform in public for the first time tomorrow, and I can honestly say that whoever hears us is in for a treat - we've got some very talented people here and there should be some electric performances. A few spine-shivering moments even in private rehearsal today. We finished rehearsing at 5pm and have been enjoying the nightlife ever since - so apologies for any spilling mastakes. More on Wednesday.
It's our first morning in Riga after what seemed like a very long flight last night and waiting for one hour for a bus from the airport - during which time we baffled the locals by singing Reger and Bach in a bus shelter.
Weather is greyish and worryingly Soviet. That's it for now - we get cracking on the music later today and will no doubt have some interesting insights into Latvian life!
Andrew
Despite all the goings on at Heathrow, LSC is on track to depart on Sunday afternoon - our carrier apparently unaffected by the ongoing dispute between Gate Gourmet and the TGWU - it seems poor old British Airways, not directly involved in the sticking points, have been rather unlucky. Maybe it was wise after all to debunk the strapline 'The World's Favourite Airline' a few years ago. That's my semi-political bit in homage to the absent Anthony out of the way!
So, we'll be appearing again very soon on The Filter^ from Latvia - expect a blog at some stage on Monday 15th. Bye for now - and if you want to know what we are up to artistically, then have a look at the Riga page of our website at www.lsc-online.org/riga.asp.
Andrew
Almost one week to go and we're very much in sleep-losing nail-biting mode. Well, I say 'we', but probably mean 'I'.
The latest crisis seems to be with John our Principal Bass. We've only got two basses in Riga, and most of our music has two bass lines, so basically (no pun intended), we can't survive if either bass has a problem. I'm worried that John is going to have his leave cancelled due to recent events (and possible future events) in London where we both live. He's confident that it won't happen, but the thoughts of going without him are playing over in my mind, and making me feel unsettled. If there's one person I don't want to go to Riga without, it's john. I hope this is just Mellor paranoia, but am slightly paranoid that it might not be. Must also keep some perspective - we're talking a choir tour here, and some people have lost much more in recent weeks.
The good news is that I've literally just come off the phone (between this paragraph and the first paragraph) from Anna Boggon, our 'composer in residence' for the tour, who's told me that the piece she has written for our performance on Wednesday 17 August is 'in the post'. Haydn, Mozart and even Mark-Anthony Turnage are known for their last-minute completion of compositions - and I don't think Anna has achieved anything near a record yet - but needless to say it was getting a little tight! Our most sincere thanks are due to Anna for her creative efforts in writing us a piece which she just tells me has been a 'big challenge' - I'm sure we will benefit hugely from performing a work for the first time.
That's it for now - hopefully my next update, our last in England before we go, will be all excitement and no fear!
Well, to begin with I can only thank The Filter^ Founder and Editor Anthony for a glowing introduction below - and for his visionary support of LSC's tour to Latvia over the past few months. Cheers Ant - and have a nice time 'en france'!
We're off to Riga in just under two weeks, but before we start blogging, I suppose I'd better explain a little about LSC and this whole project.
If you're familiar with my regular appearance on The Filter^ Review, you'll know that I'm generally concerned with music - and therefore (as I believe the spheres to be inseperable) with humanism, society, personal development, the global community and, essentially, with life as a human.
Forget your pre-concieved ideas about 'classical music' (a term which I avoid at all costs), whether forged irrationally or by the horrendous mis-representation of 'art music' (a term I prefer) by the media, and instead just think of our project as 15 good friends, travelling to a city to whom we owe a favour, having a great time, and happening to perform some incredible music to the highest possible standard whilst we're there (which is essentially just an everyday artistic process which happens thousands of times every day accross the world at the hands of artists, writers, film-makers and musicians). We'll also be marking the 500th anniversary of the birth of a remarkable Englishman - one of the greatest musicans this country has ever seen - Thomas Tallis.
Riga, Latvia's capital, backed Liverpool's successful bid to become European Capital of Culture, and so we thought that as we were due for an international tour (having toured extensively in the UK), we'd give Riga a go. LSC was formed in 2001, and is a group of singers aged 23-32 who specialise in performing 16-18th and 20-21st century English music and in having a good time together - we tend to believe that the more you practise the latter, the more visceral, honest and integral your performances of the former become.
That's it in a nutshell. We're off on Sunday 14th August, and are perfoming in Riga on the 16, 17 and 18 August. As this is quite a big thing for us, I (and other members of the LSC) will be blogging every day during our week in Riga - offering musical insights as well as commenting generally on Latvia as it marks one year of EU membership, fourteen years after independence from the Soviet Union. So, watch out, and thanks to all our supporters - notably the John Lewis Partnership, The Hemby Trust, and of course, The Filter^.
Join us if you can. There's not much happening on Big Brother.
14th-19th August 2005
The Filter^ is delighted to announce that we have joined forces with the Liverpool Schola Cantorum (LSC), and will act as official media partner during their forthcoming trip to Riga.
The LSC is a chamber choir founded by Musical Director Andrew Mellor, a regular contributor to The Filter^ REVIEW.
His efforts with the LSC are a testament to entrepreneurial vision, passionate determination, and a desire to redefine the boundaries of the arts: the singers are all young people from a variety of backgrounds, and are a grass roots organization. They are a perfect arts movement: rich in ability and delivery yet unpretentious and far reaching. The LSC provide an eclectic blend by reinvigorating classical works as well as championing contemporary unknown composers.
The Filter^ is a similarly organic example of volunteerism, and will look creatively to how best we can assist the LSC’s various ambitions, and to ensure that their tour is a success.
Riga 2005 Blog Throughout the tour Andrew will be joined by other LSC members to write regular updates here on The Filter^, within the “Riga 2005” category. We can expect details of their program and reception, cultural tales and anecdotes.
Tour CD The LSC are accepting pre-orders of the tour CD. The Filter^ will offer free samples of their output via MP3 files, but for the tidy sum of £5 you can order a definitive collection of their exploits. All sales will provide a real and appreciated impact on their travels, and here’s the email address for orders.
You can use the button on the top right to get the direct LSC information so stay tuned and enjoy.
Andrew Mellor and Anthony Evans, discussing the LSC and The Filter^
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