New Year in Stockholm
16 March, 2011
_Just after New Year my wife and myself flew to Stockholm for a special concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. We had two days of rehearsals to put together my concert version of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. _
We arrived in snow-covered Stockholm late in the evening. It was just fantastic seeing the amazing scenery from the plane. It was extremely cold but Sweden is a country that is totally prepared for extreme cold so I was really pleased that there were no delays.
The soloists and singers, Indira Mahajan, Angela Simpson, Kevin Short and Ronald Samm also joined us for the concert. I was astonished to see that Indira,(who sings the part of Bess), being heavily pregnant, still managed to sing at her absolute best. This was her last concert before the birth of her baby daughter and she sang beautifully.
We all had such a great time. There was still this wonderful spirit of Christmas and the beginning of the New Year and it was a real treat to conduct the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in their superb Stockholm Konserthuset. I did not realise until the night of the concert that this special hall is the venue of the Nobel Prize Ceremony.
The management of the Orchestra suggested that we go to an Italian Restaurant after the Concert. It was a wonderful setting and the food was truly amazing. The waiters who were all from Sicily were very happy to have the singers in their restaurant and after a wonderful evening of music-making and Italian food Ronald Samm gave the diners and anybody passing by in the street a rendition of O Sole Mio. A memorable evening indeed.