Wednesday 30 March

Following a very successful night in Mannheim, and a late check out this morning the chance for a leisurely breakfast was very welcome (for those who made breakfast!) – then onward to Stuttgart and everyone immediately notices that this hotel is in more peaceful surroundings than the city centre ones – it will be hard to leave the views from the hotel balconies here. Some put on their jogging gear and go off towards the forest paths for a run, others take advantage of a couple of spare hours to go for a swim. A bit of respite from the constant bag packing and moving around.

Eating on tour is always a challenge and it seems to be either all or nothing. Some of the hotels offered a one price buffet for the group with amazing ranges of food from cold salads, to interesting fishy things and roast meats with lots of tempting desserts to follow. At other times we wander around trying to find a sandwich at the nearest station buffet if we are lucky.

At Stuttgart we arrive at another hall where the Orchestra has played previously, this time in 1994 as part of the Austro-German tour. Back stage I find a quiet room and set to, trying to reduce down the email list from the hundreds of messages that tumble into the inbox whilst we are out of the office – and writing the blog quickly too of course. Getting internet access has not been easy and many are complaining that it is either expensive in Germany or hard to get it working. Suddenly we realise that we have become very reliant on the wonders of modern IT!

Thursday 31 March

Longer bus journey today – this time eastwards over to Regensberg and the final concert on the tour. With the thoughts of an early check-out time for the homeward journey it will be interesting to see who bothers with an early night and who decides it is not worth going to bed only to be up again at 5am. The concert tour has been a great success but sadly there is a bit of a sting at the end as four wallets are stolen from the backstage area during the concert. At least it is the end and not the beginning of the week….

We have had 8 drivers involved in the tour – the 4 on the truck (Ian Doran, Alan Scollins, Neil Cornforth and Ed Smerdon), 3 coach drivers and one with the artist car. Our colleagues from Harrison Parrott, Alan Coates and Fiona Mayor, have been around at all hours dealing with the myriad of details that go to make up the orchestra tour schedule. My colleague Jane Moss has been a star – always find something to giggle about when things become a “challenge” – her years of touring experience, together with mine, tot up to almost six decades, which means we can entertain ourselves with tour stories about any given subject!

Back in the office our Liverpool teams have been there answering our phone calls and requests while we try to continue with non-tour work whilst being on the road, which includes proofreading the 11/12 concert brochure which is being printed very soon.

Friday 1 April

Thanks to our colleagues at Maestro Travel we have a quick and smooth check-in at the wonderful clean and airy Munich airport, Ken Grundy being there to ensure everything goes without a hitch. There is enough time left to have breakfast for those who didn’t already and Lufthansa made sure we arrived home all on time. We are now back into the Liverpool and that’s another tour behind us….now where did I leave the files for the one in September to Bucharest and Prague so I can get on with the next one?

Tuesday 29 March

Arrived in Mannheim - the hotel is in the centre so everyone if “off the leash” to wander around the city and walk over to the venue. Some longer serving players recognise the venue immediately, having played Mahler 9 here with Libor Pesek about 21 years ago!

Arrival at the hall is a challenge. First question: where is the stage door? … a long walk around a large building and eventually it is found hidden! Inside, the dark backstage areas are not easy to get around and on stage we have first calamity of the day as some wind music falls on the stage floor, neatly slipping down the crack in the stage to some part of the building that can’t be reached. A quick phone from Jane Moss, Deputy Orchestra Manager, to me and the hotel receptionist happens to be a musician and knows exactly which website to print off the bassoon part for the concerto in time for the concert!

Then was another unfortunate incident, this time involving a bit of a piano and a moving horn, meaning there was instrument damage to report too…and these things always come in threes, as the evening was rounded off with a problem with the valves on the tuba!

Despite all that the concert went well and was attended by a capacity audience of 2500 people who, as everywhere else, demanded the encore at the end. Another birthday in the orchestra means that it might be another late night as the bus does not leave until midday tomorrow…

Wednesday 30 March

Morning in Mannheim… not many at breakfast this morning, apparently a lively night for bar sales in Mannheim last night means that breakfast is a quiet start to the day!

Perhaps it was a “last supper” feeling as the news from the UK was eagerly awaited… finally we know the fate of our support from the Arts Council England (more details of our Arts Council England funding settlement are available on our website) and players are relieved to hear that the news is not as bad as expected. There is pride amongst the band when the statement from Michael Eakin is read out to them and there is a part which refers to the orchestra’s contribution to the music sector in the North West, and for “providing an exceptional music programme…“

As soon as the news was given it was straight on to the coach and off to Stuttgart and another hotel room and another backstage…

The hotel is outside the city centre and in a rural setting – suddenly everyone notices the absence of concrete and many head off for a walk in the nearby woods or a jog through the forest. Some head into town for shopping and a late lunch, whilst others go to the hall for some practice.

Vasily Petrenko finds a supermarket with an impressive range of beers…what purchases were or weren’t made are unknown to this blogger. Players always seem to find good supermarkets and as we are living off mainly sandwiches on some days, it is like harvest festival (as Jane Moss says) on the coach with everyone walking around with bags of fruit desperate to eat something other than bread and salami.

Tonight is concert number 6 of the 8 we are doing, which includes the final concert of the tour in Liverpool on Sunday 3 April – so if you have not heard Manfred live with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra then Sunday will be the best chance as they “lay it to rest” for a while after such a long stint.

If it’s Monday it must be Luxembourg… Three countries in three days…

The hall in Luxembourg makes each member of our group very jealous of the incredible spacious areas backstage compared to that on Hope Street. There is at least six times more space, light and airy offices, separate warm up areas for musicians, large lounge areas with luxurious sofas, and the artists rooms have kitchens better equipped than anything on Masterchef! The loading bay was a secure area with easy access and the only groans heard were because it took so long to walk between the various areas. The hall itself had the illusion of being bigger than it actually is because the long auditorium space is very dimly lit at the back so some players felt they had to project their sound more than needed.

Spotted in the audience of the hall was Carl Davis, in town for performances of his film music for the splendid silent movie, “Intolerance“. Never wanting to miss a chance for a practical joke, some of the backstage crew suggested there was a chance for a wind up here…  Driver, Ian Doran, dug out the spare score of the Tchaikovsky Manfred, Alan Coates told Carl I was looking for him urgently, and at the interval I caught up with him in the foyer (Vasily having been primed to play along too) and told him that VP was ill and was there any chance that he could “carve” (the backstage-speak for conducting) the second half? At this point the colour drained from Carl’s face and he looked very serious for a moment. Alan Coates had now crumpled into a fit of giggles behind Carl’s back while I kept a serious face. Realising that Carl was about to start hyperventilating I came clean and confessed at which point he roared with laughter and we agreed I now owed him a drink! The two conductors met up later in Vasily’s dressing room to laugh about it again…

Carl Davis and Vasily Petrenko backstage at Luxembourg Philharmonie, Monday 28 March 2011

Today was not a bad day for settling in because it was walking distance between the hotel and the venue which means not having to herd people on buses. The ideal for musicians is to be able to have the hotel next to the venue because it provides more freedom of choice about when to eat, where to get changed and when to go over to warm up for the concert. It is imperative for players to have time and space for preparing before playing, sometimes it is because it takes time to tune up (for example the two harps), or set up and check things are working (the organist using yet another different instrument in a new hall) or because of the physical need to warm up for avoiding injury to muscles. When moving around as much as we have been doing this week the conditions are not always ideal and players will miss tea times so that they can prepare adequately for a performance, hence why some players tend to eat post-concert. When our supporters see us on tour, as our friends did in Paris, they are not always aware what a rush it has been behind the scenes to get the band on stage in time.

As boxes are unpacked and music put on stands that is the time when the problems arise. Missing music or something damaged or the missing button… as happened with Vasily’s shirt just before the concert tonight. So the part of the contract that our artistic planning and orchestra management team all have in their job descriptions that says “….and any other duties which from time to time may be necessary…” is suddenly implemented as I reach for the needle and cotton to put the button back on his shirt. Travelling between different cities everyday means that there is no time for hotel laundry to be done either.

"....and any other duties which from time to time may be necessary..."

Up in Paris now and ready for a big one… this concert is to be in one of the most famous venues in the world. The scandal surrounding the Paris premiere of the Rite of Spring happened in this very theatre almost one hundred years ago. The venue is now busy every night of the year, often with two or even three performances a day there. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra filled every inch of the stage and wowed the audience with a magnificent Manfred Symphony. A proud moment for our past Executive Director, Andrew Cornall who made sure he was around to see the fruits of this tour that has taken over two years to plan. Andrew planned this programme when the orchestra had recorded the Manfred Symphony and it was amazing to hear how this symphony is now totally embedded in the repertoire list and is in the blood of the players. The organ rising above the orchestra at the end of the last movement made hairs stand on end throughout the theatre, and the encore was worth the efforts of finding it…

Andrew Cornall, former Executive Director, and Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, at the Theatre des Champs-Elysee

And there is more…

During the day it became apparent that the concert had to conclude with an encore and, despite vowing not to put the players throughout more music after almost an hour of Tchaikovsky, Vasily relented and agreed we should find the parts for Trepak… on a Saturday afternoon… in Paris.

This could be a challenge for many people but fortunately having been the assistant librarian at the Phil many years ago the experience always comes in handy at some point. So instead of heading off for lunch in a little bistro I decided rather than running up the Rue du Rome music shops by the Gare St.Lazare, I simple went to Vasily’s hotel by the venue and found a charming man in the hotel business centre who provided me with internet connection and a ream of paper! Fifty minutes later I had printed off all the parts and score for the encore and headed back to catch a quick cassoulet with Vasily before the rehearsal. In days gone by the choices used to be using a fax (slow) or have to copy parts by hand (slower still!). Thank goodness for the Internet!

Backstage at the theatre was dark and atmospheric, the heavy sense of history hanging in the wings, and musicians found their various corners to warm up before the concert… here are a few of them caught by Mark McNulty.

Concettina Del Vecchio backstage at Theatre des Champs-Elysee

Richard Wallace backstage at the Theatre des Champs-Elysee

More photographs from the concert at the Theatre des Champs-Elysee can be viewed on our facebook page…

Jayne writes:

Getting up at “horrible o’clock” to make the early flight from Liverpool to Paris meant we were able to hook up with Sandra at our Paris hotel ahead of the Orchestra arriving around noon from Aix-en-Provence. They’d played a fantastic first concert of the tour there the night before, met with rapturous applause from a packed house at the Grand Theatre de Provence. Apparently, members of the audience applauded the members of the Orchestra again as they were leaving the venue.

Our Chief Executive Michael Eakin also joined the tour for the Paris leg, enduring a “planes, trains and automobiles” experience due to delayed flights and cancelled trains, which added hours of journey time to what is essentially a quick hop over the channel!

The Orchestra, with our Deputy Orchestra Manager Jane Moss and our tour manager colleagues from Harrison Parrott also had early starts, travelling in two parties by TGV from Marseille to Paris, with the truck team on the road.

Everyone arrived safely in Paris with a few hours to spare to take in some of the sites and sounds of this most beautiful city ahead of rehearsal at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.

The RLPO rehearsing at Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris

The rehearsals on this tour, whilst relatively short are very important for our musicians to get used to the acoustic in each venue, as all will be different.  At today’s rehearsal, our Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko spent some time rehearsing sections of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, including the organ part, at one point, walking off the platform and into the stalls in the auditorium as the Orchestra played on, listening carefully to the sound balance which was sounding quite different in the stalls, to what he and the musicians were hearing on the concert platform. As we all know, Vasily knows precisely what he wants from a performance, and used every last minute of rehearsal to prepare for the concert an hour later.

And what a concert! The Manfred Symphony in particular was absolutely blistering, and will surely get even better as the Orchestra play it each night of the tour, concluding with a final performance on home turf at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Sunday 3rd April. The concert hall was packed to the rafters and we were also delighted to see 25 of our supporters over from Liverpool on a trip organised by Maestro Travel. It was also great to see our former Executive Director, Andrew Cornall at the concert. He was in Paris doing some work in his new role as Vice-President A & R, of EMI Classics.

The RLPO enjoy a standing ovation at Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris

The beautiful, art-nouveau style Theatre des Champs-Elysees opened in 1913 staging in its first season, the world première of Stravinsky’s ballet, Rite of Spring, (danced by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes) consequently becoming the celebrated location of one of the most famous of all classical music riots!  No riots tonight though – at the end of the concert just prolonged applause, whistles and cheers for the Orchestra and Vasily – who rounded off a wonderful concert with an encore of the exhilarating Russian dance from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Fantastique!

First day of the tour was actually last Tuesday when our super team of drivers, Ian, Alan, Ed and Neil shut the truck doors in Caledonia Street and started their long journey to the south of France. Thankfully the long slog south was without any hitches and they arrived last night in time to enjoy a long cooling nightcap….or two!

This morning, supporting our local airport we flew the orchestra out of John Lennon Airport direct to Marseille. Maestro Travel ensured the group were looked after right up until they boarded the coaches at Marseille airport where our touring manager colleagues at Harrison Parrott took over.

As we were about to land the usual welcome was given by Jet2 crew member Ryan: “Ladies and gentlemen of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, on behalf of Jet2 we thank you for flying with us today and wish you a pleasant…..(long pause here….while he realizes that he about to say holiday….which a tour is not!)….European tour… (Sigh)”

Rehearsals for the concert tonight in Aix en Provence going well so far… Will write more soon!

Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

As you can guess any tour takes a lot of organisation. Here’s a photo of the truck being loaded up in the sun outside Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Tuesday afternoon. Some of the Orchestra set off on Wednesday, while the rest of the Orchestra and management staff set off this morning!

European Tour 2011

Friday 25 March 2011
FRANCE Aix en Provence

Saturday 26 March 2011
FRANCE Paris, Theatre des Champs-Elysees

Sunday 27 March 2011
GERMANY Freiburg, Konzerthaus

Monday 28 March 2011
LUXEMBOURG Philharmonie

Tuesday 29 March 2011
GERMANY Mannheim, Rosengarten

Wednesday 30 March 2011
GERMANY Stuttgart, Liederhalle

Thursday 31 March 2011
GERMANY Regensburg, Audimax der Universitat

We’re hoping to bring you some more updates from the tour, but meanwhile, if you use twitter, follow Second Violin Anthony Burrage – @TonyBurrage – and Trumpet Brendan Ball – @Brendan_Ball – also, don’t forget to check out Brendan Ball’s blog for his personal on tour experiences!

If you love Vasily Petrenko and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and would like to join us on our tours around the world, we’ve organised, in association with Maestro Travel, a selection of travel opportunities to hear the orchestra and Vasily abroad. You’ll travel with a Liverpool Philharmonic staff member and your trip prices includes a modest donation to Liverpool Philharmonic.

Head over to our website to find out what’s in store on tour in 2011…