The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra have just arrived back at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall after their whirlwind seven day European tour. Sandra Parr, Head of Programming, has arrived also, and brings with her this round up of the last few days of the tour:
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?
Playing for Liverpool on the World Stage 
Firing on all cyllinders as usual, Sandra! Have really enjoyed reading your blog and Brendan’s too. Well done everyone.