Get me an Oboe bloody fast!
Greetings from the United Kingdom - Concourse H is in the middle of a business trip across the Atlantic. After I worked today at Chiswick Park Starbucks (great wireless there) on various projects, I met up with my cousins for a night at Royal Festival Hall to see the London Philharmonia (not philharmonic, the philharmonia!).
We got to see Wagner, Bruch and Schumann. The Royal Festival Hall is perfectly situated on the Thames River for beautiful vistas of the London Eye, Big Ben, Charing Cross station and St. Paul's at intermission.
So the funniest thing happened tonight when we got back to our seats after intermission. Everyone was waiting for the Schumann Symphony to start and after 10 minutes the following annoucement was made:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, unfortunately one of our musicians has become ill and we have called a replacement to fill in. The replacement is currently en route. We hope to be able to start soon. Thank you for your patience."
So everyone was waited with baited breath to see who arrived and after about 8 minutes (my cousin and I remember seeing someone leave at the very beginning of the performance) the replacement Oboe player arrived. I guess Schumann would have sounded poor with only one oboe! Now here is my question, how quickly did this guy get dressed and I hope he didn't live in a far out suburb of London. What a hoot! I was waiting for the conductor to give a special thanks during the applause but he didn't.
Happy Friday everyone from Concourse H!
We got to see Wagner, Bruch and Schumann. The Royal Festival Hall is perfectly situated on the Thames River for beautiful vistas of the London Eye, Big Ben, Charing Cross station and St. Paul's at intermission.
So the funniest thing happened tonight when we got back to our seats after intermission. Everyone was waiting for the Schumann Symphony to start and after 10 minutes the following annoucement was made:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, unfortunately one of our musicians has become ill and we have called a replacement to fill in. The replacement is currently en route. We hope to be able to start soon. Thank you for your patience."
So everyone was waited with baited breath to see who arrived and after about 8 minutes (my cousin and I remember seeing someone leave at the very beginning of the performance) the replacement Oboe player arrived. I guess Schumann would have sounded poor with only one oboe! Now here is my question, how quickly did this guy get dressed and I hope he didn't live in a far out suburb of London. What a hoot! I was waiting for the conductor to give a special thanks during the applause but he didn't.
Happy Friday everyone from Concourse H!
posted by Howard @ 7:24 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
This is a test to see if I finally figured out the login. If I succeed, I will let you know that I have seen in old movies that musicians would hang out at their union/guild halls waiting for calls to fill in for sick (or drunk etc) members of bands or bands in need. Maybe some modern form of that still is in place. Or, the oboeist was really nimble. I can't wait to hear more about your time with R and G and the rest of the family. Aunt Lo
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