We’re singing Ravel’s ballet suite *Daphnis et Chloé with the Sydney Symphony orchestra at the moment, under the baton of Oleg Caetani. Tomorrow night’s performance (Saturday 26 June) will be broadcast live from the Sydney Opera House. The concert starts at 8.00pm Australian eastern time, but we’re not on until the second half, commencing at approximately 9.10pm.
It’s a lovely piece. The choir doesn’t have very much to do, but it’s still rather fun.
If you’d like to listen, go to ABC Classic FM and click on the Listen Now link.
The choir sounded exquisite and came through beautifully, even in that huge general exultation at the end! Wonderful job - hope you are out hoisting a well-earned pint or two.
Can I also just say how mind-boggling I found it to sit in my pyjamas on a Saturday morning and listen to a live broadcast from evening of the same day in Australia while the kids got themselves sugary junk cereal for breakfast? I know the modern world shouldn’t astonish me as much as it does, but the strangeness of that moment (last time I heard all of Daphnis et Chloé was when I saw the National Ballet perform it sometime in the late 80s.) really struck me.
Plus I have to get to Australia one of these days…
Thanks for that Le Ministre. There was one rather wobbly bit - a rather spectacular missed entry, thanks to Caetani’s wayward beating - but I suspect it would have just come across as a pppp entry. Otherwise we though it went pretty well, and the end was a real romp. Three performances down, one more to go tomorrow (Monday) night.
We did wind down in the Green Room afterwards, but with champagne, while we sat admiring the lunar eclipse unfolding over Sydney on a cold, clear winter’s evening.