Post by Lynette on Nov 5, 2006 16:22:52 GMT 1
Went to the World Premiere of Paul McCartney's latest classical offering on Friday night. Here's me review.
Okay here's what happened.
My b/f and I arrived at The Royal Albert Hall around 5.30pm. Doors didn't open until 6.30pm. We waited in the warmth of the car for a while. There was a lot of press, TV and fans all waiting to see the famous people arrive at door 6. We became really hopeful that Paul would be there when we saw that. It was too cold to hang around outside so we went in and found our seats. Well, our seats had been covered up because of some huge panels that had been hung either side of the stage, so we were moved to better seats still facing the audience and to the side of the stage. We were sat next to a very nice couple who we discovered were friends of Kate Royal [the soprano soloist on Ecce Cor Meum]. We had our binoculars trained on the seats where we hoped Paul would be sitting. The first famous face we saw was Sir George Martin, then Ronnie Wood [Rolling Stones]. We kept scanning the audience but no sign of Paul. The lights went down for the first part of the concert. Kate Royal took to the stage with The Belcea Quartet to sing "My Love" ~ as she sang I took the binoculars and peered in the dim light towards Sir George Martin. Scanning the row behind him I saw Sir Paul! He was there! Sat either side of him were Stella [heavily pregnant] and Mary and their respective husbands. I whispered to my b/f "He's here!" and passed the binoculars to him. It made our night to know he was there. In the same row I spotted Paul "Wix" Wickens [tours with Paul and was a member of Wings], Jeff Lynne [E.L.O] and Dave Gilmour [Pink Floyd].
"My Love" was followed by "Warm And Beautiful", "Calico Skies" for which Kate Royal was joined by Tenor Adam Staples. Adam then sang "Golden Earth Girl" and "Some Days". Kate and Adam then sang "Junk".
The Chamber Orchestra then played "Nova". They were joined by Kate for "The World You're Coming Into" from the Liverpool Oratorio. Kate and Adam then sang "Ghost Suite" from the Liverpool Oratorio accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra. Finally Kate and Andrew sang "Celebration" from Standing Stone accompanied by both the Chamber Orchestra and The Belcea Quartet. There was then an interval.
As Sir Paul left the auditorium for the interval there were flashbulbs going off all over the place and some fans shouted nice things to him, there was some applause too as more people realised he was there.
After the interval, the lights dimmed and Sir Paul and his family returned to their places to rapturous applause. Then it was time for "Ecce Cor Meum" - Kate Royal [soprano], accompanied by The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Gavin Greenaway ~ London Voices, Boys of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford and Boys of King's College Choir, Cambridge. It was an amazing performance and you could see Sir Paul was deeply moved during certain parts as he held both his daughters hands. When the final note had been sung/played, the audience showed their approval with rapturous applause and whistles etc. The principles took their bows, and received the usual floral tributes, then the moment we had certainly been waiting for ~ Sir Paul came to the stage. He seemed very moved by the warm reception he and his music had received. He thanked everyone concerned, his friends and family and us, the audience. He received flowers and waved goodbye. As he shook hands with the conductor, soloists etc, the "heavens" opened and we were showered with millions of white paper hearts raining down on everyone. We kept a handful of them for posterity. The auditorium of the Royal Albert Hall looked as though it was covered in snow, it really was a magnificent sight.
We left very happy to have been a part of this truly magical evening. My b/f was delighted as he had also been able to get a few fairly decent photographs, which once they have been downloaded, I will post in a link here.
Okay here's what happened.
My b/f and I arrived at The Royal Albert Hall around 5.30pm. Doors didn't open until 6.30pm. We waited in the warmth of the car for a while. There was a lot of press, TV and fans all waiting to see the famous people arrive at door 6. We became really hopeful that Paul would be there when we saw that. It was too cold to hang around outside so we went in and found our seats. Well, our seats had been covered up because of some huge panels that had been hung either side of the stage, so we were moved to better seats still facing the audience and to the side of the stage. We were sat next to a very nice couple who we discovered were friends of Kate Royal [the soprano soloist on Ecce Cor Meum]. We had our binoculars trained on the seats where we hoped Paul would be sitting. The first famous face we saw was Sir George Martin, then Ronnie Wood [Rolling Stones]. We kept scanning the audience but no sign of Paul. The lights went down for the first part of the concert. Kate Royal took to the stage with The Belcea Quartet to sing "My Love" ~ as she sang I took the binoculars and peered in the dim light towards Sir George Martin. Scanning the row behind him I saw Sir Paul! He was there! Sat either side of him were Stella [heavily pregnant] and Mary and their respective husbands. I whispered to my b/f "He's here!" and passed the binoculars to him. It made our night to know he was there. In the same row I spotted Paul "Wix" Wickens [tours with Paul and was a member of Wings], Jeff Lynne [E.L.O] and Dave Gilmour [Pink Floyd].
"My Love" was followed by "Warm And Beautiful", "Calico Skies" for which Kate Royal was joined by Tenor Adam Staples. Adam then sang "Golden Earth Girl" and "Some Days". Kate and Adam then sang "Junk".
The Chamber Orchestra then played "Nova". They were joined by Kate for "The World You're Coming Into" from the Liverpool Oratorio. Kate and Adam then sang "Ghost Suite" from the Liverpool Oratorio accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra. Finally Kate and Andrew sang "Celebration" from Standing Stone accompanied by both the Chamber Orchestra and The Belcea Quartet. There was then an interval.
As Sir Paul left the auditorium for the interval there were flashbulbs going off all over the place and some fans shouted nice things to him, there was some applause too as more people realised he was there.
After the interval, the lights dimmed and Sir Paul and his family returned to their places to rapturous applause. Then it was time for "Ecce Cor Meum" - Kate Royal [soprano], accompanied by The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Gavin Greenaway ~ London Voices, Boys of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford and Boys of King's College Choir, Cambridge. It was an amazing performance and you could see Sir Paul was deeply moved during certain parts as he held both his daughters hands. When the final note had been sung/played, the audience showed their approval with rapturous applause and whistles etc. The principles took their bows, and received the usual floral tributes, then the moment we had certainly been waiting for ~ Sir Paul came to the stage. He seemed very moved by the warm reception he and his music had received. He thanked everyone concerned, his friends and family and us, the audience. He received flowers and waved goodbye. As he shook hands with the conductor, soloists etc, the "heavens" opened and we were showered with millions of white paper hearts raining down on everyone. We kept a handful of them for posterity. The auditorium of the Royal Albert Hall looked as though it was covered in snow, it really was a magnificent sight.
We left very happy to have been a part of this truly magical evening. My b/f was delighted as he had also been able to get a few fairly decent photographs, which once they have been downloaded, I will post in a link here.
