Over this summer, since the exhibition in early July, I have been taking some time out to decide where to takes things next. So I thought I would fill you in with where I'm at, what I've been up to and what's coming up!
The church Creative Arts exhibition back in July was a fun event to take part in, after been really poorly in the winter it was a great way to refocus. Moving forward once the exhibition had finished it seemed a great opportunity to have a bit of a break and think about where to go next. It also gave me a chance to catch up on some of my other interests. This summer has taken on a bit of a musical theme with visits to the BBC Proms & lots of composing, along with watching rather a lot of cricket!
If you're a cricket fan like me, this has been the summer for you, what with the world cup and at this very moment the Ashes. I don't think I've quite recovered from England's dramatic world cup win! I was hoping for a double as an England fan, but unfortunately that wasn't to be after our recent Ashes test defeat! However there have been some very exciting games. While I was away in Norfolk a couple of weeks ago my dad and I were glued to the radio and we had pretty much given up, when the impossible happened! Stoke's almost single handed effort dragged us over the line with a century to rival England's greatest test individual performances, and Jack Leach had probably the most important 1 not out ever from a number eleven! I also had a great time watching a T20 match between Kent and Surrey, when we eventually got a game in between rain delays! I can't really complain though because we were very kindly allowed into the members stand at the Oval so we could avoid the rain! The accessibility lady parted the crowds for us so we could get through, it made me feel like a VIP! I also have tickets for day 3 of the final Ashes Test at the Oval this weekend, so I'm very excited about that, even though Australia have retained the Ashes! Hopefully we can still tie the series with a win.
I have also had the pleasure of going to two BBC Proms this summer! The first was all organ music with the principle organist of Notre Dame. Hearing the massive organ at the Royal Albert Hall was really impressive and made the whole place shake! Bach's Toccata and Fugue was particularly fantastic! The second prom was on theme of pictures and featured Pictures at an Exhibition, which I have always wanted to hear live. It begins with the promenade theme which describes walking through an art gallery. Each section, interspersed with the promenade theme, then describes a different painting. Some of the paintings include The Gnome, The Old Castle, Cattle, and the spectacular finale The Great Gate of Kiev!
It has been an ambition of mine for a long time to write a piece for full orchestra. I am currently working on a new piece about Norfolk,which describes my favourite places there, but I got a bit overwhelmed by writing for full orchestra. It's not an easy task, so I thought rearranging something I have already written would probably be the best way to start. I have been busy working on rearranging a piece I wrote a good few years ago, called the Barn Owl, for full orchestra from just being a strings piece. This has proved to be really helpful and has broken it down into something more doable. I have almost finished the Barn Owl arrangement now except for fine tuning, which is really exciting! If you want to hear the original Barn Owl music see my post: My Story, where it's used as the music for a short video about my faith.
Finally returning to the photography I'm planning a sale and chance to see a selection of my images displayed on October 26th at Holy Trinity, Redhill, Surrey. This will be combined with refreshments in aid of Operation Christmas Child. So that's an exciting event coming up I will keep you posted on. What with a new laptop & various reorganisation jobs over the summer I'm now looking forward to getting back to some photography & actually taking photos! Well that's all from me for now until the next post!