It’s a remarkable choir that persuades dozens of its members (and hangers-on) to spend over three days travelling by train from one end of Europe to the other to go on their choir tour. But many of us on the tour did just that, stopping in Paris, Ulm and Budapest and joined in Braşov by others who had travelled by air.
An Art Nouveau piano in a peacock cabinet, Pelișor Castle, Sinaia
We performed in four places: Bran Castle, the fortified church at Honigberg/Hărman, the Church on the Hill in Sigişoara and the Black Church in Braşov itself. All the churches were Lutheran ones with much history behind them, and with organs that made accompanied pieces and solo organ items possible.
The most memorable performance was at Honigberg, where we were given an introductory talk about the church and a chance to explore it and the fortified precinct surrounding it. The audience started to arrive an hour before the concert and entirely filled the building. Our encore (a folksong arrangement) brought them to their feet applauding as soon as they heard the opening line.
There was also time for exploration without performing; such as contrasting castles at Sinaia and impromptu games of chess in the hotel lobby (involving one Vlad who claimed to have played Karpov, and some very large drinks).
I’ll describe our concert programme in the next post.