Orchestra tour to Rheinland, Germany - 2012

Rachel Barnes, Conor King, Alex Maynard and Rachael Windass :

On the late evening of Friday 13^th July, we set off on what promised to be one of the busiest tours the Music Service has seen!  We departed from the Albemarle Music Centre at 22.30hrs and arrived, after a 17 hour long coach journey, in St Goarshausen on Saturday afternoon.  After a quick walk along the Rhine to stretch our legs, we headed back to the Hotel Erholung and started to unpack.  With the rest of the evening free, some of us went back to the river to do some more investigating, whilst others preferred to explore the local supermarket to stock up on sweets and biscuits!

On Sunday, we travelled down the Rhine to the typical picturesque town, Bad Kreuznach.  Travelling alongside the river was amazing and the views were just stunning – at every bend there was another castle! 

 . . . another castle . . .

Bad Kreuznach was where we performed our first concert, an afternoon, outdoor concert in a lovely park right in front of the 5 star Parkhotel.

 The ParkHotel

Not only are opening concerts on tours notoriously shaky (‘long journey after-effects’ etc) but there are many difficulties with playing outdoors.  However, despite all the potential set backs, we managed to pull off an enjoyable concert watched by citizens of Bad Kreuznach and guests of the hotel.  Our programme ranged from the Peterloo Overture (Malcolm Arnold) to a Paul Simons and Art Garfunkel Medley sung by the choir to Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 (a Hull Youth Orchestra and Choir tradition - essential for tours).  As far as outdoor concerts go, it was the most successful one I’ve been in with nearly 300 people listening by the end of the concert.

After the concert, we packed up and set off for the Tauris Waterpark.  This was the highlight of Sunday evening.  The complex had outdoor and indoor pools, a wild water channel and a 55 metre water slide – much fun was had by all!

On Monday an early start on the coach took us to Phantasialand, the theme park owned by the Michael Jackson estate, where we spent the day.  The park had six zones each with a different country as its theme and each full of adventure and mystery (and lots of food which all but one of us managed to keep down...).  But aside from that, the rest of the day was a success.  The rides were brilliant, and there was an attraction for absolutely everyone.  We even managed to get a picture of our two lovely coach drivers, Geoff and Norman, looking rather startled on the ‘Winja’s Fear and Force’ ride!

Tuesday began with a pleasant ferry cruise down the Rhine which transported us to Deutsches Eck (“German Corner”) in Koblenz, where we rode in a cable car all the way from Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer (the riverside) up and across the Rhine, to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress mountain station. In the cable car we enjoyed spectacular views over Deutsches Eck where the Rhine and Moselle rivers meet. 

 Cable cars crossing the Rhine

We then headed to Frankfurt Hoechst where we would be performing our second concert in St. Joseph’s Church.  I can say without doubt that this was the best concert some of us have ever played in.  Before the concert we were treated to a pizza each at the parish hall (and we’d like to extend a gracious thanks to the parish of St. Joseph’s for providing this).  The concert opened with a gorgeous oboe solo at the start of A Somerset Rhapsody (Gustav Holst) played by Ruby Orlowska and that standard was sustained and maintained by everyone throughout the rest of the piece and for the rest of the concert.  The choir sang a selection of movements from Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man and a movement from Brahms’ German Requiem.  There were also performances from the Albemarle String Octet and the Albemarle Wind Quintet who both gave very good performances.  The concert finished off with Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No1, and even the local members of the audience tried singing along with the choir to Land of Hope and Glory which was a great end to a great concert.  During the concert, it was noted that many members of the audience had enjoyed the performances so much that they were in tears – even Mr King was observed wiping his eyes!  We like to think they were tears of enjoyment anyway.

Wednesday was ‘Cabaret Day’ (another orchestra and choir tour tradition) for the group, and everyone involved spent the morning doing some last minute practice!  We took over the entire hotel as we searched for practice rooms for every act - the other guests must have loved us!  We then travelled to Bad Neuenahr, a small spa town where the average age of the residents was 75.  The roads in the town were very narrow and the turns sharp, and it didn’t make for very smooth travelling in the coach.  It took us an hour to successfully negotiate one particularly tight road, much to the amusement of the passers-by (but the police didn’t laugh very much……), but on the plus side, we got to finish the film we were watching on the coach!

This third concert was held in the Bad Neuenahr Spa Concert Hall.  What was different about this concert is that the audience were only a foot away from the orchestra so it was a lot more intimate and felt more interactive with the audience.  The orchestra played a full programme, including Danse Macabre (Camille Saint-Saëns) and Jerusalem (Hubert Parry).  The choir sang a selection of light-hearted pieces including Let It Be (Paul McCartney) and Mac the Knife (Kurt Weill).  It was a thoroughly enjoyable concert in a beautiful setting and much appreciated by the elderly audience.

After this successful concert, we got back to the hotel for Cabaret - an evening showcasing the group’s other talents, musical or otherwise, ranging from the impressive to the downright bizarre.  The highlights of the evening had to be John Wright and Hannah Stabler’s amazing tuned bottles, the Viola section’s recorder ensemble (for comedy value) and the annual “Tour Awards” which highlighted the most memorable moments of the tour so far.  The teachers presented members of staff with presents such as a jar of pickle for Mr Maynard and a sewing kit for Mrs Penny depending on what the staff had craved or needed during the tour.  Student awards ranged from the light hearted “Most Likely to Vom (sic) on a Ride Award” (see Phantasialand above) to awards of achievement such as “Brilliant Choral Contribution”. These where given to recognise students who had made the tour enjoyable, extraordinary and displayed immeasurable musicianship.

For our last full day, we started Thursday with a rare treat this tour: a lie-in. After a very lazy morning, we made our way to Cologne for our last sightseeing trip of the tour.  On offer was the Lindt Chocolate Museum and the breathtaking Cologne Cathedral, but many just found enough time to eat before the final concert. 

The final concert took place in Trinitas Church in the beautiful city of Cologne.  Prior to the concert we posed for our “biennial” tour photos, including one of the entire orchestra, the choir, the various sections and the leavers.  The orchestra played The Lord of the Rings medley (Howard Shore) along with another selection of pieces, which were met, not for the first time, with tears from more than one member of the audience.  The choir performed a selection of pieces including Henry Purcell’s Come, Come Ye Sons of Art, which involved a very well received duet from Sarah Penny and Colm Talbot.  The string octet also performed, playing the Andante from Mendelssohn’s String Octet, a very mature piece for young players.  The concert was such a success that one of the orchestra members was asked for their autograph by a member of the audience.  This was also the final concert for several of the older students before they embark on Higher Education.  There were several pairs of moist eyes and one in particular needed several tissues – we wish them all well for whatever the future may hold.

This tour will be particularly remembered for the amazing concerts we performed; they are among the best concerts I (Conor King) have ever played in and will take some beating next tour!  After this final performance, we got on the coaches to return to the hotel for the last time and packed our suitcases.  Friday morning came all too soon and after breakfast in the hotel, we boarded the coaches and said goodbye to the beautiful landscape of the Rhineland.  It had been a tour full of excitement and I’m sure it will be a tour that all of us will remember. 

The members of the orchestra and choir would like to thank the Friends’ Association and the Reckitts Education Trust for their financial support; the tour would not have been possible without them.  And finally, our biggest thanks must go to Chris Maynard and Caitriona Talbot for organising the tour and also to the wonderful staff who accompanied us, making it such a fantastic experience for us all.

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