Nine days, six concerts, thirty-five musicians and 702 miles in a
mini-van - what's not to love?!
All Souls Orchestra, based at Langham Place, London, unites two passions of mine: orchestral
playing and Christian faith. Playing with ASO sometime feels as close as I
imagine I could be to heaven. So when I was asked to join them on a tour to
France and Switzerland, it was a no-brainer! Better yet, Richard was able to
join the team as photographer and general helper, AND we discovered we could
get cheap Lyon - Cape Town tickets at the end of the tour. Betterer and
betterer. This was to be the perfect start to our world adventure.
It is impossible to capture the fullness of our time on tour, but
I will do my very best, starting at the very beginning: Strasbourg.
ASO had already been in France for two days; I was only able
to join them in time for the second concert. Easy Jet got me to
Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport right on the Swiss/German/French border. Alone at the unfamiliar airport, waiting for
my bags, I had some anxious moments… “What if there’s no one to pick me up? Did they have the
right details? Will my phone work?!”
All was well - I took care to follow the sign 'To France' (one of
our musicians did end up in Switzerland!), and was greeted by Denis, one of the co-ordinators,
sensibly holding an ‘ASO’ sign. Denis kindly drove me all the way to central
Strasbourg, where I arrived, with impeccable timing, just in time for ASO tea
break.
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| Eglise Saint-Paul, Place Eisenhower, Strasbourg |
The ever-important tea and biscuits having been consumed, we whizzed through rehearsal and dinner and then it was concert-time. Exhaustion was catching up with me, and the smell
of bleach was still on my fingers from scrubbing our front door that morning. Having had little rehearsal time with the orchestra, it was a daunting concert for me to perform. There was nothing to fear though; our music
and worship floated through the cathedral beautifully, and the audience responded
with gusto, joining us in song for three of the hymns.
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| Me and Soo Park (violin) after our concert. |
Strasbourg is apparently a beautiful city, but sadly, all I saw of
it was our concert venue and our motel, where I found Richard waiting
forlornly for me when we finally arrived at 11pm. My earlier message to him with pass codes to get in hadn’t
gone through. (Note to self: iMessages don’t work abroad when roaming data is
switched off!!)
Even the hard Ibis
Budget bed could not stop us sleeping deeply that night - our first night as foot-loose, fancy-free travellers!
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