We're back!

On Thursday 27th May I had the privilege of being in front of a live audience once again, performing a recital of duets & readings called ‘Love Handels’. I devised this programme; I did NOT come up with the title!

Apart from a lucky break in Poland in February this year, when the government temporarily relaxed the rules and allowed a small number of people to watch my final performance of Marcello's 'Cassandra', this is the first time since Canada in February 2020 that I have been able to see the audience. What a difference it makes! We even mustered a standing ovation - a rare event in England (a reticence which I happen to like; in America audiences bestow them too easily).

Thank you to all at the beautiful Pump Room in Leamington, and to the audience at the English Musical Festival in Horsham, 2 days later: same programme, same reaction. Though the standing ovation looked amusingly self-conscious from the front, almost as if the audience was embarrassed and surprised by their own enthusiasm. So lovely.

In the swirl of emotions surrounding these events I even went so far as to sneak in one of my own poems amidst the Milton, Vergil, Hardy etc. Did anyone spot it?