The Singing Cook
...or how not to make it to an organ recital
October 2007 - Last summer I had been playing some concerts in the Marche region of Italy. My wife and I had
enjoyed ourselves immensely. My concerts were on August 28 and 31.
After I had signed on for that job, my friend and colleague, the Danish organist Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen invited me to play
a recital where he is organist: The Royal Chapel, Fredriksborg Castle in Hillerød, Denmark. The only date possible
was Sunday, September 2. It was a close shave, in that my last concert in the Marche was the night of August 31 and
I would have to play in Denmark on the afternoon of September 2.
But, as any traveling musician knows, it's not
always possible to arrange things for total convenience. I thought, "One bad day of travel, a little practice, a
good night's sleep, a little more practice and the recital the next day."
Well, after I had committed to both things and they had gone to press, we discovered that the 6:30 AM bus from Ascoli
Piceno to Rome didn't run on Saturdays! If we took the 9:30 bus, we wouldn't make our plane from Rome to Copenhagen.
The alternative was a 3 a.m. bus following a concert in a different city. Impossible! We searched
everywhere for a way to do this, but couldn't find anything. More >>
