The rain that had been forecast moved away during the afternoon and we enjoyed a mild evening for the concert. Russell didn’t sing any new songs unless you count The Loveliest Night Of The Year but everything went well.
Matthew Gunner, conductor of the NSO, has a different style to Rob Emery but he and Russell appeared to have ‘hit it off’ this afternoon at rehearsal, which was their first meeting.
There’s a constant problem with outdoor summer concerts and that’s “midges”… Russell was surrounded by them in the second half and was
fascinated by their apparent synchronisation with the music, so much so that he
said he might book them as a guest act in future.
He also said that he was working on his next album and we hoped he was going sing something from it by way of a ‘sneak preview’ but he just said that it was still ‘hush hush’ though he was going to give us a clue. He then sang “Bring Him Home” so, after some discussion during the interval, we’re now thinking in terms of ‘The French Connection’.
The audience was strictly forbidden from taking photos or videos but Russell did his usual ‘photo opportunity’ so we have a couple to upload later. In the meantime there’s some good ones on Rebeladelicia’s Flickr photostream.
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Russell is billed to star at the Hampton Court Palace Festival on Sunday 16th June 2013 when he will be supported by ‘Amore’…
“Russell Watson with special guests AMORE
Sunday 16 June 2013 Tickets £45, £50 Time 19:30 (Palace Gardens open at 17:30) Book Now
Russell Watson is officially the UK’s best selling classical artist ever. He has won four Classical BRITS and released nine studio albums to date, each one winning more critical acclaim. Russell continues to prove himself as the godfather of classical crossover and in this concert, with his orchestra, he will perform many of his well known songs including those from ‘Anthems’, his most recent album release, which once again reached the top of the classical charts.
Russell’s special guests will be Amore, a classical vocal quartet who met during postgraduate opera studies at the Royal College of Music. They are rapidly gathering great acclaim and in 2012 performed for the Queen both as part of the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant and also at the BBC Festival of Remembrance.
There will be a long interval where you can enjoy drinks in the beautiful Palace Gardens.
The concert finishes at 22.30.”
Kindly note that this is a seated, open air event, but it is not a ‘picnic concert’ where you take your own chairs, etc.
Please see the Hampton Court Palace Festival’s “About” page for more information on picnics and Food & Drink available on-site.
This event is now listed on Russell’s new official website.
Russellers 