And They're Off!

On Saturday, June 21st, 31 members of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra boarded a flight to London to launch the LSO’s exciting initiative “Bridging the Atlantic: Artful Innovations in Cancer Care”. Without any hassle from security about the horns and violins and with a relatively smooth, direct flight to London, we arrived at the Heathrow International airport at 6:45am on Sunday, June 22nd. After boarding the bus, we set off for the city—enjoying a brief panoramic tour along the way.

London greeted us with sunshine and we piled off the bus for a brief stop at Buckingham Palace. The quiet Sunday morning served us well as the group gathered for a photo beneath the gold-encrusted gates surrounding the palace.

Our next stop was the violin shop of Florian Leonhard. Mr. Leonhard has generously provided the LSO cello section with beautiful instruments to use during our time in London. (This saved us quite the hassle of either packing the instruments in gigantic flight cases, or purchasing each cello a seat on the flight!). Mr. Leonhard’s shop is a beautiful house off a beautiful (and very narrow!) winding, English road. Violins and violas, displayed in wooden and glass cases, adorn the expansive, museum-like rooms. An unfinished, carved bass scroll sits in the unused fireplace.

Once we collected the five borrowed instruments, a quick phone call to the hotel informed us that the rooms we were hoping to check into were not ready for us—and wouldn’t be for at least a couple of hours! So, we headed to Covent Gardens to explore the shops, enjoy the street performers and grab a bite to eat. After reconvening, we headed to the hotel and gratefully checked into our rooms, with only enough time to drop off our belongings, perhaps change clothes and get back on the bus for our afternoon rehearsal.

Our first London rehearsal took place at Greycoat Hospital--an historic building that used to be a hospital and is now a school for girls. The rehearsal served as a mini-reunion with former LSO members who are now residing in the greater London area: Catherine Brewster, violin, Hilary Cipullo, oboe, Emma Norden, bass, and Kristin Rutter, harp. Despite the fact that we had all been awake for at least 25 hours, we buckled down and focused for an intense three-and-a-half hour rehearsal.

Finally, an exhausted orchestra returned to the hotel, for a chance to rest, shower, and stroll to a nearby pub for some dinner and a pint!

To check out more photos from today, click here!