Not long after our Autumn concert at St Martin in the Fields, working with Opera Danube at St John's Smith Square - plus recording with rock legend Pete Townshend - this weekend we had our Autumn tour to the Royal Hospital School in Suffolk, a beautiful boarding school in the countryside where the students wear Royal Navy uniforms and the beautiful architecture is only surpassed by the stunning local scenery.
Singing under the Queen's Banner in the Chapel, we performed a joint concert on Saturday night with local favourites Aldeburgh Voices and the Jubilee Opera Chorus, a group of primary school children impressively performing a piece that they had learned only a few hours before the concert.
The highlight of the evening was our joint premiere of the World War I commemorative piece "Do Not Go Gentle", our latest commission from Oriana's composer-in-residence Toby Young. It went over very well with our warm and supportive audience.
Toby was there to hear the premiere performance and tweeted his thoughts: "I was SO moved and proud of @londonoriana and @DominicPeckham for last night! What an honour to hear them premiere my piece!"
Of course it wouldn't be an Oriana tour without a little social activity over the weekend, and we tried to put as much effort as we invest in our music into exploring Ipswich's waterfront bars and restaurants, quaint pubs, curry houses and reggae bars!