Posterous

Peter Gregson

cellist

Excuse me while I'm busy

Sorry for the silence after the Alex Ross lecture - I wrote my response and thoughts at 5am the following morning en route to Edinburgh, but sadly it never made it to Posterous...sad times. Bizarrely, it isn't even saved in my Sent folder, and yet the header (displayed heroically below as proof!) made it in tact.

I plan on reconstructing the post on Saturday when I head south again and have some time. While this is not ideal, it's better than nothing.

I received some very exciting news about my April US trip (Boston, NYC, San Francisco) this morning, which I'll share in good time, but for now, here are the dates I'll be "stateside" in April:

15-18 Boston
19-22 NYC
23-25 San Francisco

If you're around, let me know! I may be able to swing you a ticket to a concert (I'll be playing tracks from my new album, which will by then be released!)

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Filed under  //   alex ross   Edinburgh   terminal   travel  
Posted March 11, 2010
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What did I learn last night?

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Posted March 8, 2010
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What did I learn this evening?

I was at Alex Ross tonight - "the hottest ticket in town". I was actually in the front row at the Wigmore Hall... to my left, Tom Service. immediately behind me, Suzy Klein and a few rows away again, Anna Meredith. Three rows back, the senior staff of the Proms, Alan Rusbridger, some easily recognisable world class concert performers littered the hall... the great and the good of London's cultural scene, in other words.

I'm mulling over the evening and will write a proper response tomorrow while I'm dashing up north to Edinburgh. 
But just to keep you up-to-date, I asked a question (that didn't really get answered) and had a very nice chat with the man himself afterwards (where he still didn't answer my question). But it was a really interesting night out.

Expect to see some mixed reports in the press, I should think. More tomorrow - I need some sleep.

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Posted March 8, 2010
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I took a long evening walk this evening, and here are my thoughts.

Following Satyagraha Remix (it was wonderful, by the way), I decided that I would walk home. Why not? It's only 4.3 miles back to my flat, and I really dislike buses. After negotiating Leicester Sq. with the cello, I started thinking: 

Can we ever actually expect to progress in the "classical" music world?

 

I often wonder if there are too many stakeholders now, too much baggage and too few firebrands kicking things around to really affect change. I'm not meaning changing the clothes people perform in or the name of the group, or slipping in contemporary music into a Brahms recital... no, I'm meaning actual change. 
Institutional change: something disruptive, something that puts someone else out of business because it's just too good. Something that you could lose your job over. Something that doesn't reward comfort and blind adherence to traditions. 
That's the change I'm wanting to affect.
There will be no prizes for guessing the most common gripe I hear in my day-to-day pottering around the music world: that young people aren't interested in classical music, and that all they want is whatever Simon Cowell sells them.
Do you know what? It's absolutely the most ludicrous thing. Have you ever thought what Simon Cowell actually does? 
He asks primetime TV to pay him to ask you to pay him to tell him what you want and then he sells the results to you. And then the album. Don't forget the albums. And the tours. And merchandise options... 
Does anyone bother to ask the audience in the classical world? I don't know that I've ever heard of an audience being asked what they'd like, how they see music as being relevant. Is it because we, the performers, composers and producers, hold the divine right to say what gets done? Rubbish. 
By the way, whatever happened to the audiences who threw tomatoes, held riots in the streets and walked out of performances? When did we stop having bold opinions? 
Have we ever asked the nay-saying audience why they're nay-sayers? Did we listen to what they had to say, or did we just assume they were wrong..? Be honest now.
I want to speak with anyone who doesn't like classical music. Please, tell your friends. Put them in touch with me. A majority of my friends are outside of the classical world, and I'm asking them. 
I'll follow this up...
EDIT: I've was saying to Mark Rock last night (CEO of Audioboo and all-round great guy) that I A&R'd Terminal through Audioboo - I played early stage effects and tracks through Twitter and asked for opinions, and with the help of my followers, chose the best sounds/tracks. I'm going to be experimenting with more of this in the next few months...

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Filed under  //   audience   change   rants   simon cowell  
Posted March 8, 2010
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Satyagraha Remix

I don't often do this, but I'm going to plug something I'm going to.

Tonight, ENO is hosting this incredible event - it looks like they'll be breaking opera down into its component parts (music, dance, visuals, poetry) and I'm taking my cello along to play in the LoopFactory (Anna Meredith? Falu? Sam Godin?). It's going to be awesome!

ENO have some fabulous things coming up in the next year or two (obviously including Nico Muhly's new opera in 2011!), and I think this looks like the kickstart of some really exciting projects. 
If you can make it along, do. I'll see you there!

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Filed under  //   ENO   events   London   opera  
Posted March 7, 2010
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CiR Launch

I've just arrived at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden ahead of tonight's launch of their Creatives in Residence programme.

I've got my cello in tow, as well as my laptop - I'm going to be playing at 7 and 8 and just in case you're curious, I'll be playing:

Corpus Christi Carol - Britten (arr. P Gregson)

Sarabande, Bourrée 1&2, 3rd Suite - JS Bach

Für Alina - Arvo Pärt (arr. P Gregson)

Gigue - 3rd Suite - JS Bach

 

UPDATE As of last night, I can proudly say that I am the 2010/11 Creative in Residence! There are 7 other residents, too, representing the chosen arts (music, visual art, fashion, architecture, theatre, film, architecture). It's going to be a massively exciting year and I can't wait to get started!

 

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Filed under  //   CiR   concert  
Posted March 3, 2010
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Peacocks in the Kyoto Garden!

Taking a mid-practice stroll is one of the highlights of my job - I do it wherever I am and for as long as I can! In between doing some fine tuning on the Courante from Bach's 3rd Suite and revisiting 'Vocal' by Max Richter, I popped to the Kyoto Garden in the park to have a listen to a podcast (the Monocle Weekly) and test the air. I ended up waiting for ages for these peacocks to be suitably photogenic before snapping them!

via tweetie

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Posted March 1, 2010
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What's been happening in the past 19 days

Much. That's the simple and frighteningly honest answer... although I don't have much to prove for it, the next few months will (hopefully) be a lot simpler because of my judicious use of the traditionally useless month of February.

So, where to start?
I've managed to maintain an average of 2 and a bit (nearly 3) meetings a day, on top of learning repertoire for concerts stretching to the middle of October. I'm feeling pretty on top of my schedule right now, so that's nice! There's a lot of paperwork that goes into it too, so it isn't just as simple as just learning some notes...
I've even been to a few concerts - I went to Imogen Heap at the Shepherd's Bush o2 Empire (or whatever they're calling it now) two Friday's back, and and Yo-Yo Ma/Emanuel Ax at the Barbican this past Friday. Both terrific, both totally sold out and both genius performers. Wonderful night's, both. I also heard an awesome sax player at Green Park tube the other day, so that was nice.
In slightly more alarming news, I had two photo sessions sprung upon me in the space of two days: for the Courvoisier Future 500 on Tuesday and then some others for The Hospital Club on Wednesday - go over to flickr (click the button over there) and have a look... 
Looking ahead a little bit, my Society of Sound album, Terminal, is now all go for release on April 2nd! I'll be doing a launch event for it in London, and then again on the 23rd from San Francisco.
If you're interested in coming to the London launch of Terminal, be sure to sign up to the mailing list and add yourself to the 'London Album Launch' group - the details will be confirmed in the next few days, and we'll be in touch as soon as possible.
Some fun things to come this week, but I'll update you on that as it happens.
I'm still twittering away, so come and say hello!

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Filed under  //   february   news   photos   terminal  
Posted February 28, 2010
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Confidence breeds confidence, behavior changes and then BOOM.

I tweeted earlier today that I was starting to notice non-music friends going to more concerts... I got an odd response - one of disbelief! I sort of see your point, but come on guys, let's show a little support! I think this is a really exciting shift; I'm seeing a lot of technologists, designers, VCs, entrepreneurs, PR people and many others 'checking in' to all sorts of venues and events on Foursquare. Sounds inane, but basically what you do is tell your iPhone where you are, and why, and it shares the geotagged information with your friends. Are people attending "high brow" things because their behavior is suddenly public? Would they check-in to their sofa for a Friday night in with The West Wing? Maybe, maybe not. I think it'll be interesting to keep an eye on the impact that peer pressure / review has on what we do and where we do it. I think the rise of this production orientated audience coupled with Sony buying Lang Lang and new-build concert halls like Kings Place is a really exciting (and much needed) boost of confidence to the classical market. I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel...

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Filed under  //   february   technology   trends  
Posted February 9, 2010
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Playing with Imogen Heap

So, yesterday I got a bizarre series of DMs and emails from Ms Imogen Heap. It turns out that she had no cellist lined up for the first night of her UK tour, and could I jump on a train and go and play? Um... Yes. What else was I going to do? Watch Scotland lose at rugby? So off I popped to Euston, jumped on the train and arrived just in time for soundcheck!

I had actually seen this show when it was in New York, early December (how windswept and interesting of me..), but I was really looking forward to being a part of the surreal, betwinkling stage and lush soundscaped playlist. The audience were lovely, "quite tame" but to me as a classical cellist, they were off the hook! After the show, we retired to the green room for beer, sandwiches (with a crazy non-pesto condiment that looked painfully like pesto) and microwaveable ready meals. Living the high life! After a little drive around in the tour bus (chalet?) we were deposited at the hotel and I'm now on the train back to London to get on with the traditional task of learning repertoire. The most striking difference was seeing what difference an audience can make on a performance. We talk about receptive audiences in the classical world, but we don't actually have them: we have hushed respect. The two are very different. Imogen's fans sing and scream, they photograph and the laugh. Do a search on Twitter, and you'll quickly see that they felt as much a part of the performance as those on stage. Are they justified in this? Absolutely! I'd love audiences outwardly care about the classical world as they do about Imogen's. Why, when I say it out loud, does it sound ridiculous? It really shouldn't.

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Filed under  //   concert   february   travel  
Posted February 8, 2010
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