The Great and the Good

They came from Aldeburgh, London, even Switzerland in the case of a couple who had flown in specially that morning, to attend the premier of Harrison Birtwhistle's The Cure. One area in the foyer was reserved for the Press, another for VIPs, and then there was the majority who are the stalwarts, who met and mingled and talked and talked and talked. They were silent during the production though, and I haven't seen an audience quite like this one before. It was very Covent Garden, very Glyndebourne, very Wagner. And of course very Britten. Even Jonathan Reekie, the former Snape boss, returned, adding a touch of glamour. It was the opening night of the Aldeburgh Festival, and I was lucky enough to be there. The place was packed and there was a waiting list. The music wasn't exactly beautiful, but it was dramatic, forceful and interesting. Librettos were handed out to everyone and they took them gratefully, eagerly, but it was too dark to read. At the end Birtwhistle and his team came to the front to take the applause which included loud cheers. As I said, not a typical audience. I really, really enjoyed being on duty.

The production was in one of the smaller halls, and the conductor sat at a table just in front of the first row. In the interval I tucked his chair right into the table to make room for people to get past, and immediately the person sitting behind it pulled it back out. I looked askance, but the beautiful boy in black sitting next to this person came over to me, introduced himself as the assistant conductor (!!) and said it was fine to push it in, but would I be kind enough to pull it back out again once everyone was seated so that the poor conductor wouldn't have to do it himself? I agreed, of course, and did so, crossing the hall from where I was sitting. He was inches away from it, and gave me the thumbs up and a beautiful grin. Being assistant conductor clearly didn't include this simple job.

The great and the good were still chattering away when I left. The performance had clearly excited everybody, and they all had so much to say. "Wha wha, wha wha wha," they went. "Wha wha wha wha." Yes, well. Whatever.