Buenos Aires and Montevideo

Our second concert in Buenos Aires received an excellent response - we were not sure how James MacMillan’s Piano Concerto no. 2 would go down, but the audience reaction was very, very positive. We always try to include new repertoire for audiences and the MacMillan, along with two pieces by Britten, were all Argentinian premieres. Post-concert steam was let off at a traditional tango bar, in a building of faded grandeur; intense music, intimate, complex dance manouevres, endlessly interesting to watch, and the real thing, not some tourist show.

Another whistle-stop visit to a fascinating city: I did manage to accomplish several of the things I always try to do to get a flavour: a look round a supermarket, a trip on the metro (11p to go anywhere), and a visit to the central station to stare longingly at the names of strange places on the departures board, and a quick copa of vino tinto in the station cafe, which here was a magnificent Belle Epoque room, with a brilliant glass ceiling and chandeliers.

And so, on to Montevideo. Impressions on arrival were mixed. The drive into the city from the airport goes along the coast of the River Plate estuary, and the buildings look just like Saint Tropez or Cannes. But the city itself is then a mix of ramshackle streets, with sudden plazas surrounded by grand buildings, a busy port area, huge statues of 19th century Uruguayan patriots on horsebacks, and then luxury hotels with their own armed guards to separate the guests from the many very poor people living on the streets.

Our concert was in the recently restored Teatro Solis, a magnificent traditional horseshoe shaped opera theatre with five stories of boxes and a not bad acoustic. Joanna MacGregor was in great form, the orchestra probably played the best yet on the tour, and again the very well-heeled audience got excited about the repertoire.

The evening had started with another reception hosted for local English Language Schools by our sponsor, Cambridge University Press. After the concert several of the players and the management team were invited to a dinner hosted by HM Ambassador at the Residence: a chance to meet a diverse range of people from the Uruguayan music scene, and some diplomats with a deep interest in music. I was unaware that there was a Bulgarian Ambassador to the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, but I can report that he is now a great fan of James MacMillan’s music. Nor did I know that the Anglican Bishop of Uruguay is also the Bishop of Cuba (someone at Lambeth Palace must have a strange sense of geography). The only way to round off such a day was more tango, this time in a very trendy, stylishly designed bar, with much younger dancers to watch (while trying some local wines).

I'll add a few photos later.

John Bickley