brisbane hate

We had a whale of a time at Kings Place, performing the UK premiere of  Being Mrs Bach on Saturday afternoon. Left to right: Ben Bevan (baritone), Steven Devine (harpsichord), me, Jonathan Manson (cello and gamba) - what an absolute privilege to work with them! Totally knocked out by the brilliance of Steven's harpsichord playing, which provided the effect of an entire orchestra or two, the apparently effortless beauty of Jonathan's solos and the way he switched between instruments as if simply taking another breath, and the warm, gorgeously tender tone of Ben's baritone, which we understand will be gracing Opera Holland Park this summer. Onwards... next up is Odette: A Celebration of Swan Lake , which takes wing on Wednesday. The award-winning Fenella Humphreys (violin), also-award-winning Viv McLean (piano) and I will be at Bob Boas's series, Music at Mansfield Street, London W1, on 17 April, and St Mary's Perivale on 27 April. St Mary's will be LIVE STREAMED!...

WIN A SWAN LAKE CD AND A COPY OF ODETTE Vladimir Jurowski's recording of Swan Lake in its original 1877 version - before Drigo got his paws on the score - is an absolute stunner, out now on Pentatone Classics. The State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia 'Evgeny Svetlanov' offers sleek, intense playing, the sound quality is excellent and in Jurowski's hands the dramatic climaxes become utterly hair-raising, almost Wagnerian in their magic and majesty. And in the box there's even a set of instructions for how to fold your own Origami swan. Swan Lake is the inspiration behind my new book, Odette,   in which the ballet's heroine meets the present day head-on. This week Odette has been on a 'blog tour' which has found it termed 'enchanting', 'magical' and 'absolutely unique' (for which I'm extremely grateful and happy.) I'm delighted to say that Pentatone is offering a copy of Jurowski's splendid Swan Lake  recordin...

The new book arrived by van yesterday: a sleek plum-purple volume with white feathers and broken glass around gold lettering on the front cover. Still can't quite believe it's real. (Nor, from the look of them, could the cats - but they were more interested in playing with the cardboard box when I'd emptied it.) ODETTE in numbers: 1 - beloved Tchaikovsky ballet 1 - rather off-the-wall idea 4 - main characters: Mitzi Fairweather, her brother Harry, her landlord Robert, and Odette herself 2 - scary birds 1 - imaginary town named Cygnford, vaguely modelled on Cambridge 26 - years to write 1002 (approx) - revisions over those 26 years 153 - supporting patrons via Unbound 72,000 or so - words Lost count of - publishers who turned it down saying, 'ooh, it's a bit quirky for us' Not going to tell you - age I was when I started it and age I am now 50:50 - proportion of relief to terror now that it's done. 29/11/18 -  publication date. I do hope you enjoy...

My Top 10 ODETTE FAQs... Q: Ooh, Odette? The World War II spy? Or Proust? J: Er, no. Swan Lake. Q: The Tchaikovsky ballet? So did you go to Russia to research it? J: Actually, the book's set in a university town in East Anglia in 2018. Q: So it's, like, real fiction? J: Well, one of the main characters turns into a swan every day, so, yep. Q: How did you get the idea? J: I had this recurring dream about looking for my Swan Lake book, and it was never there, so I thought I might write it... Q: Maybe I should get it for my 9-yr-old daughter. She's mad about ballet. J: Well, it's not really suitable for 9-yr-olds, and there's no actual ballet in it. Q: If there's no ballet, what's it about? J: Outsiders. How we treat them. How they respond to us. How we change each others' lives. How much responsibility do we have to look after other people?   Q: And it's for which age group? J: Adults, though could probably be enjoyed by the young adult market. Q: But...

[This is a shared post with my Odette "shed" update page  at Unbound , so if you've subscribed to the book , it will probably pop into your inbox soon...] The other day I growled to my husband, "This book is driving me mad." He gave a shrug: "They always do." After 20 years, it's water off a violinist's back, and he retreats happily to practise his Paganini. Upstairs, though, I am in the middle of what is elegantly termed 'Editorial Development', but is, to me, the inevitable part of writing a book that is a bit like being skinned alive. The outer covering is pulled off and every bone, every vein, the entire network of connective tissue and nerve-endings, are under microscopic scrutiny.  My editor has done a wonderful job with the manucript. She has been kind, encouraging, firm and to the point. She's homed in on issues that I sort of know about, but might not have focused on so clearly: for instance, I tend to speed up towards the ...