Yes, I mean that quite literally, but more on the wind later!
In view of the impending storm I set my alarm for 6am yesterday so I could enjoy the sunshine on the island of Nolsoy. If you know Lerwick, then Nolsoy is to Torshavn what Bressay is to Lerwick.
I met Norwegians Frode and Annette who were out for a speedy run and Paige from California. The two of us decided to hook up for a walk across the island and had a great morning swapping outdoorsy stories.
So, just like in Kinbuck, I put the bad weather jinx on them all so that they had to come to my concert today instead of walking! Seriously, it was lovely to share music with them.
I didn’t exactly have the best preparation for the concert in terms of sleep. One almighty storm hit overnight. At midnight I decided discretion was the better part of valour, packed up the tent and slept inside the campers’ lounge on the very comfy sofa! Comfy or not, no-one was sleeping with that racket, as winds hit up to 90mph! During the night a caravan actually blew over. Winds have now dropped to a sedate 35mph(!) and I’m back outdoors, where I like to be!
The concert in the Havnar Kirkja went well. I had a lovely friendly audience and the acoustics were perfect. I played my new piece, “Tvisongur”, some Shetland tunes, Poul Ruders’ “Autumn Collection” and Kristian Blak’s “… tad heilur gongur av lagi.” Afterwards I was treated to lunch at organist Gudmund’s beautiful house up the hill. People are so kind here.
Excitement of the day was finally getting my hands on William Heinesen’s variations on a Faroese theme. This is a really iconic piece in Faroese music history and I’ve desperately been trying to track it down.
In the afternoon I did some masterclasses with pupils at the music school. There are some very talented young musicians there. Hopefully I’ll get more sleep tonight as there’s a lot I want to do on my last day and there’s more teaching, too. I don’t think I’m really ready to leave these islands, but I’m sure there’ll be more stimulating experiences to have in Iceland.
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