Concerts and some lovely weather

Last week was a busy week, much of it spent in the music school, working alongside Hanne Sandvig Immanuelsen. We were preparing for the first concert of Hanne’s Classical Music Festival. I gave a couple of one-to-one lessons and a sectional with the violas and then played alongside them. We also had some guests from the Maniitsoq music school. Maniitsoq is a smaller town north of Nuuk. A children’s choir from Nuuk were also singing with us. For some of the orchestra, this was the first time they’d accompanied a choir, so one of my jobs was to get my enthusiastic and very rhythmic charges to slow down a bit and follow the singers!

There are some quite advanced students in the orchestra, too, and most fun was playing the “Lady Gaga Fugue” (in the style of a Bach organ fugue!!) and “Let it Go” from “Frozen” with them.

The concert in the Hans Egede Church went really well and was a lovely way to start off the festival. Hanne is a real life-force for music in Nuuk, working tirelessly with her pupils and performing herself when time allows. She can turn out a pretty mean polka, too, as she showed in the school concert we gave on Thursday morning!

Concerts resume this week in Katuaq, the arts centre which stands as the proud centrepiece of the city. Katuaq is actually celebrating its 20th birthday this year. It’s a busy place with concerts of all genres, meetings, workshops, a cinema and a bustling cafe.

On Monday I had a lovely meal with Arnannguaq Gerstrøm, her husband Lars and their two lovely children. Arnannguaq is a composer and flautist and is writing a trio for flute, viola and bassoon to complement the trio I have by Kari Baek. We spent some time talking about writing for the viola and various sounds that I can make on the instrument. We had a look, too, at pieces I already have by Lillie Harris and Poul Ruders, as these are such good examples of contemporary writing for the instrument. My hope is that I can get both Lillie and Arnannguaq to a Nordic Viola concert in Scotland. I’d love them to meet each other.

Aside from music, I learned a lot about modern Greenland from Arnannguaq. It’s a country that’s changing rapidly, especially as it confronts the possibility of one day being fully independent from Denmark.

We’ve had a week of beautiful weather. Just as in Scotland, Valentine’s Day seems to be a real turning point. The days are noticeably longer and the sun is higher in the sky. When I arrived, there were just 7 hours of daylight, now it’s 9. I remember one day when I could hardly drag myself away from the colonial harbour for rehearsals as the sunset was so stunning over the sea. When I set off home at 7pm, there was still a strip of deep red on the horizon. Temperatures were down around minus 15 with clear skies and a north wind, but that’s really OK when you’re wrapped in down and merino wool. Clear skies also brought an absolutely stunning aurora on Thursday night. The whole sky was lit up with waves of shimmering light, from luminous green to delicate lilac.

The temperature shot up over the weekend – in fact it rained overnight!! Yuk! That also turned the ski trails icy – I have the bruises to prove it! On the plus side, I enjoyed feeling a little warmth from the sun, hanging around on the rocks just enjoying the panoramas out over the sea.

I can’t believe I’ve only got just over a week left here. Time has flown by learning about this fascinating country and just enjoying the sheer beauty of the place. Once I’m back in the UK I’ll upload some pictures for you.