22nd March 1998
A Fantastic Choral Concert
The Prommers' Orchestra and some of the Chorus gathered in the Church of All Hallows by the Tower where they were joined by the choir of the University of the Saarland for an all-Beethoven concert. We performed Beethoven's Choral Symphony (Number 9) and preceded it with the trial run - the Choral Fantasy. The University choir had been hoping to visit China and sing the Symphony in Beijing. However, administrative difficulties (a beautiful euphemism for the degree of co-operation available from the successors of the Mandarins) made this impossible and we invited them to come and sing it in London instead. It was a hectic few days, which included two guided tours of London - in the morning by coach around the City and West End and then on foot in the afternoon round Westminster, finishing with Evensong in the Abbey. Accommodation proved a nightmare, but, thanks to the generosity of the Methodists in Finchley, we obtained a comfortable church hall floor for the two nights the choir stayed. (That may not seem particularly luxurious, but a couple of us had memories of doing the same sort of thing round Holland for several more nights when the Unichor made a tour there earlier in the year).