Day 11 - Concerts at St. Paul's & the Harlequin Theatre

With two concerts today, we have a long day ahead of us. We begin by traveling directly to St. Paul's Cathedral to set-up and get in a few minutes of rehearsal before the noon prayer service in the cathedral. Our bass train is now drawing crowds during the set-up and tear down.

As we've been traveling, we've told those we met along the way about our upcoming concerts. This performance in St. Paul's has brought the most impressed reactions. We learn that we are the first handbell choir to perform inside the cathedral (instead of just on the front steps) in a very long time. Special thanks to Keith Rowland for making this happen. The acoustics are amazing - we will perform directly under the dome. The final mart in Kevin McChesney's Capricio reverberates for several seconds after it's played.

We draw a very nice crowd - several Americans who are visiting London among them. There's an energy in the group that we haven't had yet just because of the place we are playing - its such an honor to be here!

After our 30-minute concert several in the group climb the steps to the bell tower while others explore the are around the cathedral. We have about 90 minutes before we board the bus and leave for Red Hill where we have a concert at 8:00 PM.

In Red Hill we play at the Harlequin Theatre - a wonderful venue and our only performance not in a church. We actually have some stagehands to help us load in and get about an hour of rehearsal in before we break for a quick dinner before the concert.

Again, we thank Keith Rowland for arranging this concert. Our audience is almost exclusively handbell ringers. The Handbell Ringers of Great Britain have done a fantastic job of promoting our performance (as well as our concerts in Scotland) and are a gracious audience.

After the concert, its back on the bus for the 90 minutes drive back to the London hotel.