General rehearsal
We are rehearsing in the Way Hall, Reading Blue Coat School (RBCS), starting at 10am. Please find directions here: https://www.aldworthphilharmonic.org.uk/rehearsal-and-concert-locations/
Please arrive at least 15 mins before, with a stand, ready to start at 10am as we haven’t got a lot of time! The breakdown of the rehearsal can be found here: https://www.aldworthphilharmonic.org.uk/rehearsals/
Rehearsal ends at 12:30pm. At this point Michael will need some help to load the van with chairs. As we are all there, there should be plenty of people around to help out.
Getting to the station
The event kicks off at 2.30pm. Parking is available at the station car park. Other car parks are available. Probably the closest and easiest is Hills Meadow which is just a short walk away over Caversham Bridge (https://goo.gl/maps/vh5C2zk2ov5L9788A). We strongly recommend that you share lifts into town from RBCS with other members of APO both in the name of sustainability and minimising parking fees. Cars can be left at RBCS and collected afterwards.
Michael would greatly appreciate help with unloading the van from the service area on the north side of the station from approximately 1.15pm. Please let me know if you can help.
We are playing on the transfer deck at the north end of the station (this is the end closest to the multi-storey car park, Caversham, the River Thames, etc. Not the town end (though you can arrive from that side if you wish). If you need to, ask the gateline staff to let you through for the orchestra event. Andrew will be trying to get to the station in plenty of time to tour the gatelines and brief the staff, so if you don’t have any joy, just be patient and obviously be nice to the staff!
Please arrive at 2pm at the latest to get set up and ready to play. I also ask that you bear with us and approach the event with your usual sense of humour – it’s not a standard concert venue and comes with its challenges!!
The station is a busy public area and security is taken very seriously, so please keep valuables on your person at all times. Large cases (percussion, double basses etc.) can be left in an area just behind us and in the corner by the bin store (furthest away from the escalators when we are playing), but otherwise please keep your instrument case with you or under supervision of someone who knows they are meant to be supervising it. We will need to keep a collective eye on our stuff, just in case (no pun intended!).
Please do not leave anything next to or in contact with the glass windows. Network Rail and GWR are quite nervous about this as any damage is extremely costly to repair. Please keep everything on the right side of the ankle level barriers.
Dress code
Completely casual. APO t-shirts encouraged if you have one.
The event itself
The timings are roughly:
- 2.30pm – start with a performance of the Berlioz
- 2.35pm – conducting relay starts with the Berlioz
- At some point we perform (with Andrew) the Mendelssohn
- Conducting relay continues with the Mendelssohn
- Conducting relay continues with Coates
- Segment finishes around 3.15pm with proper performance of the Coates conducted by Mel
- 4pm – Conducting relay chaos with Beethoven(!) starting with first movement – keep your eyes peeled for a shift to the last movement (especially if people are finding the first movement hard)
- 4.20ish – Proper performance of the Beethoven
If you are not playing in any pieces, I’d encourage you to come out and help me speak to our adoring public, answering any questions they may have and directing them to the QR codes for donations to help us on our mission, if they so desire.
After the event
At the end, I need some help with loading the van at the station and unloading it again at RBCS. Please let me know if you can assist me here.
Please join us for a celebratory drink afterwards – hang around and see what’s happening.
Last thing, enjoy it! This is a super opportunity to bring classical music to lots of people and hopefully increase our fan base. On that note, we will open our ticket sales for October now! You and the public can buy them now!
https://aldworth.wufoo.com/forms/x1dbej1q0n3zqa1/