My recent violin performance highlights have sounded a bit like a new romcom by Richard Curtis. Unfortunately Hugh Grant hasn't yet turned up at any of my gigs this month, but it's certainly been a good time for bar mitzvah's!
I've had the pleasure of playing electric violin at some knockout venues for some very snazzy events so far this year. With bar/bat mitzvah's at St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, JW3, 100 Wardour Street and a particularly incredible house in North London, I've played 'Hava Nagila' almost more times than 'Rather Be' this month. I never tire of playing the Israeli dance sets and watching the crowd's sheer joy when the chair lifting/dancing starts! For those of you who've never had the chance to experience a bar mitzvah, here is a pretty accurate depiction of the vibe of one I did in January with Entourage: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeOCvc4lnLk/?taken-by=entourageofficial
I've also had great fun playing at some swish corporate events over the last few weeks. A couple of weeks ago I took a flying visit to Amsterdam to perform at a corporate event for Crestron, representing the Entourage team. The whole event was LED-themed, with LED robots, dancers and a light-up percussion act. I performed 4 x 20 min upbeat house music sets with the wonderful DJ Asad on some very glamorous stairs. Here are some pictures from the performances:
This year I also got invited back for the third year in a row to play LED electric violin for the IMED Science Awards held at the Cambridge Guildhall, as well as performing for Northridge Law Launch Party with André Saxman Brown at the Rosewood Hotel. A particular performance highlight this month was a special corporate dinner for the VIP executives of Hewlett Packard, held at Gordon Ramsay's Union Street Café on Valentine's Day. I performed with DJ Phoebe D'Abo on LED electric violin, walking around the tables during the meal. I even got a taste of the exquisite food cooked by the special Michelin-starred chefs that were brought in especially for the event. All I can say is YUM! Oh, and playing the violin was fun... but YUM.
In terms of public events, it's been really refreshing to do some different types of performances this month. Back in January I performed in Canary Wharf shopping centre with André, and we were surprised when a member of the public filmed some of our set, and uploaded the video to a viral Facebook page! It was also an honour to play for a short outdoor charity service for the Garden House Hospice in Royston a week later, and it is unique events like this that really make me appreciate what I do for a living.
Apart from the absolute joy of doing my tax return (...not!), the real highlight of January was a cruise I performed on with the lovely Emma as Elektra Violin Duo. Although slightly concerned about Storm Eleanor and the Bay of Biscay crossing from Southampton, I was really excited to sail on the P&O Aurora for the first time, and visit some ports I'd never been to before, such as Funchal, Madeira and Cape Verde. After a couple of rocky sea days that made me question all the life choices that had brought me to that point, we ended up having some lovely weather, and a great couple of shows on board (as well as some incredible puddings). I can't wait for our next cruise in April, which sees us embark on the Oceana again, calling at Malta, Crete, Turkey, Mykonos, and Athens! Here are some snaps from our travels:
Here's the honeymoon shot:
For those of you who tune in regularly, you may remember me mentioning something about me filming MUSIC VIDEO back in November whilst in Bangkok with Entourage. Well, we finally got round to getting it edited, and HERE IT IS:
Please do give it a share if you enjoy it, and I'll catch you next time to discuss some more ramblings on my amblings x