November 21: A Nigerian friend of mine who is director of Freedom 200, set up to commemorate the abolition of slavery, took me to wonderful little Nigerian restaurant where we ate my favourite dish, which I normally have in my Dad's village, Ebelubi - pounded yam and egusi soup!
November 22: This is the start of one of the more crazy patches, as the variety of tasks are tenfold. We - the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - have got a Queen Elizabeth Hall concert with Thomas Zehetmair conducting. He normally plays violin concertos with us, so it has been interesting seeing him with a baton rather than a bow in his right hand. Fortunately, he already has our respect as a fine musician and we are quick to reflect his interpretations. We start with Haydn's Horn Signal symphony, which is hairy for me as there's a huge - but lovely - bass solo right near the end. In order to do it justice, I need a particular set of strings tuned to different notes. But because there's no time to re-string my bass before the second and third pieces, I compromise by only changing the top string to an A. It's manageable and works. That done, I had a slightly floppy A string tuned down to a G for the rest of the programme. It would be less of a big deal if we bassists had orchestral solos more frequently, like flutes and violins and so on do. Doesn't matter how easy the solo is, or how well you can play it, it still comes as a bit of a shock to suddenly have to leap out of our normal place in the hierarchy of the texture.
November 23: A dozen of us meet with Heiner Goebbels, a composer commissioned to write a joint piece for OAE and the London Sinfonietta for the opening concert of the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall. He will combine the sounds and styles of our groups. He lined us up with a microphone each, made us read texts at the same time as playing our instruments, and recorded the process. I guess he did the same with Sinfonietta, and will come up with a concoction that will represent our extreme and joint voices.
November 26: Wigmore Hall concert with Libby Wallfisch, 10 of her students from Europe and five professionals. A guest Irish fiddler called Gerry O'Connor played some dazzling traditional solo pieces. His infectious manner and natural rapport with the audience was refreshing, and he roused the hall.
November 28, 29 and 30: Recording sessions. "Everyone should visit St Paul's Church, Deptford before they die," said Richard Morrison from The Times. Being a baroque church, it was the perfect venue for the music we recorded.
November 29, 7.45 am: Back at the American Embassy for the second time in as many months for visa interview for OAE chamber tour. Stand outside for an hour, come rain or shine; endure security checks that even involved pulling my trouser legs up this time. All getting very tiresome. Gone are the days when one person from the office could take all our passports etc. Now we're all potential suspects, regardless of the fact we've been invited to play there! Wait for number to be called, give prints of all digits and thumbs (used to be just index fingers), answer a few questions, sit down again, wait for number to be called again for second interview. Same question every time: "What instrument do you play Maaaaam?" For heaven's sake. Next, get in line to pay for delivery of passport. Emerge two hours later and try to blot it all out and get on with rest of my day's tasks.
December 1: Drive to Wiltshire Music Centre (fabulous hall) in Bradford-upon-Avon. Rehearse excerpts from Mozart's Gran Partita for lively lunchtime children's concert. Short lunch then rehearse again for evening concert.
December 2: Get taxi to photographer Rankin's studio in Old Street, London. His photographic project is to support and promote the RFH Redevelopment Campaign, due to launch in February at the Southbank centre. Once the make-up lady had sorted me, it was the hair man next. There he was, with the same cultural background as me, sporting dreadlocks down to his hips! He took a second to decide there was nothing to do with my hair, but he hovered throughout the shoot, reminding me to shake it around a bit just before shots. Rankin works calmly with short bursts of action and has about four assistants rushing about handing him lenses and moving lights.
December 3: Well, it's really December 4 and I should be in bed now. Typical behaviour for me the night before going away on tour. I cannot leave my house and children for a few days without tidying up all sorts of loose ends. I promise myself every time that I won't leave three wash loads, a massive visit to the supermarket, a workout, packing, outstanding letters - the list goes on - till the day before I leave, but there I go, I've done it again. It's 3am, and I haven't even packed my bass into the flight case yet...
