The John Wilson Orchestra @ Royal Festival Hall

Since their first appearance back in 2009, The John Wilson Orchestra and their celebration of classic musicals has been the highlight of the BBC Proms season for me. Having watched the concerts countless times on TV/YouTube, this week I finally got the chance to see them live at the Royal Festival Hall, as part of their Rodgers, Hart and Hammerstein celebration tour.

I always thought it was a little absurd the amount of times John Wilson's name is mentioned in Proms coverage: "And now John Wilson and his John Wilson Orchestra present a selection of songs chosen by John Wilson and arranged by John Wilson...", but to give the man his due, he knows how to put on a bloody good show. While most children were probably out playing, John sat in watching old Hollywood musicals, which may have done nothing for his street-cred at the time, but has now granted him enormous success. As the scores for classic films from the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein were lost, and the theatre version just a shadow of the huge, orchestral soundtracks, John painstakingly recreated them by ear. The result is lavish, soaring scores which remind you that they don't make music like they used to. 

John's little black book must be an incredible document too. He's the man responsible for proving to the world (beyond Family Guy viewers) that Seth MacFarlane can actually sing, and is adept at bringing together the finest talent, from musicians to singers, for his performances. Each member of his orchestra is hand-picked, and we were truly spoiled with Sir Thomas Allen, Kim Criswell, Julian Ovenden and Annalene Beechey as soloists. Kim has an incredible talent for acting every word she sings, bringing to life the characters behind the songs. While it was odd seeing Julian and Annalene as lovers, having always thought of them as brother and sister in Marguerite, they complimented each other beautifully. I particularly enjoyed a brief glimpse of Julian's jazzy side - revealed on the album If You Stay - during The Most Beautiful Girl in the World. Sir Thomas proved why he is a star with a Some Enchanted Evening that brought the house down.

Thanks to being an eager beaver and booking back around April, I had a seat right in the middle of the front row, and because the Royal Festival Hall is lovely and generous, offering half-price tickets to students, that prime location didn't break the bank. All in all, a spectacular evening. My only complaint is that I couldn't dance along like an idiot as I would if watching at home!

English Language Centre - Social Programme Comes To An End

Time has flown by and the Summer Social Programme has come to an end. My attempt to write weekly updates failed, mainly due to having to complete and hand in my dissertation, and then being so busy with the students that there was no time for anything else. Here's a potted version of our last few weeks.

Relief!

Live Jazz @ Green Park Brasserie
We like to take the students to a range of music through the summer. We had folk earlier in the summer, so it was time for some jazz, courtesy of local singer James Lambeth. I loved his jazz version of The Smiths' Bigmouth Strikes Again. As the rest of the Green Park Brasserie was taken over by a Swedish birthday party, we also learnt their birthday song. It's a lot longer than ours (this video is a shortened version).

Ja má hon leva! means 'Yes, long may she live' - change the hon to han for a man. It was nice to see that unlike the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and apparently even Chinese (according to the students with us), they haven't taken the same tune.

Dinner @ Brasserie Blanc
The next day, I was paid to go for a three course meal at Raymond Blanc's new chain restaurant. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it! Although one student expressed her disappointment that Raymond himself wasn't cooking for us (I tried to explain that one would have to pay hundreds for that privilege), the food was very tasty, and I maintain that eating is an important part of British social life that they need to get involved with.

Last Night of the Proms
As the summer drew to a close, it was time for a final burst of excessive patriotism, with the Last Night of the Proms. We waved flags and taught the students to link arms to Auld Lang Syne. It's a good job none of our students are from former colonies though, as singing about the glorious expansion of Britain as other countries fall to our might probably wouldn't have gone down so well!

Day Trips
First there was Stonehenge and Salisbury. Once again I wished there weren't so many tourists at Stonehenge, so I could pretend to be Tess. Then there was A Taste of Wales, which was the best day trip of the summer and therefore deserves its own blog post. Finally, we rounded the summer off with a trip to Oxford, where the students' literary fantasies were all focused on Harry Potter, while fellow Student Helper Kerrianne was far more excited about Alice in Wonderland.

At Christchurch

Harry's dining room

Final party
It all ended with a huge party, combining just about everything from the summer: music, food, party games (Giant Jenga went down well ;-] ), and lots of Union Jacks. A wonderful way to end an amazing summer :D

Thanks to our brilliant photographer, Louis Lai!

Thanks to all the students and of course the other Student Helpers for making it such an unforgettable summer!