What a lark it’s been – the final day is upon us! Breakfasted to the nines, bright and early thanks to the insane hospitality of our hosts, we made our merry way cross-country to Dunblane Cathedral for our fourth and final concert of the tour. We said our farewells, teary-eyed but raring to go and clamoured in the quartet mobile for the final time.
After sitting In a livestock-induced traffic jams crossing onto the Edinburgh bypass, our spirits lifted and so did the rain. The low din of the A-Road gave way to civilisation and we found ourselves in the cobbled streets of quaint Dunblane. This magnificent gothic twelfth century Cathedral was the perfect end to this concert tour, with an ecclesiastical acoustic and a very appreciative audience. The warmth of the green room kept our toes and fingers from falling off, and our stomachs and minds were full after the most fantastic soup and sandwiches backstage – we are slowly getting used to four meals a day! After a rip-roaring Bartok 4, Mendelssohn and Mozart, our wonderful promoters saw us off to Glasgow airport, with packed (devilish) brownies for the car. What a time we had, and how much we have learnt!
We had a lovely morning lie in as we were all pretty knackered from the day before and what a delight it was being served an amazing breakfast with a fresh hot pot of coffee by our hosts Jean and Clare! We intensely rehearsed by the blazing fire for 3 hours and then headed off to our next venue in Melrose. Oh! Before we went in the car, Jean served us with the most incredible bowl of spicy ramen! The heat of the chilli definitely woke us up and ready for the concert. The concert was greeted with a warm and welcoming audience and we very much enjoyed the evening of Mozart, Bartok and Mendelssohn.
This is the third day of our Tunnell Tour and we are so excited for our concert in Hawick tonight! Our stay in Scotland has been wonderful and fun and the crisp fresh air makes us feel even more energised. We had a three hour rehearsal at Clare’s house before we drove off to Hawick! The audience were so welcoming and warm and we played Haydn, Mozart, and Mendelssohn in the brilliant and vibrant acoustics of the venue. We ate the best soup and cakes so we performed on a sugar high! On our drive back, we had songs playing on the car speaker, from Mary Poppins to rap music, and our happiness levels were through the roof and over the moon. When we got back home, we were served the most delicious chilli con carne with guacamole, sour cream, tortilla chips, and crumble with ice cream for dessert! We are off to bed now with stomachs exploding and hearts content. Scotland is full of warm people, it is the perfect place to share our love of the string quartet repertoire!
After a day of serene travel from London up to Lanark (serene in all but a rather alarming moment when Jenny accidentally locked the rental car keys in the boot.. rectified by a panicked but ultimately successful dive into the boot via the back seat) we find ourselves an hour before the first concert of our greatly anticipated Tunnell Tour. Tonight’s venue is a beautiful little church, Christ Church on Hope Street, and we will play Haydn’s scintillating ‘Rider’ quartet, Mendelssohn’s brooding E minor quartet Op.44 No.2 and Mozart’s sparkling G major ‘Spring’ quartet. This last work is a piece we especially love – a new addition to our repertoire – but one that speaks to us all for it’s cheekiness, charm and the absolute stunner of a slow movement. We look forward to keeping you abreast of our movements as our tour goes on! After this concert we will be driving over to Kelso to stay with Jenny’s godmother – our wonderful host providing us with a gorgeous base for the duration of our tour. We can’t wait!
We stayed at Daniel’s family home in South Queensferry after the concert in Perth. Our final concert of the tour was in Penicuik and it was only a half an hour drive from Daniel’s home. This felt like a real luxury after long train and bus journeys to venues over the last few days. We arrived at the Penicuik Community Arts Association for 13:00. The venue was very cosy and intimate, and the acoustic was really great!
It was really lovely to end our tour in a smaller venue as it felt really personal and we were able to directly feel the energy of the audience. The audience was so warm and they all really appreciated the recital.
We had the most amazing time performing all over Scotland over the last few days! We would like to say a huge thank you to the Tunnell Trust again for giving us this amazing opportunity, for the Music clubs around Scotland for having us, and to our wonderful hosts in Skye and Nairn. This experience was life-changing and we are extremely grateful for this brilliant opportunity.
