(Well: Wales, actually.) I am not certain about the possibility of keeping this blog going during the coming week. My wife and I will be going to Cardiff to attend the Cardiff Singer of the World festival. This is a wonderful singing competition that takes place in the city every other year. We have been following it for at least ten years now, and have attended the last two events. Two years ago we were there for the entire competition, and enjoyed it so much that we have decided to repeat the experience. I know that they do have wi-fi in Wales, but I am sure that our programme will be both very busy and very varied, so I’m not certain when and if I will have the opportunity to post.
The competition really does live up to its name with singers (all of whom must be under 30 and at the start of a singing career) drawn from all over the world. In addition to the events of the competition itself there are related activities such as master classes. There will be a couple of free days between the heats and the final during which we will head out into the country for some walking. (The Wales Coastal Path is lovely.) In addition to some conventional tourism, not surprisingly I will be heading for the galleries–as well as the Welsh national gallery there is a very good private one in the city.
On the way down I will be calling in to the Patchings Art Centre in Nottinghamshire to deliver a piece of my work that has been accepted for exhibition in a national competition. After visiting one of our granddaughters, who is a student at Nottingham University, we will go on the next day to deliver one of my paintings to a purchaser. Both of these events are very gratifying, of course. So, it is going to be a busy and eventful week. No doubt you’ll get the highlights of it at some point.
One aspect of the experience to which I am looking forward with some anxiety is the singing of the Welsh national anthem, which is sung at the start of each evening concert. When we attended two years ago we promised ourselves that we would be able to join in on this occasion (in Welsh, naturally.) This is not an easy task to master, I can assure you, but I think that I am going to be up to it, although I anticipate these occasions with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.