Articolo pubblicato sul sito ufficiale di Steven Mead http://www.euphonium.net

(Traduzione in italiano: http://ofmediterranea.altervista.org/HTML/bacheca/mead/lettera_mead.htm)

 

A Great Few Days in Amantea, (south-west Italy)

 

Steven writes about his recent concerts with the Amantea Band. A beautiful place with wonderful people.

 

Having been to southern Italy a few times in the past I knew the scenery and pace of life would be most welcoming and that combined with good music, good food and good company made for a mouth-watering prospect.

 

And so it turned out.

 

After an afternoon flight from London/Rome and onto Lamezia Terme airports on Monday 7th August, I was meet by three members of the band, (Orchestra di Fiati Mediterranea Città di Amantea) and conductor Angelo De Paola. Angelo has a big name in the south of Italy for being an inspirational leader of young musicians, a good conductor and a big personality. We arranged to meet later that evening for dinner, and the band members drove me the 45 minutes to the hotel, located just outside the town of Amantea, and about 200 metres for the beach. Great start. The hotel staff were very friendly indeed, but I was embarrassed to see my picture on several posters both outside and inside the hotel, guaranteed to make every guest stare at me in recognition for the next three days!

 

Within half an hour the hotel had provided me with somewhere to practice and free bottled water…nice people, how I wish all hotels were like this. The only drawback was that the room was close to the kitchen and a stairwell, so within minutes of playing I have attracted around 10 chefs, kitchen workers and young kids who would investigate the sound of the euphonium! But, all were very friendly and appreciative and I told to speak in my rather basic Italian to them all! Later that day I enjoyed a wonderful fishy meal in a restaurant just down the road with about Angelo and several of the band. They told me the rehearsal the next morning was 8.30am !! In Italy?? I thought they were joking but went along with them anyway, and to boot arranged to go jogging with two healthy guys from the band at 7am.

 

They were in reception before me in the morning and I was early..was I really in Italy, or had word got around that specified timings actually had to be observed for the next two days !! Even at 7am the heat was quite intense but a nice sea breeze as we jogged on the shingle (now that's impressive) beach made it more pleasant. I arrived at the convent for rehearsal at 9am, the planned location for the concert the following day. There was also to be a concert that evening, but two hours south away in the mountains in Calabria. The sun was up and hot but the shadow of the walls made an outdoor rehearsal very comfortable (that's why we were rehearsing so early). The band numbered about 60 and were very competent and well prepared for the pieces I played (Pantomime, Vaga Luna, Napoli Variations). Following the rehearsal it seemed like I had my photo taken with every member of the Band, and each section, and signed every programme !! To say this band is enthusiastic is an understatement. Amantea has a population of about 20,000 and all seemed to know each other…it was amazing. By 10.30 in the morning we were sitting in a café , with about 20 of the Band and others waving into the café as they past during the next hour, talking and having a good time and an early aperitif for lunch. Good times.

 

The long lunch (again, fabulous sea food) was in the hotel following which I could catch up on a little sleep before the journey at 5pm to the evening concert in Delianuova, which was to be local Band Festival with four bands (mine to be the last one on, scheduled for an 11pm start) !! We got there around 7 as the first band started a rehearsal. The venue was the courtyard of a school but a specially built stage and about 600 chairs for the audience already set up. I was given a room in a local hotel to warm up and change and was fed delicious a local Calabrian 'prima piatti'. As the evening went on it was clear that everything was running very late…and its was 11.50pm before I finally took to the stage with local politicians and elderly worthies hogging the microphone for way too long between each band. A huge crowd of local folk and all members of the other band stayed for our 'round midnight' concert , with candles in every window of the school , there was a terrific atmosphere. We finished at 12.55 !!! and after some very funny backstage improvisations we all headed back for Amantea.

Two band buddies joined me for fishing the next morning and sadly the photos, however we took them don't lie….our catch was miniscule, barely a mouthful in total. But it was fun and fishing off the rocks on the beach is something I haven't done for along time. In the afternoon after a small lunch at the hotel, I got to walk on the beach and contemplate the real generosity and kind human spirit of all the people I had met since I had arrived. The pace of life is a little slower, they appreciate their town , it's history, it's surviving relics and they LOVE their music. The average age of the band was about 17 and they are so keen; its bodes well for the future of band music in this region.

 

By 4pm it was clear the outdoor concert in the convent was going to have to be an indoor concert in the nearby church as the dark clouds on the horizon, became threatening overhead, then , as forecasted, the heavens opened …for over 12 hours non-stop. It was a pity as I was told by the Band the acoustics in the centre of the convent were spectacular.

 

The church was standing room only, at least 800 people packed into the church. I was embarrassed and overwhelmed by the reception I got when I walked on stage…I don't think it would have been any louder if Robbie Williams had walked out…AND he cant play Pantomime on a euphonium…can he ?! I had two video cameraman within inches of me for the whole evening, what's the deal here…these days all these cameras have a 1:100 zoom lens so why do they have to shove the damn things up my nose ? O well, I kept smiling and by the time the solo encores came along I was ready to have some fun with them…turn the tables as we say ! The band were fabulous as was Angelo and the pieces went exactly as planned and as rehearsed…its not that common (but usually not the Band's fault, rather the nice guy with the baton!). Angelo is a showman and so tonight when I started my long cadenza in Napoli, he had a chair brought up for himself. He made himself comfortable…I like a conductor who doesn't take himself too seriously, it's so refreshing.

 

It was still raining hard by the end of the concert but it didn't matter, we had all had an evening to remember. Another small meal in the hotel rounded off the happy time in Amantea, maybe go back there for a holiday. At 6am my friends from the band were waiting in the hotel reception to take me to the airport for my early morning flight , to Rome , then London Heathrow and then , on to Jeju, South Korea. Well that was the plan! After getting to Rome on time at 8.15am came the news of the terrorist alert at Heathrow…I was going nowhere. Two long days at Rome airport followed , and then another day in the UK before my rescheduled flight to Korea (now with euphonium as checked baggage for the first time in 25 years of travelling…and it was to get damaged on the return flight !). So, I look back on Amantea and the wonderfully vibrant and generous people with fond memories and have to console myself with the fact that although we now live in a world full of hostility and danger, particularly for the traveller, there are places and people unspoiled by troubles of the modern world. Thank you Angelo and the young musicians in the band from Amantea.

 

Photos (click to enlarge)


The first night fishy meal

Jogging finished, at 7.38am!

A 9am outdoor rehearsal in Italy..incredible!!

Maestro Angelo De Paola in action 

Post rehearsal café

12.33 am and still playing in Delianuova!!

Having a laugh backstage!!!
1.11am well you have to!!

Yes, ok I know they're small, but I did catch them, honest

A big crowd packed into the church

End of the concert!

Angelo gets the picture!!

 

Testo tradotto in italiano:

http://ofmediterranea.altervista.org/HTML/bacheca/mead/lettera_mead.htm