What can you achieve with 24 hours notice?

The Challenge

In December I had a booking at the Oxford Union for the European Business Assembly. I had performed for them the year before and they enjoyed it so much that they asked me to come back again.

The day before the event I was put in touch with Steve Fletcher. He organises and conducts the London Banqueting Ensemble. They were playing ballroom dancing for the Event (a Viennese Ball). They were going to be accompanying me. Neither of us had known this prior. We now had 24 hour to put something together.

Problem solving

Not a problem. We were both highly professional and co-operative in our approach. We stayed calm and we worked out what songs we both already knew. Then we shared a few emails back and forth checking that we were both singing from the same hymn sheet (quite literally). And before you could say "Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi" we had our entire performance planned. I amended my travel plans so that I could arrive at the venue a couple of hours earlier in order to rehearse and then it was show time.

The end Result

Everything went perfectly. You can watch a video of me singing at the event below. It was a great success.
Now of course this is not my preferred method of working. I am usually a stickler for planning. However, in the entertainment and events industry, sometimes life throws you a curveball. That is when the true professionals are separated from the amateurs. Those with experience can handle the pressure; they have been there before. It adds a little excitement to the performance.

I highly recommend working with Steve Fletcher and the London Banqueting Ensemble. It was fun to sing with a 10 piece orchestra. The sound was fantastic. He was a true professional. Every detail was cared for, and his arrangements of popular classics were executed wonderfully by some of the best players in London. The event was such a success, that we intend to collaborate together again in the future. To find out more about Steve and his orchestra, please visit his website: http://www.banquetmusic.co.uk/
And if you are interested in booking me to sing for your event accompanied by the orchestra, then please do not hesitate to get in touch via my contact page.

This is the first of many posts in 2014. Be back soon for more!

JC