The blogging adventure will continue again once I have moved to Hereford, end September 2022: Jingle Bells and a Jangle Box in a Winter-wonderland!

Trujillo, Peru just entering summer and the Plaza de las Armas, is transformed into a winter wonderland, snowmen, polar-bears, Santa Claus, Disney oh and a holy family put in an appearance. Yes, folks, it's christmas in deepest darkest Peru (for deepest and a darkest read coastal and sunniest) sadly not a Paddingtopn Bear in sight .... I wonder if they know that Peru is famous for a bear?

It seemed like the whole of Trujillo turned out for the inauguration of the Festival of Lights, last Sunday, everybody was there, the great and the good, with the Archbishop of Trujillo, blessing the crib and (strangely) putting the (premature) baby Jesus in the Crib ...... and then, BLING and about 15 decorated Christmas trees were switched on, and the square look truly spectacular.

The trees are all artificial as there is a sensible environmental ban on using real trees and the sponsoring organisations had gone to town one re-envisioning the idea of a tree.

I was especially taken by a tree reflecting the "discovery" of some ancient documents found in the Huacha del la Luna (Temple of the Moon) just outside Trujillo (see earlier blog), it will be big news, once we got over the end of the world tomorrow, and that is that Bethlehem was not the site of the stable and that in fact Mary and Joseph were astronauts! Yes, the stable was in fact in the "cradle" of a new moon and that the angels were in fact Peter and Wendy, and (this is the best bit) there were no donkeys or cattle looking on, but UNICORNS!

So in fact the whole Christmas story would appear to be a fairy-tale .......... whoa! Sadly there were no cosmic kings, I can only assume that the comets on which they were to arrive missed and hey will not be back for another 5000 years! (This would be theologically correct as they apparently didn't come until after the actual birth!) All I think rather confusing to young impressionable minds, but delightfully (if unwittingly) humanist! And all this in front of the Cathedral!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the photo montage of the trees by day and by night.

My late lamented organ professor Gordon Phillips, used to spend Christmas day sitting at his harpsichord, drinking wine and smoking cigars whilst he played the entire 48 preludes and fugues by Bach as his annual festive celebration - I will not be smoking cigras or playing the "48" but as the caretaker of the conservatoire seems to be a fellow humanist, I can go and do some practice in peace and quiet. I am astounded at how my playing is improving now that I am practicing again for some 12 hours a week, and playing and accompanying students every day, it is a real joy to be making so much music!

Foodwise here we are knee deep in "Panatone" this is the number one must have at Christmas, I have mine, a gift from a grateful student, but I have decided that my own Christmas meal is going to be bread rolls, cheese, cold meats, anchovies, salad and a bottle of red wine! And I can't wait, the local supermarket has a wonderful " deli" and as I only eat Peruano food, some blue cheese and some smoked ham are going to be real luxuries.

I have offered to give some courses during the long summer holiday (3 months January - March) I will be teaching theoretical as well as practical subjects, but from a pragmatic and functional approach.

There is an interesting story here ….. in my original plan for the courses I had suggested that it may be necessary for the students to pay towards the cost of materials (photocopies) and that the cost would be about five soles, meaning a maximum of five soles per student, this is £1.25 but that I would ask for the money as and when needed. So probably they would pay around 5 centavos (1.2p) per copy.

Now S.5 might not sound a lot, but when you are a student without work, in a poor country this is the price of a weeks subsidized travel on the bus to and from the conservatoire, I wanted the course to be 100% to the students. But because of this rule I only had about 15 students registered and many students were avoiding me because it was to embarrassing for them to say that they couldn’t attend because they could not afford the monthly charge. Now unbeknownst to me the administration department at the Conservatoire re-interpreted this possible maximum contribution of five soles into a rule that said a student must pay in advance S.5 for every course they wished to take and that the charge would be a monthly one AND that registration was not possible until the advance payment had been made.

When I found out, to put it mildly…………… I went ballistic!

I said that if they charged anything, I refused to teach and that all monies paid must be refunded. It is funny how collecting money is so simple but giving it back so hard!

Having removed the financial obstacle I am astounded, blessed and honoured that some 70 students want to participate despite my poor Spanish and it being their holiday. The students seem to have really taken me to their hearts and encourage me and support me, and I encourage them to gently correct my Spanish, so that I can improve. With so many students I will be working some 40 hours per week, additionally I start rehearsals for Pergolesi's opera "La Serva Padrona" which will be given in the first week of April AND I am invited to make my Peru debut as conductor with the Trujillo Symphony Orchestra around about the same time.

I am hoping Santa (a cosmic one of course, with a sleigh pulled by a team of Gryphons) is I hope going to bring me a Multifunction Printer - this is an unplanned expense, but a necessary one, as I need to produce a mountain of courseware for my students - and when I can afford it I plan to upgrade the printer to have a very neat continuous ink system so no expensive cartridge refilling! I was also hoping that in his sack Santa might just have a sponsor........

(A big thanks to my current sponsors, your money has enabled/is enabling me to provide materials to a young group of instrumentalists keen to play baroque chamber music.)

my favourite tree!

Prof. Carlos has kindly given me my own "studio" and is moving a decent piano in and I hope to have the use of the (sadly neglected) 2 manual harpsichord that is currently sitting un-played in a cage on the theater stage. It was a gift from the Japanese government along with a Yamaha piano some 15 years ago and has never been played! But negotiations are protracted as the Harpsichord is the property of the Director of Culture and the Conservatoire is part of the Directorate of Education - apparently therefore, an administrative nightmare, involving letters, forms, negotiations and much frustration! But I so want to get back to playing the harpsichord after many, many years! Prof.Phillips laughing referred to the piano as a jangle box and said of the harpsichord that the sound reminded him of "two skeletons making love on a tin roof!"

I feel as though I have lived here in Trujillo, for ages, the place suits me 100%, I have found a role I enjoy in a delightful city (well, the historical centre is delightful), my work is supported by the Conservatoire Director and other professors who have become good friends, the students are lovely and I am fortunate to have my good friend Nick, who keeps me sane and is central to my life outside of music and the conservatoire.

After all this work, I am planning a holiday in mid-April, when Nick and I will probably go to Ecuador. I have to leave Peru for 3 days in any case as my visa expires, but the chance to explore Andean Ecuador and hopefully travel up from Guayaquil to Quito will be a wonderful experience. But that is 4 months away....... and who knows where we will actually end up! (as, Argentina seems to have crept into our ideas....)

Even after loosing weight I look fatter than Santa!

Carloz Perez - "Debut"

This the last week of term, today (Friday) is the last day of term and of the academic year and I am conducting the juvenile orchestra as part of the closing ceremony and using the occasion to give one of my conducting students his “debut” .

Last night I participated in the student organised final concert and witnessed the best and the not so good within 10 minutes of each other. The best - a performance of the Sonata Brilliante for Piano and Guitar by Diabelli ….. an obviously well-rehearsed, mature, sensible and intelligent performance, the not so good ….. well, the day before this concert, I was approached by a student and asked if I could play a piano accompaniment (something I am always happy to do) HOWEVER, the concert was the next day, the “soloist” only 80% accurate and obviously completely lacking any awareness of the fact that the piano is not a mere and necessary evil but a vital part of the performance as a duo.

Having looked at the music I realised it would be impossible (for me) to give a public performance of the work at such short notice, I suggested that the soloist withdraw from the concert as the work would require a good deal of rehearsal. At a few hours’ notice the soloist appealed to the Director to play and he reluctantly agreed, on the basis that it would be sight reading for him. The resulting performance was less than perfect. For me the sadness is that the “soloist” had no conception of what makes a good performance, playing the notes (more or less accurately) seemingly being sufficient ……… I hope I can change this!

Melody Priscila Bacilio en el violoncello y acompañada al piano por el Prof. Michael Mott,

My own contribution, accompanying a wonderful young cellist, was also less than perfect and I gave myself 75/100, these old fingers are taking their time getting back into “full swing”, what I lack in technical ability I overcome through musicianship; the cellist, Melody, got 95/100% her playing was passionate and secure. I can and will do better …… loving the challenge.


Prematurely delivered baby ... must have been all that bumping around on a donkey!

Oh yes …… Maestro Alvarez, Conductor of Trujillo Symphony Orchestra, has invited me to have Christmas Eve dinner with him and his family. This is the big Christmas celebration …. I am invited for 11pm …. This explains why there are so few people around on Christmas day!