Tag: Symphonique des Bords de Loire

China: An Introduction from Nantes to Changsha

Posted on Posted in Black and White Photography, China, orchestra tour, Reportage, Travel photographyTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

This marks the beginning of a journey I’m eager to share—a series about my recent orchestral tour to China with the Symphonique des Bords de Loire (or SBL for those special people who know). Before leaving, China was a distant, almost abstract concept to me: a country whose language I couldn’t speak, whose script I couldn’t read, and whose cuisine I knew little about—aside from my clumsy attempts at wielding chopsticks.

Fast forward to today, and although I’ve only just returned—less than 48 hours ago—China feels much less foreign. I’ve wandered its streets, performed in its theatres, and shared meals with people who reminded me just how much we all have in common, no matter where we’re from.

Through this series, I’ll invite you into the world of an orchestra on tour, from long-haul flights and pre-concert rehearsals to quiet, reflective moments exploring unfamiliar cities. Expect stories of camaraderie, cultural discovery, and the universal language of music. And, of course, I’ll share the photographs—nearly 500—capturing the essence of the places we visited and the people we met.

Our first stop is the journey itself, from Nantes to Changsha, where it all began. Along the way, I’ll recount how we celebrated Christmas and New Year far from home, the magic of our performances, and the unexpected connections made along the way.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin…

Like most people, I had a certain reticence about the unknown. I was basically terrified! But, as one must, I thought the best place to begin was the beginning. I knew it would be a long trip, but this was possibly the longest for me. We had our itinerary and knew where we were going. We had all installed the app Alipay on our phones to pay for things. There’s also a translator on the app, so we should be fine.

My wife and daughter dropped me, my suitcase, and my instrument off at the rendezvous point in Nantes at 1:30 am, giving us enough time for the 2:00 am departure by coach to get us all to CDG Roissy airport. We stopped off in Angers to pick up the last of the orchestra members and headed off to the airport.

We were split into two groups: us and them. We would be flying with Air China later that day, and the other group would fly almost immediately with Xiamen Airlines. There weren’t enough seats on the plane for us to travel together. As a result, we had the pleasure of spending all day in our terminal at CDG. This felt like the longest part of the whole trip.

We split up again—one group to Starbucks, the other to the bakery Paul. We felt a little more exclusive in our little group, made up of a horn player (yours truly), two violinists, Eléonore and Marie, and Nicolas, a percussionist.

What does one do for eight hours while waiting for a flight? Well, you go to the loo, eat, chat, become bosom buddies with your fellow travellers. You talk about your jobs, share photos, realise the adapter you bought won’t work in China, so you buy another one, have lunch, share jokes, and then realise too late that the small children around you can actually understand those jokes, so you dial it down a bit. You wander around, one person looking after the luggage, making sure it doesn’t get blown up by security. Excitement, excitement, excitement!!

Tired of remaining exclusive, we joined the hoi polloi of the Starbucks group and headed to security together. Passport control, however, was a different matter altogether. You may have guessed that I am not French, so I had the privilege of going through a different line to be let out of the country. I was scanned, as was my passport, and then made my way through to the other side. We had to go through security again.

My hand luggage was my instrument, and I felt very pleased with myself and my choice of clothing. It’s amazing how much “stuff” you can stuff into the pockets of a sports jacket and still look relatively good. You take off the jacket and pop it into the bins along with the horn, camera, phone, wallet, etc. It all felt like being in a queue at Disneyland…

I had nothing else planned, so I took it all in my stride. Going through Duty-Free was an interesting experience. Gone are the days of cheap booze and perfume. Now it’s all about luxury brands, and definitely not cheap. I’d have to wait until I got home to restock my perfume.

The departure lounge had a public piano, and of course, the colleagues had to let rip. And let rip they did. A productive way to get through the tediousness of waiting. I was reminded of the British Army philosophy of “hurry up and wait.” Take it in your stride, lad, take it in your stride.

The first flight was Air China from CDG to Beijing. When they talk about long haul, they forget to tell you how long long haul really is. We weren’t in business or first class but in economy, where long haul takes on a completely different dimension. The flight, though long, was very pleasant, and between meals (served with forks), it went smoothly. As part of my research for this trip, TripAdvisor had become a reference, and my experience was obviously much better than that of certain reviewers. The food was great, although it was the first time I had rice and fish for breakfast in a long while. I sat next to Fran, one of the English members of the orchestra, and we chatted about everything and nothing. It helped pass the time and allowed us to get to know each other in ways you can’t when just playing concerts and rehearsing in France.

We arrived in Beijing, descended, and started looking for the loo—the first of many visits to the loo during this trip. I had heard about Chinese loos being a little different from those back home, but in the airport at least, everything was fine.

We went through the airport to the domestic transfers, filled in the form with the information we had provided on our Visa application form, and went through immigration. Now, we were all on a level playing field, much to my satisfaction! We made it to the other side and headed to our gate, where we would board flight number two to our final destination for the day: Changsha. Changsha is one of those places that will amaze you with the colour of its lights around the buildings—one of the many cities that do this. It was resolutely modern and vibrant. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect before arriving, so I just decided to take it all in.

At the hotel, we were greeted by colleagues who had arrived earlier. My roommate was still out in town, but thanks to WhatsApp, he was told we had arrived and it would be nice of him to come back to the hotel and let me into our room with our shared key. He returned with a huge smile on his face—not only happy to see me but excited to tell me about the girl who had stopped him in the street to take a selfie with him. This would be the first of many such occasions for my friend Correntin to satisfy his ever-growing fan club. Poor lad! Not easy being girl-bait every day! He would get used to it.

The man in action. What more can I say!!! Tank you Corentin for letting me use your photo…

The room was posh, and I thought, “I could get used to living like this.” And indeed, I did. Those pillows were huge, soft, and when your head landed on them, you just seemed to float off into another world. Eventually, I had to leave my pillow and get ready for the evening Christmas meal and Secret Santa exchange.

Now, I had presents for Eléonore, Mathilde, and Titaua—whom I met while dabbling a little more in music in Cholet, and who convinced me to join this orchestra. I’m very glad they did because here I was, offering them their Christmas presents in China! Secret Santa is where you’re assigned someone in the orchestra to buy a small gift for. My person had messaged me to ask for an orange, but I couldn’t just give them an orange. I made the effort to find a Terry’s Chocolate Orange for him. My Secret Santa, Barbara, presented me with a mini-tote bag from the Paris Olympics. It’s just the right size for the car! The meal was somewhat less French than the Olympics, but it was the first of many discoveries in this new country. Well, one must show willing…

Photo Editing

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Sometimes you have a friend that wants a photo taken for whatever reason, and the friend in question was a schoolmate from my days at the Conservatoire de Cholet. We both still play and now play in the same orchestra. She wanted a photograph of herself with the said violin. She was expecting me to whip out my phone and Bob’s your uncle. Little did she realise that this was just not an option. As somebody who dabbles in photography with cameras and not camera phones, I suggested that I bring the studio to her and that we would try to get something half-decent.

We set up the rendez-vous, and up I turned.  I was offered tea, which as you now know, Dear Reader, is something I have a great affection for, and this girl knows how to make a lovely cup of tea!  Her husband arrived from getting their little boy from school, and we started setting up the studio.  He was a good sport and let me use him for my test shots to get all my camera settings in order.

Then onto the serious business of getting some portraits!  Now that’s the easy bit.  The slightly less easy bit is where the magic happens.  Photoshop is my editing software, and yet is far from being worn, or soft!  The idea is to keep everything looking natural, and the premise “less is more” is my goal.  If my editing is obvious, then I have to go back to the drawing board.

Before / After

This is the first edited shot from the session and gives you an idea of what the result can be.  See what you think and tell me in the comments how “you” might have done it!

As you can see, the poor girl is a violin player and not a horn player like Yours Truly, but we have to make allowances. Not everyone has the chance to play the most beautiful instrument in the world.

December

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As a musician, even one as not as implicated as me, December can be a busy time and has proven itself to live up to its reputation of loads of concerts to finish the year, and carolling. For the moment, I have 3 out of 5 weekends taken up with playing the horn in one form or another. 

At the end of the Season in the summer of 2022, I decided not to follow the new direction taken by the Orchestre d’Harmonie de Cholet.  Not just out of loyalty to the outgoing conductor who, since 2009, become a close friend, but sometimes you just need a change of scene.  I first thought of just having a complete break from music, which is a rash decision but one I have taken in the past.  Friends were worried that I would stop music altogether, which would not only be a shame but also a waste of talent or work that I have put into learning the horn over the years.  I had lost the love of performing, and rehearsals had become more a way of spending time on something I knew how to do but with less and less pleasure.

I was therefore on the lookout for a new ensemble that needed a horn player.  When I was in the Cholet Conservatoire Symphony orchestra, I made friends who talked about this relatively new orchestra based just South of Nantes.  You go to Facebook and see their page and try to make a choice.  I made a choice.  I am now the fourth horn in the Symphonique des Bords de Loire. 

So what does this have to do with being busy in December?  I’ll tell you.  With concerts and rehearsals, I have been playing every weekend since the 26th of November.  I am now 50, have taken up napping in a big way, and sleeping, or at least trying to sleep as a secondary calling.  All this music is creating an enormous conflict of interest between music and my new vocation, napping.  I have tried automatic pilot, but people seem to cotton on and even dare come up to me and try to talk to me when my body is still on, but the brain is experiencing a temporary outage.  The sheer audacity of it all!   

Last weekend, I did a paid gig for the Brass Quintet Arabesque, replacing my old horn teacher, the Grand, the mother Great, and all-around good egg, Jerome Percher who teaches the horn in the Conservatoire In Angers!  He is also a massive football fan and maybe the evening match between our two splendid countries was just too much for him.  Little did we know that Harry Kane would be less fortunate than us. 

The idea was to have a brass band style quintet with two cornets, one tenor horn, one euphonium, and one tuba.  Similar to what you might see the Salvation Army playing when they’re out around this time.  We would play three sets of Christmas carols to add some ambience to the Christmas Market in La Roche Sur Yon, which is the administrative capital of the Vendée.  It was a beautifully sunny day, but a tad cold.  Yes, brass monkey weather!

Now I don’t technically play the tenor horn, but had studied the fingerings to know how to approach the instrument and not look too silly.  It’s also much lighter than the more common, yet beautiful instrument, which is the French Horn.

Everything that morning seemed to go wrong.  I was already nervous as I didn’t want to let the lads down and my heart was going like the clappers.  Then slightly late getting out of the house, having to get the windscreen de-iced, as it was -5°C, which is chilly.  Then the car pretended to not want to start.  Ha ha ha, it was the car just trying to play a trick on me.  The roads had been salted so fine, and I was headed down to La Roche. I had misread the text message with the meeting times and thought I was late.  As it turned out, I wasn’t, and our lady answered my prayer for a parking space not too far from the meeting point.  I, of course, couldn’t find my colleagues when I arrived in the square and then suddenly I saw Hervé and felt a lot less anxious!

We played our three sets, and the only upset was whilst playing I saw three ships.  I think we all managed to sink them! 

The organisers had prepared us some hot pretzels and some mulled wine, which just hit the spot and told us where the restaurant was, where we were to have lunch.  The five of us needed feeding!  Starters and main, or main and dessert, with drinks.  I could get used to this.  We ate, joked, finished our beer, and said see you later at Hervé’s house for the Soirée to celebrate Jean Michel’s birthday in a French and very fitting way!

I just had to get to Nantes, for confession, to get a little something for my evening’s host, wife, and daughter.  Just enough time left over to pick up my wife, and get ourselves to our evening.

Jean Michel has a bit of a reputation as an epicurean, and not only a lover of fine cuisine, but a very accomplished chef!  Upon arrival, we went to say hello to everyone, and were told to leave the kitchen, which is exactly what we did!  The aforementioned legend that is Monsieur Percher was there with his lovely wife, and it was such a pleasure introducing each other to our respective spouses.  The pre-meal beers were served and then out of nowhere appeared a magnum of very nice champagne, which was the first of quite a few exquisite bottles, which complemented Jean Michel’s cooking so well.  We’re now in happy as a pig in shit territory. 

It was a lovely evening and with the wine, I was beginning to feel a little tired, which is better than being a little tiring.  It was time for little Ian to go beddy byes…  My new vocation in life.  Fortunately, my wife is a professional driver, stone-cold sober, and able to drive us home. 

The next day was spent gently getting out of bed, and trying not to let on that I might be a little tired.  By Sunday evening I was ready to go to mass, and who would I see, but Hervé and his family.  It’s nice not being at mass on your own and was just the surprise I need to finish the evening off on a high point.  That and going to the pub afterwards.

Next Saturday, I will play the tenor horn with the Tuba Class with Hervé as their teacher.  The weekend after will be a lot quieter.  Then three days in the factory before breaking up for two weeks holiday for Christmas, which, Dear Reader, will be a completely different story. 

Until then, I wish each and every one of you a very happy, peaceful, and above all drama-free Christmas!