Amsterdam Tour 2013: A report 

Caithness, East Highland and  Inverness Concert Bands
On Tour in Amsterdam
June 27th -July 31st  2013                             
 

On Wednesday 26th June, the Caithness Schools Wind Band and the East Highland Concert Band met up with the Inverness Schools Wind Band for a four hour pre-tour rehearsal in Inverness High School. Each of the groups had prepared the repertoire for their joint tour to Amsterdam independently prior to this rehearsal, the only joint rehearsal, and thanks to a fine understanding between the three conductors, the pieces came together with the minimum of fuss. The rehearsal was followed by a pre-tour concert which was warmly received by friends and family.
                          On Thursday, after an uneventful journey, the bands arrived in Amsterdam and settled into the excellent youth hostel situated close to the town centre at Vondel Park. There, after the evening meal, an impromptu outdoor rehearsal became an informal concert to guests and passers-by and great fun was had by all.
On Friday morning, the band performed their first concert, in the British School. The whole school of four hundred pupils gathered in the atrium and surrounding galleries which were like a mini Royal Albert Hall. They were a great audience.
                       Following lunch back at the youth hostel, our bands were treated to a boat trip on the famous canals of Amsterdam.  They also visited the Westerkerk where Rembrandt is buried. We were very lucky to have the cathedral organist play a short performance for us. That evening, the bands walked together along the canals to the Anne Frank House.  The staff there gave an excellent introduction to prepare everyone for what  was to be a very moving and thought provoking experience. The return walk to the hostel included a detour via the Homo Monument, a memorial of three triangles (as Jews had to wear the yellow star of David, homosexuals had to wear a pink triangle) to remember people persecuted for their sexuality. We then had a welcome stop in Starbucks and MacDonalds on the way back to hostel after a very action packed first day.
The second day of the tour was spent with a group of Dutch Wind Bands similar to ourselves. Their collective name was ‘Crescendo’ and they were based in Sassenheim,  a town of 30,000 people situated near the bulb fields. On the way, we fitted in a very ‘bracing’ walk on the deserted beach where we saw the sand dunes that prevent the sea from flooding the country. The morning finished with a joint rehearsal with both the Scottish and Dutch Bands in preparation for the afternoon outdoor performance, where six separate bands played in the centre of the village. The performances were broadcast live on the local Radio Boterbloem (Radio Buttercup).
                               
                                
At the end of the performance Mrs Aalders presented our Dutch hosts with a specially commissioned commemorative plate as our thanks to them for their generous hospitality during the day.
                                
The day in Sassenheim finished with a joint treasure hunt around the town and a delicious meal. Hopefully, this visit will mark the beginning of a long association between the bands and perhaps a visit to the Highlands from our new Dutch friends. When back at the hostel, amazingly everyone still had energy for what was to be a slightly mad game of rounders in the park, before finally going to bed at the end of another long but happy  day.
On Sunday morning we visited the English Reformed Church, the venue for the third and final performance of the tour. The entrance to the church was via a door in the street, leading to a peaceful courtyard of very old houses. They were built in the fifteenth century for retired nuns, the Beguins. The church building dates from the same time and was given to the English speaking people when there was a flourishing trade between England and Scotland and the Low Countries.  Our performance was part of the weekly service in English and was very well received. There was a standing ovation and shouts of bravo!
                           
The final evening saw our group attend an orchestral concert in the world famous Concertgebouw Concert Hall for a performance by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. This was the first time that many of the youngsters had attended an occasion like this and the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly an orchestral reductional of the Ring Cycle by Wagner. The orchestra was augmented to include a contra bass trombone and Wagner tubas for the performance of the hour long tribute to Wagner’s masterpiece. It was simply spellbinding.  Much to our amazement, after the performance some of the orchestra musicians came down and spent time speaking to our band, making what was already a wonderful evening extra special.  
Finally, on the last morning, there was time to fit in a visit to the Van Gogh museum and the Henry Moore sculpture garden before catching the plane back to Inverness.
This tour was a fantastic experience for everyone involved.
Many thanks must be given to all the fundraisers who bag packed, sold raffle tickets and quiz sheets or took part in the extreme rehearsal at the Fyrish Monument in May to make this tour possible.
Thanks also to  Saints and Sinners, Invergordon, Fortrose, Nairn and Tain Academies, Inverness High School and Jim Arthur for their generous donations.