Jessica Dean and Anthony Hunt

Now that we have this site back up and running, time to do a few updates to get through the backlog of news!
Firstly, it is great to report that we are both back in Australia for Christmas as we had planned. We have a month here in the sun, which, aside from a few little gigs around town, will be spent relaxing and preparing all the music for the next term at the Academy - of which there is a lot!

It has been three months in London now, and time has flown faster than seems possible. There are a couple of photos here around the Academy, and in our flat, which has proved an excellent little place.

Probably the first major event that we were involved in was the performance of the Flowermaidens Scene from Wagner’s Parsifal. This was organised with the London Wagner Society, and The Rehearsal Orchestra (conducted by Tony Legge, head of Royal Academy Opera (RAO)). It was a really entertaining afternoon, spent rehearsing with the orchestra in the afternoon, and then shown to members of the Wagner Society and other interested parties later in the day. The soloists playing Klingsor/Kundry/Parsifal were excellent, and the girls of RAO had a great time with the luscious music.

Also in the first months at the Academy, Anthony was fortunate enough to win the Scott Huxley Award for Piano Accompaniment, an internal Academy competition for the Accompanists at the RAM.

We also got along to see a performance of Das Rheingold (more Wagner!) at the Royal Opera House, who put on a special student-only performance. This was a good performance, although we have to say, the Adelaide Ring definitely has the edge! And we had a lovely weekend in London with our friend Pelham, who took a break in his studies at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice to come down and visit Hampton Court Palace with us.

More to come…