Jo Dawes's Blog (9)

Have you ever wondered what the Merchant Adventurers were up to in Hamburg 400 years ago and why a British engineer was responsible for so many civil engineering projects here in the 19th century? This Friday, 11 May, there's a special chance to trace on foot a number British people who have left their mark in the development of Hamburg, from the foundation of the English Church in 1612, through architecture and engineering to media and music of the 20th century. Please register via the…

Continue

It's sometimes elegant, sometimes rough, sometimes courtly and sometimes fiery, and occasionally all of the above, at once! Canadian baroque flautist, Brian Berryman, gives us a view into the traditional music likely to have been heard by the early members of the congregation of the English church in Hamburg in the next concert in the 400th…

Continue

Have you also noticed that many successful Baroque composers who made their careers in England were actually foreigners? With its unique free-market concert landscape, 18th century London was the city of endless possibilities for musicians of continental Europe’s more restrictive courts.



The ‘English’ works by French, Italian and German composers in this Saturday's…

Continue

Yotin Tiewtrakul, choir master at St Thomas Becket, welcomes experienced choral singers to join in a performance of John Stainer's oratorio, "The Crucifixion", at 5pm on 31 March - see events. If the excesses of Victorian romanticism make you swoon, then this date is a must for you. Rehearsals take place on 24 and 25 March and there will be a general rehearsal on the evening before the…

Continue

February 25 promises to be a real feast for the senses to brighten up the greyest winter day. The Michel, one of the finest Baroque churches in northern Germany, will be the venue for a performance of Handel's great oratorio, The Messiah, composed in 1741. Sung in the original English by the Monteverdi-Chor Hamburg, it's an event not to be missed. If you're planning to take part in the Scratch Messiah on 2 December as part of the…

Continue

This Saturday, 28 January, is the first concert in the series to celebrate 400 years of the Anglican Church in Hamburg. Given by Ensemble Schirokko, it promises to be a feast of Baroque music from around the time the Merchant Adventurers, who founded the church, were flourishing in Hamburg.

The young ensemble's CD, Schirokkos Seereisen, was selected ‘CD der Woche’ by NDR and captures the listener with its 'extraordinary sense of sound, imaginative playing and great precision'. This is…

Continue

British Day in Hamburg is always a resounding celebration of German-British friendship, but it also serves a further good cause. The 14,000 visitors who enjoyed the daytime programme and the British Day Open Air Proms Concert on 5 - 6 September at the Hamburg Polo Club helped raise 22,500 Euros for charity, bringing the total donated over the past 19 years to more than 350,000 Euros.



Cheques were handed over by British Day initiator Peter Rogers at a reception at the Anglo-German… Continue

The FCO has set up a new online registration service called LOCATE where British nationals travelling or living abroad can register.



LOCATE is meant to record both short-term visits and longer-term residence outside the UK and is for use by all British nationals and their families anywhere, for any length of stay. The new system allows authorised staff in London as well as local consular… Continue

For fans of British Day - or for that matter of British actor Mark Lyndon - this clip on the RTL Regional website is a must. Suzan Üner and her film crew spent most of Saturday (5 Sept) at British Day with Mark as their guide. What Hamburgers think of the British, what Mark thinks of the Scots and how Mark copes with a side saddle - it's all here, with a good dose of the humour we expect from the man who… Continue