Back in the UK!

Yesterday morning, I stepped off a plane from New York - what a trip it’s been… Sorry for blog-silence, but there aren’t enough hours in the day to fit it all in!

Since I last wrote after playing at Twitter HQ (was that really 15 days ago?) , I stayed in San Francisco for a few days before Boston and New York until last night. So, what’s been happening?!

Well, San Francisco was a great success - the Twitter people are lovely (I’m currently in the process of making some listening lists for Britt Selvitelle, we had a great time talking with Biz Stone, who was recently interviewed on the Colbert Report, and a brief “hello, how’s it going” with Ev Williams) and looking forward to visiting again! I caught up with a few friends in SF, and plotted and schemed with Coffeeloop’s very own Ben Hall about the future of where we’re going… I’m looking forward to picking the conversation up where we left off now I’m back in London!

Mr Cello on Virgin America!

Then it was a quick jaunt across to Boston for a week with Eclipse / Fujitsu TEN and Coffeeloop’s own Milton Mermikides, where we discussed the future, and again - it was exciting. We’ve got a few exciting projects coming up that I’ll tell you about as soon as possible.

So then there was SPEM 2.0 at the lovely Trinity Church, Boston. What a venue! If you don’t know it, please do make sure to visit when you’re in the area - really stunning. We were helped by a wonderful team of Berklee students and the people from LOE, Fujitsu TEN and Eclipse - it may well have been the best week I’ve had in a while; it was certainly one of the most rewarding concert experiences I’ve ever had!

©Hideto Watanabe 2009

After catching up with the MIT Media Lab people and my various Beantown friends, it was time for New York.

I’ll be honest - I was slightly apprehensive of this leg of the trip, but maybe not for the obvious reasons. Many of you will know that I was playing the saw with Alexander Mccall-Smith’s Really Terrible Orchestra (photos coming soon!) but was also there for umpteen meetings with some really inspiring people on a wide variety of topics, from interaction in the arts to the future of the classical industry to web integration… it was a wonderful use of time and I am looking forward to following them all up, but I am exhausted.

After one such meeting with Greg Sandow, I was invited to speak at Juilliard about the direction of the music industry in the digital age, which, although both daunting and exciting, was an excellent experience ahead of the ambITion roadshow in June.

The RTO concert was a resounding success: as far as New York debuts go, a sell-out show and standing ovation isn’t tooooo bad..! If you’re in Edinburgh during the festival, make sure to come along - it’s always a great event!

So, what’s next? Well, April 16th is the public launch of Howard Goodall’s wonderful Enchanted Voices CD at Classic FM, and I’m playing in the concert. I know it’s selling well, but I’m sure you might be able to slip in somewhere! It’s #1 on the iTunes classical list and has been since the launch!

We have some new tech developments coming for The Words on The Wall pt.2 which should be coming in the middle in June and that should be really good fun. Again, more details nearer the time! I’ve been commissioned to do the music for the New Media Scotland ten year anniversary party, and Milton and I are working on a really fun set of pieces for that. All things going well, we’ll be broadcasting it live too.

In the meantime, I’m speaking at the ambITion roadshows to arts organizations in the UK, touring more Enchanted Voices for Classic FM and Sky Arts and filling the remaining slivers of my time with Coffeeloop related meetings to keep me out of trouble!

I’d best finish my coffee and get on with my inbox! Looking forward to hearing from you!