CLScapades http://cls.posterous.com City of London Sinfonia blog posterous.com Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:02:00 -0800 Conquering the Antarctic Interview: Hugh Bonneville http://cls.posterous.com/interview-hugh-bonneville http://cls.posterous.com/interview-hugh-bonneville

Ahead of the final concert in our Conquering the Antarctic tour this Saturday, we caught up with Hugh Bonneville, acclaimed actor from ITV's Downton Abbey, to talk to him about his involvement in the tour.

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Image: Philip Thorne

What drew you to take part in the Conquering the Antarctic tour and what do you know about the story of Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole?
The story of Captain Scott is something that I have known about from childhood, like every boy and girl from my generation; one of the great adventures, albeit with a tragic ending. I remember from an early age being inspired by the grandeur and the ambition of the expedition, despite the tragic nature of it all. Of course it was 1912, the year of the Titanic and the year of Captain Scott, what a year! It’s full of schoolboy heroism but ultimate folly in the end; the flawed ambition of Empire.

Captain Scott's final diaries are at the heart of the concert tour; do you keep a diary? If so how long have you kept one for and why?
I haven’t kept a diary since I was 18!  It was usually full of what a terrible result I had in a football match; why wasn’t I any good at goalkeeping?


To read the diaries of Captain Scott in the context of the Vaughan Williams music (which will be performed alongside the readings in the concert) is very moving. You see the confidence with which the polar party set out, the camaraderie of the men and Scott’s admiration for his team; the great chemistry between the men and Scott’s determination to keep his leadership up, despite the will, gradually beginning to slip away.


He definitely ranks up there alongside the great adventurers such as Shackleton and Mallory. I think his tremendous spirit of adventure and daringness to fail ranks him alongside any hero. Flawed as they may be, they were all prepared to push themselves and what is known about the world, to its limits.

Have you ever had any desire to be an explorer and if so where would you go and what would you explore?
I’m a good map reader but a hopeless explorer! I’d love to go to parts of the world that are remote, but I’d be hopeless in icy conditions. I’m fascinated by rivers that hide their source. I did some wandering during my GAP year travels, but that was in several degrees of comfort compared to what these guys experienced. I wouldn’t last five seconds in Bear Grylls back garden, let alone out in the field with him!

What was your first experience with music? Do you play an instrument?
I can’t pretend to be a musician.  My parents are very keen concert goers and my first conscious memory of music is my Dad playing an LP of Faure’s Requiem. My father is an excellent pianist and his effortless technique on the piano made me furious every time I tried to plink out my Grade One. I then took up the clarinet, which remains one of my favourite instruments, which I absolutely love, and only wish I’d kept going.

What's the hardest and also the most satisfying part of being involved in the Downton Abbey phenomenon?
The hardest thing is trying to keep track of which part of the world has seen which series and making sure you’re not giving the game away in press conferences. The most satisfying thing is to be involved in a show that has caught the imagination of so many people around the world; it doesn’t happen very often in your career. We've started back at Downton Abbey already. And no, I’m can’t tell you what happens in Series Three, I’ve only read up to Episode Two!

Conquering the Antarctic
3 March 2012

Cadogan Hall, London

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Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:47:00 -0800 Behind the Scenes Photos: Conquering the Antarctic rehearsal http://cls.posterous.com/behind-the-scenes-with-cls-and-hugh-bonnevill http://cls.posterous.com/behind-the-scenes-with-cls-and-hugh-bonnevill

Here's a sneaky peek of what happened in our first rehearsal for our upcoming tour, Conquering the Antarctic. It was our first chance to get our teeth stuck into Cecilia McDowall's new piece (written especially for the tour) Seventy Degrees Below Zero and to meet our narrator, actor Hugh Bonneville .

 

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Images: James Berry

We're now set to get on the road and celebrate the Scott centenary and this epic and inspiring story.

Conquering the Antarctic

3 Feb - Symphony Hall, Birmingham SOLD OUT

4 Feb - Corn Exchange Cambridge

7 Feb - St David's Hall, Cardiff

8 Feb - Town Hall, Cheltenham

3 Mar - Cadogan Hall, London Limited tickets available

 

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Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:34:00 -0800 Conquering the Antarctic - The People : Edward Wilson http://cls.posterous.com/the-people-profiles-of-other-team-members http://cls.posterous.com/the-people-profiles-of-other-team-members

 

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Our Conquering the Antarctic tour celebrates the achievements of Captain Scott, the most well-known of the five-man party that reached the South Pole a hundred years ago in 1912. As the inspirational leader of the team, his personal qualities, courage and charisma were reflected in his journals and letters, which provide a moving picture of the expedition that endures today.

But what of the other four men Scott selected to accompany him to the Pole? They were Wilson, Bowers, Evans and Oates. Over the next four days, we profile the other members of Scott’s team, beginning today with Dr Edward Wilson.

 


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Born in Cheltenham in 1872, Edward Wilson was an artist and naturalist, who first joined Captain Scott aboard the Discovery as Assistant Surgeon and Vertebrate Zoologist to the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-1904). In 1910 he returned to the Antarctic with Scott aboard the Terra Nova as Chief of the Scientific Staff. He was devoted to the study of Antarctic specimens and highly skilled at watercolour painting, particularly at capturing the colours, wildlife and light of the Antarctic.

‘Uncle Bill,’ as Wilson became known to the other explorers, was friendly and affectionate, and succeeded in mastering his temper thanks to a strong Christian faith. Scott selected him for the trek to the South Pole, which delighted him, and he continued his pursuit of scientific discovery even after the pole was reached, stopping with the rest of the team to collect 16kg of geological specimens.

Wilson’s is the last letter thought to have been written by any member of the polar party. Dated March 1912, the letter, written to his friend Reginald Smith, refers to his unfinished book about disease in grouse, his only regret at the time of his death. "We shall make a forlorn effort to reach the next depot but it means 22 miles and we are none of us fit to face it. I want to say how I have valued your friendship … I have no fear of death, only sorrow for my wife and for my dear people. Otherwise all is well. I should like to have seen the grouse book but it is not allowed to me. God's will be done." 

It is believed that Wilson died alongside Bowers and Scott in late March 1912. The three bodies were found in their tent by a rescue party the following November.

 

 

Conquering the Antarctic - the Scott Centenary Concert Tour

 A celebration in music, words and images

Stephen Layton, conductor
Robert Murray, tenor
Hugh Bonneville, narrator

3-8 February and 3 March 2012

 

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Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:25:00 -0800 Conquering the Antarctic - The Place http://cls.posterous.com/94607423 http://cls.posterous.com/94607423

Ahead of our Conquering the Antarctic concert tour, starting next month, we're immersing ourselves in all things Antarctic. Here are some interesting facts about the most mysterious and fascinating of continents...

 

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  • The Antarctic is the world’s highest, driest, coldest and windiest continent (as well as the last to be discovered).
  • Ancient Greek geographers were the first to guess there was a large landmass around the South Pole. They named it Anti-Arkitkos (‘the opposite of the Arctic’).
  • Wind speeds of up to 351km (218 miles) per hour have been recorded.
  • In 1983, the coldest temperature ever was recorded at a freezing -89.2 degrees Celsius (-128.56 degrees Fahrenheit).
  • The distance between the UK and Antarctica is 11,000 miles (17702.784 km).
  • Ice in the middle of the continent can be up to 2500m (2 miles) thick.
  • Antarctica is more than 58 times bigger than Great Britain.
  • The pole moves with the ice at the rate of ten metres per year – each summer it has to be put back to its rightful geographical place.
  • Antarctic ice sheets store 70% of the world’s fresh water.
  • In Antarctica’s Dry Valleys, less than 6cm (2.4 in) of snow falls in a whole year.
  • Although there are no trees, more than 100 million birds nest and breed on the Antarctic.
  • Today, around 1,200 people spend the winter on Antarctica – about a third are scientists and the rest are support staff.
  • On average, ice sheets are nearly 2.5km (1.5 miles) thick – that’s the same as ten Canary Wharf towers on top of each other.
  • Thanks to high levels of oxygen in the water, sea spiders grow up to 30cm (12 in) across!

Conquering the Antarctic - the Scott Centenary Concert Tour

A celebration in music, words and images

Stephen Layton, conductor
Robert Murray, tenor
Hugh Bonneville, narrator

3-8 February and 3 March 2012

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Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:15:00 -0800 Conquering the Antarctic - In Pictures http://cls.posterous.com/conquering-the-antarctic-in-pictures-27980 http://cls.posterous.com/conquering-the-antarctic-in-pictures-27980

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Our Conquering the Antarctic concert tour, a celebration of the centenary of Captain Scott’s expedition to the South Pole 1910-1912, in partnership with the Scott Polar Resarch Institute, Cambridge, begins this February. Alongside our performances of moving and evocative musical tributes by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Cecilia McDowall, we will be showing the stunning expedition photography of Herbert Ponting, which is remarkable for its quality and beauty.


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Ponting’s images portray the day-to-day life of the expedition, focusing on the camp from which the team made its exploratory treks. Through these pictures, we can witness the busy but methodical way the group went about conducting research in the frozen landscape, utilising cutting-edge scientific techniques and instruments. Though the expedition is now remembered for Scott’s doomed attempt to reach the South Pole, this selection of images goes some way towards conjuring up the team’s more contented and companionable times. You might have spotted some of the pictures on the BBC’s recent Frozen Planet series!

Images: SPRI, University of Cambridge

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Conquering the Antarctic
3-8 Feb & 3 March 2012
Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, and London

In partnership with Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge

 

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Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:21:51 -0800 Who was Captain Scott? http://cls.posterous.com/who-was-captain-scott http://cls.posterous.com/who-was-captain-scott

We asked our newest Marketing recruit, Alice, to help us discover who Captain Scott really was ahead of our Conquering the Antarctic concert tour in February.

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Now remembered as a ‘race to the Pole,’ the tale of Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic from 1910-1912 has acquired the dimensions of a myth. But we are able to discover a good deal about what really happened on the expedition from Scott’s diaries, which give a vivid and moving depiction of the challenges the hard-working team faced.

Who was this man, whose personal qualities were so central to the expedition, and whose diaries, discovered by a rescue mission three months after his death, continue to provide a moving and emotive demonstration of his resolve and dignity in such unthinkable circumstances? What drove him to undertake this monumental challenge?

Born in 1868, Robert Falcon Scott joined a Royal Navy training ship at the age of thirteen. From 1900 to 1904, he commanded a British trip to the Antarctic, and from 1907-1909, Scott’s erstwhile companion Shackleton led a further British Antarctic Expedition to the Antarctic, locating the South Pole high on the ice plateau. Scott planned to finish what Shackleton had begun, and a further privately-funded expedition was raised which led to the purchase of the expedition ship, the Terra Nova, for £12,500.

Although he declared that the "main object of the expedition is to reach the South Pole and secure for the British Empire the honour of that achievement," Scott also had geological, biological and meteorological goals. The British team faced competition from the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who had abandoned earlier attempts to reach the North Pole in favour of being the first to get to the South. Despite this element of competition, Scott’s diaries reveal that he refused to abandon the pursuit of science, however difficult and unrelenting the freezing conditions.

When they reached the Pole in January 1912, the malnourished and frostbitten explorers found that the Norwegian team had got there first. Some believe that tragedy would have been prevented if the British team had ‘won’—they would have been in better spirits. As it was, they all met their deaths soon after. As Scott wrote in his journal, “These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.”


To read the full version of this blog post, visit our website
Image courtesy of SPRI, University of Cambridge


Conquering the Antarctic
2-8 Feb & 3 March 2012
Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, London

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