I often take photos of musicians at work, but one day back in late June a rather different opportunity came my way. For many years now the Summer Music in City Churches festival have used my photos from the City of London churches in their publicity material, website and concert programmes. Sadly I’ve rarely been able to hear any of the concerts though as the festival always tends to take place when I’m away in Wales, teaching on a course. This year I found myself in London on the day of their big choral concert at St Giles Cripplegate, so I popped in during the afternoon rehearsal to take a look.
I knew their concert featured the Verdi Requiem, a piece I’ve loved for a long while. However, I hadn’t realised that their performance had something of a twist to it. Instead of a full symphony orchestra to accompany the choir, this role was to be covered by a rather unorthodox combination of two pianos, organ and percussion!
Initially I was rather sceptical as to how this cut down combination of instruments could possibly work, but as the afternoon wore on I realised that in fact it was a work of genius! Arguably, a symphony orchestra could provide a a much larger sound where it was needed, but this curious ensemble worked far better than I expected, providing a fascinating combination of timbres.
As everyone was setting up I had a brief conversation with the percussionist, Tristan Fry. It was only later that I learned this unassuming chap has had a very long and illustrious career, performing with symphony orchestras, rock bands and much more. The fact that he was the timpanist on one of my all time favourite Beatles songs, A Day in the Life, was just the icing on the cake!
One of my favourite photos from the afternoon was of the organist, taken while he was playing. I realised I could include both him and his reflection (the mirror allows him a direct line of sight to the conductor who was standing many feet away, behind him) in the image. But I had to take this quickly as all the time I was standing in the right spot to catch the photo, I was entirely blocking his view of the conductor!
Photos taken 28 June 2025