Helene la Rue memorial concert

After a quiet morning at the library to Oxford on the Oxfordtube. Amazing value - only £6 return on the coach for over 60s after 3 p.m. Found the b and b whihc was pretty basic (actually the breakfast made up for the room. Into town on the bus and walked to St Cross college with a detour into the treasure trove of Borders book shop! A pleasant reception presided over by the genial master. Met Helene's niece who had read my blog and her mother and boyfriend. Also a charming lady who had come all the way from Chicago! Strange how the English don't like talking to people they don't know. Not like the Australians at all! There were tributes to Helene on the piano and we requested memorial cards.
Walked to St Mary's where seats had been kept as the church was full! An amazing concert of tributes and Helene would have loved it. Met Helene's brother and his second wife. He said he had seen Stravinsky at the Festival Hall with his hat and coat on during the curtain calls after Monteux conducted Rite of spring! Spode music week group did 3 Tudor items complete with wierd oboelike instrument which needed fettling! We had a lovely french horn solo on a 19th century instrument from the Bate collection. A tabla group who were joined by Northern Indian group singers - amazingly haunting. An extraordinary Chinese wind instrument called a hulusi (Helene did field work in China on instruments) and a super flamenco guitar. After mulled wine and a toast to Helene and an opportunity to did the tributes and add to them, the gamelan were fantastic. No wonder Britten was enchanted! Then we had Northumbrian smallpipes - a charming sound. The St Cross singers led a madrigal and then we all joined in "Now is the month of maying". Finale was a Baroque cantata for soprano with the organ and original instruments by Andre Campra - stunning!What a tribute to a wonderful person!