2013 kicked off with me going on tour to South Africa, I had such a fantastic time there visiting and performing in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. It was great to see each City and how drastically different they are from each other. I have a lot of very fond memories from my time there including getting to perform to the fantastic audiences who came to my concerts, it was such a privilege.
I always try to do some cultural things when I am away and even though my schedule was tight I managed to squeeze in a trip to Robben Island, the place where the late Nelson Mandela was kept imprisoned from 1964-82. The tour of the island was a very humbling event, what I found so fascinating was the tour guides at Robben Island are all ex-prisoners themselves, therefore they give a realistic first hand account of what went on there. Though the most humbling moment was to see the tiny size of the inmates cells. It was like a broom cupboard it was so small. Below is a picture of Nelson Mandela's cell:
After the fascinating Robben Island trip I had a performance that night and a late night flight where I ended my tour at a game reserve called Bakubung. It was such a treat to go here after the early morning starts for television interviews and the late night performances/flights it was finally time to relax and enjoy the surroundings. We did two game drives, one at 4pm and one at 5am the next morning. On the 4pm drive we saw everything including Black Rhino, White Rhino, Girraffe, Elephant's (we even got charged by a bull elephant, quite a scary experience) countless zebra's, lions to name but a few. It was fantastic. So we were so excited for our second game drive early the next morning, and guess what...we saw nothing! Not even a Zebra.
When I returned from South Africa I had some concerts and speaking engagements in the UK and also had a lot of new repertoire to learn including a new concerto that wasn't in my current repertoire that I was performing later in the year. No rest for the wicked. It was around this time that I was announced as Patron to Ipswich School's new music School alongside other patrons like the cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber. It was a real honour to be asked to be involved and i'm excited for my on going relationship with the school.
So after a month or two in the UK I was heading off again, this time to do my US debut at the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C. I was so unbelievably excited about performing here as it is such an iconic venue and I felt so lucky to have the chance to do my American debut here.
I always get nervous before I play to new audiences, and I have heard that American audiences either love you or hate you and there is no in between. But thankfully the concert went well and i can't wait to return very soon. I know my manager has a lot of plans for the US but I can't give too much away yet.
Soon after flying back it was time for me to start preparing for my September London concert at the beautiful St James's Piccadilly which I was excited about as it is one of my favourite London venues, but then, to add to the long list of things to do my manager called and said I had been asked to give a TED Talk at the Royal Albert Hall only a few days before my concert. Of course this was a fantastic thing to do but it couldn't have come at a worse time. So i got straight to work on my talk. Those of you who haven't heard of TED take a look at their website here:
I do a lot of public speaking for buinesses and schools but this was certainly my biggest speaking engagement to date, I couldn't believe I was giving a talk to a whopping 5000 people at one of the most iconic venues in the world. If you'd like to see my talk here's the video of it below, hope you enjoy it:
Just days after my Royal Albert Hall talk I took to the stage at St James's Piccadilly and enjoyed performing to a wonderful audience. The venue itself is wonderful and I just love the Fazioli piano, perfect for my repertoire.
Next stop was then Kazakhstan (yes Borat was filmed here, but I am about to dispel any pre-conceived ideas about this wonderful country.) When I got the call to fly over and perform as part of an awards ceremony I was quite, well, under whelmed. Kazakhstan believe it or not was not on my list of places to visit. However all I can say is WOW! What fantastic Country, I was based in the city, of Almaty which is stepped in culture and picturesque backdrops of beautiful mountain ranges, almost looks similar to Zurich in Switzerland with the Alpine backdrop. The people were so lovely and they are all so proud of their country, and rightly so. I was surprised at how western the city was, with it's glorious shopping malls including a Saks 5th Avenue and a brand new luxurious Ritz Carlton Hotel. it is certainly a country that I hope to vista again soon. Below is a picture of me during my performance, don't you love the smoke machine ;-)
2014 is looking good for me and I'm kicking off my concerts with a recitals in Woodville Halls, St Martin in the Fields and Cheltenham's Pittville Pump Rooms. (Click the link for tickets) so i hope to see some familiar faces soon. I'd like to thank you all for your on going support and I look forward to keeping you up to date with whats going on. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @NMcCarthyPiano and 'like' my Facebook page here.
