Krefeld – 2025

LSO RETURNS TO THE ROAD  

Touring has long been part of life for members of the Leicester Symphony Orchestra.

The six years since our last trip to France felt like a very long time – Covid and its aftermath have a lot to answer for!

But the latest trip – to Germany for one concert in our twin city of Krefeld and another in Monchengladbach – reminded all involved what a rewarding and enjoyable experience touring is.

This was LSO’s 11th tour since 1999 – and a few hardy souls have been on every one. Several of us spent time discussing where the 12th one should go.

As a prelude to the event, LSO was delighted to welcome Heinz-Peter Kortmann – organist and music director at St Cyriakus Church, Krefeld – to Leicester.

He performed a wonderful and well received organ recital at De Montfort Hall ahead of our May concert.

And then he joined us in that performance accompanying LSO and a 100-strong chorus recruited specially for the event in Brahms Requiem.

So we set off for Germany for the return visit just weeks later in a positive mood.

That persisted as far as Folkestone, when we discovered that one of our company (who remains nameless naturally) had only got a scan of their passport and not the real thing.

Sadly that person had to return home, but not before a near two hour delay which included us having to completely empty the coach’s luggage hold to prove to border staff that we didn’t have anything concealed aboard.

Fortunately the miscreant was not an orchestral player otherwise we would have been in a fine mess.

I was just thankful the border staff didn’t insist on us unloading all the musical instruments too.

Getting three double basses (one of them my own) into the body of the coach was a real test of spatial awareness. On the other hand, all the time I’ve spent playing Tetris were not a total waste of time!

In the end they fitted with about 5mm to spare (providing we fitted the door to the storage cage back to front which gave us an essential extra 10mm of space).

Re the customs stop: Top honours go to our ever patient and professional drivers Jamie and Pavel from Orbit Coaches, who co-ordinated the whole operation brilliantly – a standard of service that never slipped throughout the tour.

First of all they had got us to Folkestone very swiftly, so much so that after the delay we were still pretty much on schedule.

That meant we could still take a much-needed meal break and arrive in Krefeld almost on time.

Jenny Hand and Pat Dobson deserve huge praise for their organisation of the trip, including choosing an excellent hotel and including plenty of opportunities for excursions.

All photographs credited to Jeremy Oakley

The programme for the concerts included three symphonies – Sibelius 3 and Schumann 4 from our recent programmes and Guilmant’s organ symphony No 1, which we played with Heinz-Peter.

organ at St Cyriakus

He is a very lucky man – the organ at St Cyriakus is fantastic, and in his expert hands both made a wonderful, rich sound.

And credit also to Dexter Drown, who managed to keep the orchestra (effectively in the church’s chancel) and organ (right at the back of the building) together.

We concluded the programme with a little English “thank you and goodbye” in the form of Edward Elgar’s “May Song”.

An extra – and much appreciated part of each performance- were Dexter’s German introductions. The audience enjoyed them and so did the non-German speaking members of the orchestra: watching Dexter do his thing with such enthusiasm is always entertaining.

What fun to play for such appreciative audiences – we received enthusiastic, standing ovations throughout the tour.

And credit too to the church in Krefeld who put on an excellent post-concert reception.

While the Leicester Mercury seems to have all but abandoned the idea of writing classical music reviews, Wir Krefelder still does them and published a half page review with photograph about the evening.

Their reviewer Christian Oscar Gazsi Laki clearly enjoyed the evening – and if my German was better I would be able to tell you more of what he wrote!

Monday included a trip to Dusseldorf and a chance to visit some of its many sites, which include statues to Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann, both of whom called the city home for a time.

concert in Monchengladbach

On to the second concert in Monchengladbach, and another church with a fabulous organ (what a contrast to so many English churches and their electronic bits and pieces!)

Sustenance after the concert was great – providing you liked pizza! Very good and much enjoyed.

The last day of the tour saw members of the orchestra go in all directions.

I joined the party that visited Villa Merlander, formerly the home of Richard Merlander, a leading figure in the city’s silk trade who was persecuted, disenfranchised and murdered by the Nazi regime as a Jewish citizen.

The villa is now an educational centre recording the history of Nazi occupation and as a repository for many documents dating from that era.

It is much used by both school and adult groups, and features some astonishing artworks.

Two murals in one room were particularly impressive: they reminded me of Picasso’s “Guernica”.

Krefeld City Hall-reception

Later a big group visited Krefeld City Hall for a reception by the Krefld Mayor, Frank Meyer.

On behalf of LSO Jenny presented him with a framed copy of the special first day cover produced for LSO in 1980 depicting features four postage stamps depicting famous British conductors, among them Sir Malcolm Sargent, who founded LSO in 1922.

glass ornament featuring silk weaver-2025

In return he presented us with a wonderful glass ornament featuring the image of a silk weaver – Krefeld City was founded on the silk trade some 650 years ago, which made it a logical twin city for the textile capital of Leicester.

In the afternoon I visited Krefeld Zoo with strict instructions from my two-year-old grandson Isaac to find “fluffy babies and meerkats”.

I found the babies (fawns in the impala enclosure and young ostriches) but no meerkats – for heaven’s sake; how do the advertise car/home insurance in Germany?

In the evening came the musical high/low light (delete as appropriate) when – at dinner in the old station brewery – Dexter encouraged everyone to join in with his fresh lyrics to:-

“Any dream will do”, from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat”:
“We left at dawn, our coach was loading.
With Pavel smiling, Jamie helping too
The bags were packed, our excitement growing.
Bacon butties cooking – for just a select few.
But then a shout, a panicked cry – “My passport’s gone” – a sudden sigh.
The driver stopped, we made a queue, not quite sure what to do.
“No beer in sight (no beer in sight) when we reached Krefeld (ah-ah-ah) The shock was heartfelt (ah-ah) but we made do.
“The horns took bikes (the horns took bikes) and rode for ages (ah-ah-ah)
While Dexter shouted “super”; the only phrase he knew.
“Heinz-Peter played (Heinz-Peter played) his great big organ (ah-ah-ah)
While Frank stood smiling (ah-ah) as burgermeisters do.
“Then Shield squealed (then Shiela squealed) her spring was broken (ah-ah-ah)
But we were still rehearsing (ah-ah) Nothing more to do.
No shops in town (no shops in town) just one conclusion (ah-ah-ah) Dave’s grand solution (ah-ah) was pizza too.
Though tired and sore (though tired and sore) we were still laughing (ah-ah-ah)
Still music making (ah-ah) with the LSO crew”.
Sorry – who’s that on the phone? It’s Sir Tim Rice – he talking with his lawyer about copyright issues and he’d like his job back please!

And I have to take issue with Dexter for one huge factual inaccuracy (and one that not even ‘artistic license’ can excuse:
“Super” is certainly not the only German word he knows. Dexter’s charismatic, enthusiastic, introductions and speeches in German were among the highlights of our performances and the reception at Krefeld City Hall.
Happily the homeward journey was nowhere near as dramatic as the outward leg and we drew into Cedars College, Birstall almost exactly at the planned time.
A thoroughly entertaining, exhausting, exciting trip and two great concerts – and I can’t wait to hear where we’ll be going next!

Here are a few of my colleagues’ thoughts on the trip,
Jonathan Wheeler, double bass.

KAREN GOSS (Bassoon)
“A number of memories:
“The Fiasco at Folkestone – bound to remain part of LSO legend for generations!
“Being able to take part in music making, and the wonderful organ sound.
“By the second concert, what a joy it was to see how Dexter could shape and adapt the music as the orchestra relaxed and went with the flow.
“The amazing, appreciative audiences.
“Finally, Dexter’s final evening speech/song which encapsulated so much of the tour. We can all memorise it and sing it for evermore”.

DAVE POLLARD (Supporter)
“I was impressed with how enthusiastic German audiences are for classical music. How do we generate a similar level of enthusiasm in Leicester?
“I was also impressed with the role of the Mayor and the effort that he and his council put into the visit from the twinning point of view.
“Krefeld takes twinning seriously, in a way I’m not sure Leicester does. That is in no way a criticism of the twinning association team who joined us, who operate on an absolute shoestring.
“We have a lot to learn from our hosts”.

HAZEL CARLIN (viola)
“I was impressed with the Mayor’s speech at Krefeld Town Hall.
“He spoke with passion and provided a powerful testament about how the friendship between individuals from different countries is what will hold peace together between the two countries in the future.
“He made it very clear how important Twinning Associations are.
“And the people of Krefeld and Monchengladbach echoed that sentiment and fully demonstrated it at our concerts.
“They gave us appreciative speeches and standing ovations at both events, and it was wonderful to meet and talk with them after both events”.

JOANNA PELLERAU plus family (viola)
“Huge thanks to Pat Dobson, whose planning meant my husband Ben and I could bring our three children (7yo Theo; 5yo Rosie and 1yo Elspeth) on tour with us.
“I hope LSO members will enjoy Theo’s comment: “I am so proud of mummy and the other orchestra players”.
Inspiring the next generation is so important to LSO, as it is to all musical groups.
“Initiatives like ‘Inside the Orchestra’ – when we invited families to attend a rehearsal and sit among the players – and concerts like the Paddington themed one (February 2026) and the one featuring Peter and the Wolf (June 2026) will help build that legacy.