WHERE IS DUBAI?
I didn’t really know exactly where Dubai was when my husband Paul was offered the job of running Dubai Airport; I had to get a map out and find. That was 10 years ago. Now, I speak Arabic. I decided some time ago that by September 27, 2017 – that date is exactly 10 years since I arrived – I was going to be fluent in Arabic. To live in the Middle East and just pretend it was England was never going to be an option. Interestingly, learning it [Arabic] has connected me far more emotionally to the Arab population.
LIMBER UP
Our fabulous yoga tutor comes to the house to do some yoga with me and my husband on weekends. She’s completely changed the quality of our day. We do just over an hour and it has been brilliant, not just for [flexibility] – and we were both getting to be as stiff as a couple of old rakes before this – but for head space, too.
TUNED IN FAMILY
We are a family of musicians; my son Henry, 13, is learning the French horn, my sister is a professional organist who has worked in several cathedrals in the UK and my husband Paul plays the organ. My interest in music began as a practical thing – my parents were not wealthy, my father was a church minister and he saw that if we were good at music it would get us a music scholarship to a good school in the UK. So they encouraged us to practice. It worked too well – we not only got the scholarships, we also both ended up working as professional musicians.
MAM AS IN HAM
The Falcon and the Lion, the fanfare written for Queen Elizabeth II’s visit in 2010, was performed in Abu Dhabi. I was the first in a line-up to meet the Queen, standing there repeating to myself under my breath, ‘remember to say Mam instead of Maaam’, absolutely sure I was going to say the wrong thing. She shook my hand – hers was in a glove, which felt a bit odd, to be honest – and said, ‘that was a very interesting piece’, which I absolutely was not expecting. She then went on to ask how long I had been in Dubai. I was so surprised she wanted to talk to me that I went completely blank. I think I replied, ‘can’t really remember’.
CULTURE SHOCK
I’d like to ask those that consider the UAE a cultural desert how many cultural events, concerts or galleries they attended in the last month. I bet it was zero. In my experience the people who say this are the people who don’t go to cultural events wherever they are. The people who are looking for culture find it. And there is plenty [in the UAE] when you start to look.
CHORAL NARRATIVES
Choir Fest Middle East, the annual choral festival of which I am artistic director, is a celebration of choirs in the region and we promote music from all cultures. The stories that we have to tell are about how hard people have worked to get here – particularly those choirs coming from really difficult places like Afghanistan or Iraq. Performing on our stage is a great achievement in itself [for them] – years of work are hidden behind the scenes and often this takes place in very difficult political circumstances. We put on a Choir of the Year competition, but it is not a cutthroat, ‘fight to the death challenge’ competition like in the movies.
DON’T CHAI AWAY
I’m addicted to tea. I need tea first thing in the morning or I really feel something is missing, so my biggest fear is running out of milk.
MAKE SOME NOISE
My music has not been the subject of a noise complaint yet, but I live in hope.
PASS THE BUCK AND SPLURGE ON
I’m not actually that good at splurging. I tend to instantly regret my purchase and want to take it back. However, I have found that getting my husband to splurge on my behalf doesn’t involve any guilt, which is fantastic. Last birthday he bought me a carbon fibre viola, it’s my most prized possession – I’ve always really wanted one as I learned the violin at school but always wanted to play the viola instead.
TO SKI OR NOT TO SKI
I wish I was really passionate about skiing so I could visit Zermatt because fabulous ski resorts like that in Switzerland are amazing and have epic scenery. But I am a truly terrible skier and hate it [skiing], but love the views. I feel imminently about to meet my death on the slopes.
CATS, THE (UN) MUSICAL
I have three rescue cats, Bing, Piffle and Kitty, who hate each other – it’s proper mutual hatred and it’s intense. It’s hopeless. Blood-curdling screams and white fur everywhere if they are ever left in the same room. Individually, they are gorgeous, though. I’m open to anyone who might like to ‘borrow’ one of them for a couple of years for a bit more peace in my house.
A BUNDLE OF LAUGHS
There’s an American composer called Nico Muhly who I think is fabulous – he is sharp, funny and switched on. Everything he writes, on either his Twitter feed or his blog, has me in fits. I’d love to spend a day getting to know him but a day would be enough; any longer and I would probably need to lie in a dark room for a week to recover.
CHASING SUNSETS
I’ve noticed the most bizarre thing recently. When I’ve been out driving on some of those big roads, like the 611 or 311, in the early evening, just as the sun is starting to go down, I feel strangely euphoric. I know that sounds weird, but maybe because so much of my life is spent living in my head and creating, the long expanse of desert interrupted by building projects is weirdly grounding and helps me remember where I am. I feel a kind of gratitude then.
NOT WITHOUT…
… my laptop. I have a score-writing programme that I use to write music, which means I don’t need to scratch away with a quill.
BOOKS FOR A BETTER WORLD
How to Do Good, Essays on Building a Better World is an amazing collection of extraordinary personal stories from leaders, celebrities, Nobel Prize winners and philanthropists that has stuck with and influenced the way I think. It’s a very challenging and uplifting [read for] these tricky times.
MY BEST IS MY LAST
The longest work I have written is my opera My Beautiful Camel, of which scenes 1-7 are being showcased in London from May 4-6 at Wilton’s Music Hall. It is my most recent work, and like all creatives, I live in hope that my latest work is the best so far. Whether it is or not, only time will tell.
