Fourteen Guitars

I didn't recognise Holland Park School when I saw it; nothing about it rang a bell, and I assumed that it must be because I was entering via a different gate, until I discovered that the whole school had been pulled down an the re-built.   And I must say the finished product is rather outstanding.  

There are now security gates - you used to just be able to walk straight in - and the guard showed me the way to the main entrance, which looks a bit like a hotel entrance - nothing dull or drab about it.

The entrance hall is very spacious, with armchairs, huge bowls of lavender on the table, copies of Dickens' novels on the coffee tables, vases of fresh flowers - a complete contrast to what school receptions used to look like.   Likewise the Ladies - modern, gleaming, complete with taps with sensors so you don't have to touch them.   Everything is spotless and very much 2014.

The hall where the concert was held is huge, and could probably easily hold a thousand.   The wood floors were gleaming, with not a mark on them, and the whole place would not have looked out of place on the Southbank.

The concert was in aid of a charity called Future Talent, which aims to help brilliant but poor musically gifted children from 5 to 18 years old, by providing mentoring and financial assistance, e.g. paying for tuition, helping to purchase instruments, enabling them to take part in competitions, etc.   The charity was set up by the Duchess of Kent in 2004, and although she was meant to be attending, she was was not able to make it. But the fourteen guitarists of the title all managed to make it, along with two others and an unexpected fifteen year old guest player from South London, who is one of the recipients of their help.

The programme was quite varied, with most, if not all, pieces not originally written for guitar.   Some sounded slightly strange as a result, and much more medieval.than normal, as if they were being played on a lute.   But the result was wonderful - an evening that was different, but also very enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the size of the audience was quite small -  most of the chairs that had been put out were unoccupied, and I got the impression that much of the audience were in some way connected to the school.