The weirdest photo shoot I’ve ever done
Standing inside a hot air balloon with a bicycle and a viola – that’s not something you do every day. We had the official launch (pun intended – groan) of my circumnavigation of Devon by bicycle. Sarah and Heather put this together, bless them; that’s a proper send-off. And a huge shout out to Gabi (currently gallivanting around Bella Italia) for lending me her viola and designing the fabulous brochure. Make sure you pick one up and please give what you can to my fundraiser – every penny helps!
Heather and Sarah
Last night, I woke at 1:30 (thanks, jet lag) listening outside to some kind of duet between two sheep…I think? What do I know from livestock, growing up in midtown Manhattan. One animal, maybe it was the mother, would bellow a low-pitched “waaaaa” to be answered immediately by a high-pitched and urgent “BAAAA!” Perhaps it was a forbidden romance, a farmyard Montigue calling out to his hairy Capulet across the fence: “But soft, what light through yonder stable door breaks?”
Such is life in Ashburton.
More Ashburton experiences: Andy invited me to dinner last night. I said I’d bring some quiche I’d procured at the Deli (I could die happy eating only from there the rest of my life) and Andy would grab something from the Indian take-out. Soon enough, Suzy and Doro joined, then some friends of theirs, Kate and James, whose son Kit was jamming at the Arts Center. Then Sarah walked in, and Poppy joined, and dinner for two was now dinner for ten, all sitting around a table discussing the Ten Tors (Doro walked fifty miles?!) and Romanian politics (don’t ask….).
Again – life in Ashburton.
Arts Center, 2018, pre-pizza truck
The Arts Center is an extraordinary place for an extraordinary town. When I first started coming regularly to England, I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I discovered was that the English were warm and welcoming, and nowhere more so than in Ashburton.
You’ve all been so kind and generous to this outsider. After my group Ensemble Epomeo (based in the UK) disbanded, I was looking for a reason to return and thought I could start a chamber music festival modeled after the one I run near Boston. I got in touch with Judy Hall, whom many of you know as the extraordinary former Principal Flute at the Royal Opera House (now retired and living in Bovey). She suggested I contact Andy and he took a leap of faith. Thus was Ashburton Chamber Music Festival born back in 2019.
A proper English breakfast at the Old Library
(sausages and mushroom peering around streaky bacon)
People know one another here. I remember breakfast at Diablo’s on my first visit in 2018 and the waiter was taking care of several women who he clearly had been serving for years. Peering in yesterday, I saw what I’m pretty sure was the same crew sitting at table. I walk into the Ashburton Deli and am greeted personally by the mellifluous voice of David behind the counter; I happen to run into Anita of The Brick House and we talk about Tom’s paintings, which had moved me so when we did a Hausmusik there last year; traipsing down North Steet, Deborah drives by and gives me a wave.
Ashburton Deli (Heaven)
I’ve lived in New York, Helsinki, Florence, Tokyo, San Francisco, and Philadelphia and these are not typical interactions (although I am fortunate to have some of that on my close-knit block in south Philly). Again, people know you here, and they look out for one another. I’m sure there are drawbacks to living in a small town. But it means a lot to me to walk outside and see faces I know, to wake at night hearing sheep arguing, and to raise my eyes past the eaves of any roof in town and see the glorious green of Dartmoor.
If you would like to support my ride and the Ashburton Chamber Music Festival, no donation is too small. There is also live tracking of the ride so you can watch how slowly I am crawling up the hills. 9:00 tomorrow morning at the Arts Center; I hope to see you then. If it helps to know, Pip baked a cake…
David Yang, Artistic Director, Ashburton Chamber Music Festival
Leave a Reply