wanderingsin

"Athelstan", he tells her. "Pretty sure I'll be the only one."

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Her smile lights up the room. "Oh, you're Sin's artist friend! Oh, I'm so glad you could come. He speaks so highly of your work, and of you as a friend."

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He can't help smiling back.

"Well, I think the same of him. I wouldn't have missed it."

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"Roman Fell," says the well-groomed man in black tie, taking the champagne with a charming smile.

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"Sin's friend?" She smiles brightly. "I'm so glad you could make it. He really is an amazing musician. There aren't many people who can keep up with Aggie as well as he does."

Edited Date: 2016-10-30 12:44 pm (UTC)

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"He really is a wonderful musician." She beams. "And gorgeous! I'm so looking forward to dressing him for the Biennale."

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"I don't suppose you'll tell me what his costume is?" he asks lightly, not really expecting her to say yes. "He won't."

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"Oh no." She tries very hard to look serious rather than thrilled. "I've sworn him to secrecy and threatened to do terrible, terrible things to him if he tells anyone."

"Please, please don't make me kill him, or you."

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Athelstan laughs.

"God forbid. I'll stop pestering him to tell me, then."

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"I am so looking forward to seeing that myself," Dr. Fell says. "Do you have a programme leaflet for the evening?"

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"But seriously, I can't wait for people to see it. I've been working on this thing for months."

"Now, except for the boxes, there's no assigned seating. There's not that many people booked so sit wherever you prefer. The show should start in about ten minutes and there will be canapes and more champagne afterward."

She squeezes his arm. "It's lovely to finally meet you. And please let us know when you're showing. Aggs and I would really love to see your work."

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He nods, still smiling, and squeezes her hand in return.

"I'll make sure you know."

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"I do." She smiles, rummaging around behind a rostrum. "I'm afraid it's not as glossy as we'd like but we spent most of the budget on making the champagne drinkable."

She grins disarmingly and presents him with a home printed, folded program. It doesn't have much on it, the names of the musicians, their areas specialities, and the scholarships or grants they're here on. The rest are mostly cryptic Shakespearean quotes, alluding to something more literary than classical.

Sin Isaurian is listed for both violin and flute.

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She spots another incoming guest and grimaces. "Oh joy. An important person." She manages to make it translate perfectly to privileged pain in the ass. "I have to go schmooze, promise I'll find you later. Us art types have to stick together."

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Dr. Fell sips the champagne again. "You succeeded quite well," he says, smirking as he accepts the flyer. "Whatever did you treat it with?"

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"I'll see you for the canapes", he agrees. "Good luck with the VIPs."

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The stage is set up simply – four chairs in one corner, a table full of percussive instruments – both traditional and non-traditional. Including an aluminium hubcap.

But centre stage is a large folding screen, large enough for several people to hide behind.

Aggie Michaelides steps out on stage as the lights dim, a mirror image of her sister but rather than an elaborately flowing dress, she’s dressed in a tight black body suit.

She bows, smiling warmly. “Good Evening, I’m Aggie Michaelides. I’d like to thank you all for coming to my second year recital. I know I have quite a reputation for unusual performances,” there a knot of derisive muttering from the well dressed students but Aggie goes on unperturbed, “and I hope tonight’s performance won’t disappoint.”

“Tonight, the Disparate Few Quintet will be performing my composition – It’s What’s Underneath That Counts. A musical retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. I grew up loving Shakespeare and believe that, like Shakespeare, music should be experienced rather than just read or listened to. That was the motivation behind, what my lecturers politely refer to as unconventional performance.”

“Now let me introduce you to the Disparate Few. We chose the name because all of us come from different places, both geographically and personally. All of us are scholarship students, able to study at this most ancient and honourable institution because of the generosity of endowments and private donors.”

She rattles of the obliquity thanks and honourable mentions to all of the distinguished guests (most of whom have names matching the grants), some of them rising to take a bow as their due – mostly older ladies in ancestral pearls and white gloves and in the boxes above.

One by one she introduces the Disparate Few – all of whom are dressed in matching black bodysuits that smooth out physical features beyond general body type.

Barrington Smyth-Jones is a tall, broad-shouldered dark-skinned man with bearings of an aristocrat and dreadlocks down to the small of his back.

Ollie Pickering is a lanky blonde South-African with a surfer’s tan, who moves like he’s made entirely out of knees and elbows. He waves vigorously and whistles to someone at the back of the room.

Min-jun Soo is a slightly over-weight Korean girl with a very serious expression who bows when introduced.

Sin Isaurian in introduced last, smiling warmly. He scans the crowd as he takes his bow, making eye contact with both Dr. Fell and Athelstan, to let them know what it means to him that they’re there. The bodysuit makes him look even more androgynous than normal, rounding him out to look like some melding of male and female.

The music begins with the storm, starting slow and building to a violent crescendo as the boat breaks apart. A complex piece but traditional enough. Min-jun on persuasion plays with an intense passion, seeming to really get in to the sound of the storm.

Sinric puts down the violin and steps behind the screen, returning a moment later with a simple white pinafore tied over the body suit. He takes up a piccolo, playing a high, sweet lament. He has clearly been cast as Viola.

As the story goes on, there are more costume changes – as Viola becomes a boy to serve the Duke, Sinric exchanges the piccolo for a regular treble flute, making several theatrical false starts to get the lower notes.

With Barrington playing Duke Orsino and Aggie playing Olivia, they play out the main storyline as a series of increasing complicated duets. Each character complemented by a single piece of brightly coloured costume over the black bodysuit, swapped and traded as the players change character.

It’s a wonderfully visual performance played by a group with obvious chemistry. But more than that – who clearly love what they’re doing. The duel between Sir Toby (played by Ollie) and Sin’s Cesario is played as a duet, darting and chasing each other across the stage, both Ollie and Sin grinning madly as they become entangled – Ollie fingering Sin’s flute as Sin bow’s Ollie’s violin. Min-jun providing appropriate sound effects as they clash.

As finally the siblings are revealed and the lovers untangled, the piece comes to its completion with the five players moving to the edge of the stage to take their bows. For a nervous moment, there is silence before the applause come – some reserved, others rapturous. A pretty mixed response from a predominantly traditional crowd.

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"The application of bribery to the catering team." She answers honestly. "Threats occasionally but mostly bribery. Students aren't suppose to have access to the good stuff for recitals."

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She rolls her eyes and give him a suffering look before plastering on a smile and bouncing over to greet them.

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"You do have your priorities straight," Dr. Fell smiles. "Your music is excellent anyway, so what to do to keep the audience happy, and come back in increased force for the next recital? Glossy programs is not it."

He sips his champagne again.

"If you need some strings pulled in the culture vulture establishment the next time, do ask me."

He offers her his business card.

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Dr. Fell stands first, clapping enthusiastically.

It seems that he thinks they deserve a standing ovation.

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Athelstan is on his feet as well, aiming to encourage the rest of the crowd not to be shy.

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"Handsome and useful." Mags gives him an appreciative look up and down. "As long as you're good to our lovely Sin to boot, you're the complete package."

"But as for music, that's Aggie's territory. I can't hit a note with a bus." She leans in confusingly. "But I do make beautiful things. I hope you'll enjoy the costumes in tonight's performance. I don't want to give anything away but they're all my creations."

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"Oh, lovely!" he says. "I am looking forward to seeing them. Every group of musicians needs a sane person to take care of organisation and design."

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