I'm so excited I can hardly sit still.
Why ?
Because on Saturday 6th November, in less than a week's time I'll be at Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, attending a music-focused TEDx conference with talks and performances by Imogen Heap, Thomas Dolby, Tim Exile, William Orbit, Martyn Ware and others, on some of my favourite musical subjects:
And a ticket for the entire day costs only £20 !
By the way, just in case you haven't come across TED Talks already, check out the video above first - it does a great job of explaining the concept, as well as being essential viewing in it's own right.
But wait - TEDx ? What does the "x" stand for ? A TEDx conference is the same thing as the main TED conferences, but smaller, local and independently organised. If you think that means it's in any way a poor relation though, you couldn't be more wrong - just look at that line-up !
I'm delighted by the choice of venue, too. I grew up in Suffolk, and some of the best musical experiences of my life 'till then were when my Youth Orchestra played in the fantastic concert hall at Snape. The acoustic is arguably the best in Europe, and it's a truly inspirational place to perform.
(The TEDx concert is not in the main concert hall itself unfortunately, but in a recently-developed new rehearsal/lecture hall next door. Luckily this is a great space too, and has the advantage of being smaller and even more intimate.)
Added to which Snape is a simply stunningly beautiful location in it's own right - so much so that I'm not sure what I'm looking forward to most - the talks themselves or milling around in between talking to all the cool people who are attending ! And in true TED tradition, maybe even meeting some of the speakers themselves.
Tickets are still available - to get yours, click here.
And if you're still not convinced, check out a few more fantastic musical TED talks:
David Byrne - How architecture helps music evolve
Benjamin Zander - Music and Passion
Imogen Heap performs 'Wait It Out'
Robert Gupta - Music is medicine, music is sanity
What are you waiting for ? Come !
Edit to add - the day was a great as I'd hoped - there's a review of it here, including video and audio extracts if you'd like to read more.
