The gala evening proved to be a spectacular occasion with performances from the world's best-selling classical artist, Andrea Bocelli who was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award, as well as from Britain's Russell Watson, recently knocked from the number one spot by The Planets. Other performers included the OperaBabes, first discovered busking in Covent Garden a year ago, who will be singing for the World Cup finals in a few weeks, and the young violinist, Chloe Hanslip.
The Planets performed a specially arranged piece for the show from their album. The complement of radio and in-ear systems from Hand Held comprised four Shure UHF guitar systems and four Shure UHF instrument systems with specialist hand-made microphone capsules from Accusound, plus six Shure PSM 600 and two Shure P6HW hard-wire in-ear systems. Hand Held also supplied each musician with custom ear-pieces as part of the monitoring system. Hand Held's Nick Bruce-Smith commented: "The system we supplied for the Classical Brits is more or less the standard system used by the band for all of their shows, and will be used in their forthcoming appearance at the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations at Party at the Palace. What's unusual about it from our point of view is the sheer amount of radio gear in use. The Planets are very definitely part of the new generation of young classical musicians who are willing to embrace technology and work with it to give their acts a more contemporary feel. Five or six years ago one would not have dreamed of strapping a radio mic onto a Stradivarius - in fact purists may still object, but these days it's becoming more and more accepted within the classical environment."
(Ruth Rossington)
