Morning:
11°c
An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
London faces a wave of bus and Tube strikes that could cause chaos for millions of passengers as unions walkout over pay and conditions
More...
Punk on a podium
By Jessica Hodgson, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 23.12.02
Subversive: Chris Sweeney of punk band Dead Pets
As lead singer in punk band the Dead Pets, Chris Sweeney couldn't read a note of music and couldn't pronounce Wagner, let alone say who the composer was.
But, just four weeks later, severely dyslexic Chris received an ovation after conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
He is the latest candidate to be transformed by Channel 4 series Faking It, in which candidates learn a new skill and try to fool the experts in their chosen field.
Mohican-sporting Chris swapped performing in Leeds pubs for work with leading conductors. He had only a month to fool a panel of judges into believing he was an experienced professional. "I was in the pub when they rang," said Chris, 25. "I was a bit drunk at the time."
His first hurdle was learning to read music. "I didn't do that well at school," he said. "So at first I just saw little black dots. The experts said, 'There's no right way to conduct but there's a wrong way.' I found it incredibly confusing.
"My band plays metal, punk and ska. I only had four weeks before going in front of a live orchestra."
The show's director, Stephen Walker, said Chris was "perfect": "He was rebellious, subversive and wrote some quite political songs. He knew nothing about classical music and when he saw the word Wagner on the back of a cassette he pronounced it 'Waggner'. The idea of him in front of 1,500 people conducting was irresistible."
Respected conductor Nicholas Kraemer, and Richard Dickins, a professor of music at Imperial College, London, had the task of grooming him. After less than three weeks he suffered his worst humiliation with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in Tallinn, and its conductor Paavo Jarvi. "It was a disaster: some people were actually laughing," said Chris.
Then, nursing his wounded pride, he took a call from his girlfriend in England, who told him their relationship was over. "We thought he'd had it," said Mr Walker.
Chris said: "It was really tough. But after a couple of days I snapped out of it." He pulled himself together to conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, with a bravura performance of the overture from Rossini's opera The Italian Girl in Algiers.
• Faking It will be screened on 30 January
Reader views (1)
I use Chris Sweeney's true story as an inspiration to my students. It proves to them that the impossible is possible. I love this Faking It series, and Chris Sweeney's journey from punk rocker to philharmonic orchestra conductor is close to my heart.
I have one question:
What exactly was the final outcome?
How many judges did he fool?
I think two out of three judges singled him out as a novice, although initially two out of three were fooled into thinking that he was a professional. Meaning that one judge initially though that Chris was a pro then changed his mind a minute later. So technically, Chris fooled two out of three judges - at the beginning.
The YouTube 6-minute video ends just before the judges are interviewed, and I don't have access to the full-length documentary. So, what do you say?
- Frankie Kam, Melaka Malaysia
