Paul Potts

From Kiev to Zurich

Posted 16th April 2009

After the pleasure of visiting Hungary, it was time to go even further East, this time to Kiev.  Here we were to shoot music videos and TV commercials for Passione.  Here was another place that I had never been to, and it always a pleasure to visit a new city.  When we arrived, Jake and I took a good stroll around the city in the snow, and we were amazed at the beautiful churches, and how hundreds of years ago they were able to build these with just manual labour and manual engineering.

We were here for the purpose of making music videos, and I was prepared for a long day.  We started shooting around 11am and eventually finished shooting sometime around midnight.  We filmed the videos in Kiev’s magnificent Opera House, and I really enjoyed singing on such a wonderful stage in a beautiful building.

From Kiev, we made our way back to Germany to do some press interviews ready for the release of the album in May.  We started off in the beautiful city of Munich where the weather had returned to winter!  From Munich we took the first of two train journeys.  This time up to the Radio Regenbogen Awards in Karlsruhe.  Here, I was awarded the award for Best classical artist of 2008.  It was a fun evening and I got to watch some of my favourite 80’s acts perform.  During the finale, I got to speak to Mark King and the other members of Level 42. I had a great evening, which was followed by a very early start.

After a very short night, Jake and I left for Vienna for more advance interviews.  It was a fine Spring day when we arrived, and after a brief rest, Yvie, my vocal coach arrived in Vienna to work with me for a few hours.  It’s always great to catch up with Yvie, who has a been a great friend and vocal mentor since I was on Britain’s Got Talent., which was where we started to work together. 
From Vienna, we took our second trip by train.  We decided that as the weather was forecast to be good through the Alps, that as we had the day free, that we would take the train to Zurich.  We had last done this journey in September, in the other direction.  The weather then was wet and miserable, but this time to sun was blazing in the sky lighting up the snow covered mountains.  It really brought it home how wonderful nature can be. 

After another day spent doing interviews and photos for the release of Passione here, it was time to head off home to prepare for the next trip. Travelling across Europe, much of it by train has been a real voyage of discovery, and I am thrilled and privileged to be able to do it.

As I write this, I am downunder, as my album Passione has been released here in the last few days.  I missed the launch of this year’s Britain’s Got Talent as I was on a very long journey (more of that another day!)when the first episode went out.  I was away for last year’s series as well so try and catch up with it online when I can.  The first show of this series looks to be very interesting.  I was particularly impressed by a few acts, which reminded me very much of the year I was involved in the show.  First of all, Susan Boyle, who performed one of my favourite Les Miserables songs incredibly in spite of what people may have been expecting, she went out and gave it her all and remained true to herself.  Although not born with dancing feet, I was really impressed with Flawless who were pretty close to their name and incredibly professional; I also thought that the Greek father and son were incredibly good fun, and entertaining.  All three of these acts demonstrated the magic of Britain’s Got Talent.  Great variety, Great fun, and expect the unexpected!  I would like to wish all contestants all the best for this year’s show, and I hope that I will get to meet you later in the year.