Email response from the Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain office regarding line up questions :-
You have basically got the ‘first team' line up correct. Currently George is on a sabbatical so Ben has joined the line up and is touring with us full time.
Hester is most definitely still with the band full time, but has a young daughter and so is not always able to come on the long international tours. This was the case on the last US tour and so Ewan joined us. We filmed the opening show in NYC and recently posted some clips on Youtube, and so it does look like Hester is touring less than she used to, however this is not the case.
We do have a number of deps that step in when a member of the band is not able to do a particular tour due to family commitments or medical issues. They are primarily Dave Bowie when Jonty is unable to tour and Ewan Wardop or Clara Sanabras when one of the other members is not available.
In addition to our regular touring we sometimes take on commissions for specific projects. These projects require a large time commitment to develop the show and rehearse it. This commitment is in addition to our usual busy tour schedule and so, depending on personal circumstance, some members of the orchestra are unable to commit to the projects. An example of this is our upcoming show “When This Lousy War is Over”. Dave and Richie were unable to commit and so Nick Browning stepped in.
We do not work to a rota system of players as we try to build in downtime so the band can all have time to recover from a tour before hitting the road again. In addition by having a pool of extremely talented deps that understand the vibe of the orchestra and are able to just join in where needed, as well as the regular players that know each others parts so well that they can cover for each other musically, the musicians have the freedom to be able to not tour if they think they need a break. This is a system that has developed over the last 33 years and we have found that it works as it allows individuals to do what they think is best for their own welfare without the pressure of always having to tour.
I hope that this answers you questions
Best wishes
Jodi
Jodi Cartwright
Manager