I have a window seat on the flight back from Cologne. I’m a creature of habit and whilst I don’t mind this seat on a short flight, on a long haul I always end up feeling rather trapped and stuck in my place. Looking out at the wing, which is obscuring my view as we descend...
“Turn the wobble box off gentlemen. You sound positively geriatric.” Sir John Eliot Gardiner, celebrating his 70th birthday is back. This is his way of asking the choir to sing with less vibrato. He may be at an age where most of us would be considering slowing down,...
There was a distinctly end of term feeling in Munich last night. We may not have been playing any carols but the spirit was there, and it wasn't just the Gluhwein from the snow covered Christmas market. The orchestra, as always, has been working incredibly hard and the break...
The orchestra sat in near silence on the train this morning. The tension rising with the outside temperature as we sped through the mountains. I haven't felt this much pressure on a train since Sue Mallet was on a trip and was looking for volunteers for something or other. She...
[gallery] After a very welcome day off where I personally did very little except move from pool to beach, the second free day saw a lot of us whizzing around at high speed. The organisers of the festival had very kindly organised for us to visit the Daytona NASCAR racing track....
After C.S. lewis decorated my back garden last week, Paris seems rather drab. We arrived yesterday to a grey and miserable city, cloaked in a wet blanket of cloud; despite the travel nightmare which was last week in London, I began to long for the crunchy snow again. Still we...
Although I am in Basingstoke today, I shall not be filling you in on backstage gossip as it isn't really a tour. However we travel to Paris on Monday with Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Visit the site for regular blogs. If you are suffering from blog addiction then you might be...
