And the winner is…….

Mozart!I thought that Robert and I did a great job of trying to persuade the audience that they would much rather hear  Zemlinsky or Shostakovich-Alistair must have bribed them on the way in…To be honest I was quite happy to play any of the three quartets but the Zemlinsky quartet was my particular favourite.When Alistair introduced the Mozart quartet with the words “this is simply the finest piece of chamber music ever written” I felt that Robert and I should just concede defeat.Also Alistairs decision to speak last was obviously a tactical one!The Zemlinsky and Shostakovich quartets did get some support(thank you Sylvain!) but Mozart was the clear winner.I would love to do this sort of concert again-this was a bit of an experiment for us but I think it was a great success.

Last nights concert was our final concert at the Peabody auditorium.Tonight we move to the Ocean Centre down the road for an evening of fabulous film music.Thursday night saw the return of Yan Pascal Tortelier to the Florida International Festival.Maestro Tortelier has been coming to Daytona since 1999.It was a great programme with Barry Douglas making his Daytona debut performing Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1.I hope that the audience enjoyed the Tchaikovsky as much as I did.The highlight of the evening(for me anyway) was Daphnis and Chloe Suite No 2.There is something very special about the way that Maestro Tortelier approaches French music.It always seems to me to be beautifully balanced.Gareth Davies exquisite flute playing left us all breathless.Surely this piece must have been written just for him.

Francois-Xavier Roth conducted last nights all Beethoven concert.Beethoven Symphony No 9 was the perfect end to our series of classical concerts at the Peabody auditorium.We have played a lot of Beethoven this year with Bernard Haitink and Sir Colin Davis but I really enjoyed Francois approach.This was the first time that we had performed Beethoven with Francois and his energy is infectious.He is such an exciting conductor and I am really looking forward to many more concerts with him.So its on to the Ocean Centre for something completely different but it promises to be just as enjoyable!

Lightning,lightning,lightning…..

There is a storm here almost every afternoon-I know that this is not particularly interesting but I just needed an excuse to mention lightning.Many thanks to all my friends who alerted me to my spelling mistakes!I cannot spell at the best of times but I was very tired and emotional…..well that is my excuse anyway.

It is hard to believe that the first three LSO concerts have already been and gone.I particularly enjoyed saturday nights concert, conducted by Marin Alsop.The first half was a world premiere of an arrangement of the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.Evelyn Glennie was the soloist in the arrangement by Craig Leon for solo percussion and ensemble.I was not involved in the piece but I did get a chance to listen from backstage and I thought it sounded wonderful.The concert was an all American affair and Appalchian Spring by Copland was the perfect start to the second half.However the highlight of the evening for me was Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue.The soloist was Simon Trpceski and he thrilled the audience and the orchestra with his stunning playing.Chi Yu Mo dazzled us all with his superb clarinet solos.

Last nights concert was something completely different and Daniel Harding made his Florida International Festival debut.Carmine Lauri and Tim Hugh thrilled us with their performance of  Brahms Double Concerto.Simply stunning!The programme also included Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique which we  performed in Japan,China,Taiwan,Malaysia and Spain with Daniel Harding earlier this year.You can read all about it in the far east blog.

The orchestra has a day off today!There are lots of different things to do here and I imagine that many people will spend the day sky-diving,Harley riding or getting involved in other life threatening activities.Or you can just spend the day by the pool or on the golf course.Sadly I have to rehearse for a quartet concert tomorrow night.I may be turning into a workaholic….The other members of the Vuillaume Quartet are Tom Norris,Robert Turner and Alistair Blayden.Tom came up with the idea for this particular concert-the audience gets to decide which work is performed!We are each going to present a quartet,play some extracts from each one and then have a vote.The audience will not know in advance which quartets are being presented.I hope that this does not all go horribly wrong-I really want to play the quartet that I am presenting and I may sulk if it does not get selected!We are unsure about the voting process-this is Florida after all.I am sure that they will demand a recount.It is a shame that the concert only lasts an hour or we could have organised a eurovision style voting ceremony.Another time maybe?Watch this space to see which quartet wins!

its opening night!

Fork Lightening is slicing through the sky on the afternoon of our second day here at the Florida International Festival in Daytona Beach.I hope that we have not brought the great British summer with us!We arrived here on wednesday night after an eventful days travel.The words “Virgin Airlines welcomes the London Sympathy Orchestra” greeted us at our check in desk at Gatwick airport-I wondered if this was a good start to the day.However after a two hour delay we were bound for Orlando.It was all going terribly well until we were greeted upon landing by some spectacular thunder and lightening.This put the baggage ramp out of action so we sat around at baggage reclaim for what seemed like an eternity.Thank heavens Tom Norris had an emergency bag of minstrels in his hand luggage-things may have turned ugly!

The orchestra has been on tour so much this year that it is a real luxury to stay in the same place for twelve days.I packed in such a hurry-I was interested to see what on earth was going to come out of my suitcase.Probably the right shoe of one pair of shoes and the left shoe of another……….

The first LSO concert takes place tonight so we are all looking forward to that.Marin Alsop is conducting Stravinsky Firebird Suite and Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade.Carmine Lauris solos sound absolutely beautiful.Nicolaj Znaider is performing the Mendelssohn violin concerto so it promises to be a wonderful concert.He is one of my favourite violinists so I am particularly looking forward it.

However the first concert LSO mini concert took place last night involving none other than my good self!A great way to beat jet-lag is to organise a stressful concert on the day after you arrive.There is simply no time to think about feeling tired!Gareth Davies,Malcolm Johnston,Rebecca Gilliver,Neil Percy and John Alley were the other players involved and it was a concert featuring music from the Bitish Isles.Gareth also did all the arrangements and I thought that they sounded wonderful.Is there no end to his talents?The concert took place at the Elizabeth Hall at Stetson University which has the most beautiful acoustic.This was however a concert with a difference-we were also reading poems from England,Ireland Scotland and Wales!!Although we perform on stage nearly every day the thought of standing up in front of a hall full of people filled me with absolute horror and I was not the only one.Backstage before the concert began, we were all wandering around reciting poetry.It was all very strange.John Alley had us all in stitches as his impressions of famous actors became more and more ridicuolus.He does a great Lawrence Olivier by the way.

So we agreed that we all just had to go for it and after Malcolms brilliant rendition of “Coming thro’ the Rye” the standard was set.Gareth also read in Welsh and I read in Irish which is something that I have not done for such a long time.I have started to feel quite homesick!Neil Percy excelled on the bodhran-he would not be out of place in any Irish pub.I may be biased but I thought that it was a fantatstic concert and we were all thrilled with the immediate standing ovation at the end.Well deserved I thought!