New Year’s Update 2023

Happy New Year everyone!  After a sunny break in Trinidad over Christmas and New Year, I’m so excited to be back on the road! My winter tour started with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and a programme that included two of my favourite pieces: Copland’s 3rd Symphony and the Korngold Violin Concerto with the wonderful Bella Hristova.  These works have been in my life since my teen years, and the opportunity to do them both in one programme was literally a dream come true, especially with the excellent musicians of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra who made me feel incredibly welcome. Happy times! 

After two concerts in Charlotte and lunch with my North Carolina-based extended family (see below), I headed off to Hamburg, Germany for three concerts including Schumann’s 4th Symphony and Darius Milhaud’s African influenced ballet La Creation du Monde, another “desert island” piece from my childhood. Even as jet-lagged as I was, this gig was high energy and full of fun!  

For a start, I had the pleasure of having Elliot Rascher from the renowned Rascher Saxophone Quartet in the Milhaud band, and boy did he knock that beautiful part out of the park.  We also happen to be really good friends, so after rehearsals there were delicious and chatty Poké Bowl dinners (see below) which were so much fun!  On top of all that the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra was a joy to work with – friendly, relaxed and extremely responsive. What a fantastic start to 2023!

After a week off at home, I’ll be on a plane back to the U.S. for a return to a band I love working with – the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, more about which in the next post!