I had an enchanting evening yesterday watching Alex perform with the CBSO Youth Orchestra … Richard’s been planning the evening for a while hoping that it would cheer me up or take my mind off things – I haven’t really been out since dad passed away so I wasn’t sure whether I’d really be able to enjoy it or whether I’d end up feeling quite distant and removed from it all. Fortunately it really was an amazing evening, I think it did me good to get out.

Alex was obviously playing so Richard, (the delightful) Moona and myself were watching intently and taking more than just a few (embarrassing?) pictures of our little prima-donna 😉 The orchestra played three pieces:

• Britten Four Sea Interludes (from Peter Grimes)

• Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1

• Bartok Concerto for Orchestra

I really enjoyed the cello Concerto which was led by Guy Johnston who was, in a word, amazing!. At the interval Alex popped out for drinks with the rest of us and mentioned that Guy wasn’t just a great musician, but by all accounts he seems to be a wonderful, and very humble individual who earned the respect of the youth orchestra by actually thanking them for their efforts and for giving him the opportunity to play with them – which very few soloists ever bother to do.

Anyway here’s a few snaps from the evening:

The CBSO Youth Orchestra will be performing again over the coming year, I thoroughly recommend them to anyone who enjoys listening to classical music performed by a very talented group of musicians.