This week, I took part in the National Youth Orchestra's Easter course. Even though it was shorter than planned and completely online, due to the pandemic, I had a great time and am looking forward to the summer residential course!

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I was very surprised and glad on the first day of the course, when I was told I am playing the solo cello part in Herbert Howell's Concerto for String Orchestra. I had only listened to this piece once or twice before we were told NYSO was playing it, and oh my, what a piece! 

It is full of unexpected harmonic twists and turns, and I am for sure practicing a lot of the odd rhythms with a very slow metronome...

If you are curious you can listen to the slow movement of the Concerto here.

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All in all, I am very excited to play with the full orchestra in July - and to work on the rest of the repertoire. Kalinnikov's Serenade for Strings is nothing short of breathtaking, Schnittke's MozArt a la Haydn promises to be a very fun, immersive and playful experience, and what can I say about Bach's Brandenburg Concerto n. 3 that has not been said before? In addition to all this, there is rumours that we may be playing an arrangement of the ouverture to Rossini's William Tell, which besides being iconic, contains one of the most beautiful orchestral cello solos ever written.