When, where and what did you play the first time with the English Concert?
2006. I can’t remember the exact programme, but I do remember playing a lot of CPE Bach symphonies that year.
What has been your most memorable TEC concert and why?
So many concerts have been memorable, but a recent standout was the Mozart programme we performed with Laurence Cummings at Kloster Eberbach. There were hundreds of swallows nesting under the castle eaves, and as the concert began the rather vocal swallows were still gently swooping and chirping around the cloister, almost in competition with the music. I wasn’t sure what to listen to; nature or Mozart.
What’s one of your favourite pieces of music and why?
I like pretty much all passacaglias. And almost anything in G minor.
Is there anything about you that would surprise people?
I’m quite enthusiastic about fermenting vegetables at the moment. It’s definitely not secret though; in fact I think the orchestra pit of Buxton Opera House will never smell the same after a particularly excitable batch of kimchi exploded all over the floor during our run of Tamerlano a few years ago.
