The orchestra that I play with, The Kensington Philharmonic, has it’s first concert of the season tonight at Chelsea Town Hall in London.  That meant a two hour rehearsal with the soloist yesterday, an afternoon run-through today, and then the concert tonight  at 7.30.  It takes a lot of energy as well as time, but I have been thinking lately how these concerts and being a part of this orchestra is actually more important to me than ever.  I’ve been wondering why that’s so.  After all, I’ve been a part of them for over 17 years – hard to believe, but true.  I’ve always loved playing with them, but honestly, there have been some concerts and honestly, many Monday night rehearsals over the years when I just couldn’t be bothered.  I’ve always gone and I’ve always enjoyed it once I was there, but there were plenty of times when I had to drag myself and my violin out of the house.  But that hasn’t been true at all over the past few months.  Maybe because, as I get busier with my writing life and have less time to myself, I appreciate playing with the orchestra all the more.  But I think it’s more than that.

I’ve come to realize that the only time my head isn’t full of words — be they fiction, poetry, dialogue, emails, interviews, conversations, whatever — is when I’m playing music.  When I am actively playing my violin is the only time my head isn’t overwhelmed with words.  More and more, I find that as much as I need all those words, there are now more and more times when I need to escape from them as well.  Thank God for music, and thanks to my mom for never allowing me to quit violin even after spending years of not practicing!

Tonight’s concert has Wagner’s Flying Dutchman Overture, Sibelius’ 2nd Symphony (which I love), and Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez for Guitar.  Now that is a fantastic piece and I love playing it.  Playing with a guitar soloist, and Milos Karadaglic is terrific, presents all sorts of  demands on an orchestra.  A guitar can only be so loud.  We have to be especially sensitive.  Hopefully it will go well.  Not as well as the excerpt below, alas, but well enough.