RPO Blog

by Peter Graham (Tutti Second Violin)

On paper, April appeared to be a familiar looking month for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a variety of concerts in many of our regular haunts: Cadogan Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, Hull City Hall, The Hawth Crawley and the Royal & Derngate theatre Northampton with long-standing established conductors such as Thomas Dausgaard, Hilary Davan Wetton and Alan Buribayev. However, on closer inspection, something unusual caught my eye which turned out to be the most goosebump-enducing patch of work. It was the great honour of accompanying the finalists of the Yehudi Menuhin violin competition in the beautiful Victoria Hall, Geneva.

by Fraser Gordon (Principal Contrabassoon)

It’s quite tricky to not feel smug about a flight to Florida on a cold January day, something we at the RPO are lucky to experience every couple of years. But how to pack for a three week trip which starts with warm weather (Florida), goes cold for a few days (New York), then gets even colder (Indiana), and ends up warm again (California)?

by Matthew Knight (sub-principal trombone)

As the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra spends a sunny bank holiday weekend stuck inside, recording in the artificial light of the famous Abbey Road studio 1, it seems a good time to reflect on the strangeness of a musician’s life. No nine-to-five, or Monday-to-Friday for us, no fixed place of work, in fact no ‘normal’ at all. Life in one of world’s busiest and most musically-diverse orchestras is different every single day. It takes us from the recording studios and concert halls of our London home, to the far-flung regions of the UK and the most prestigious venues around the world, as we perform for over 300,000 people every year.