Welcome to my website. After what seems like aeons, musical life is finally thriving again. Audiences are returning; instrumentalists and singers (and conductors!) are able to express themselves once more. And yet the isolation and financial turbulence of the pandemic and its associated lockdowns has had a terrible effect on many. We all know musicians, both professional and amateur, who have given up their passion, perhaps never to return to it. Those of us who remain committed to music must do all we can to use our art to inspire and heal, to bring people together (safely!) and to support each other.
And yet many of us have also had the opportunity to reassess the way we work, and the manner in which we balance our creative and personal lives. Administrative meetings now often take place virtually, saving fuel and time. Interactions with audiences, too, have begun to explore the opportunities afforded by digital technology. And many of us have rediscovered other interests which we now pursue alongside our professional art.
I have started saying ‘no’ to some offers of work, something which I never felt able to do before. I love to conduct and to play, but I do not love late-night diversions off the A1, or microwave dinners at 1am. And as my daughter grows up (she’ll be 14 this year) my time at home and with her becomes ever more precious. I’m also keen to set aside time to explore my growing fascination with astronomy, a science which, like music, gives us a sense of purpose and helps us understand our place in the universe. I was very honoured in 2022 to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, and I’m currently exploring ways of bringing my two passions together.
Music remains, for me, the more powerful and versatile artform we have. It comforts me to know that the Cavatina from Beethoven’s 13th quartet is on the golden record on the Voyager spacecraft, now heading out into interstellar space. One day, millenia from now, when humankind has extinguished itself or evolved into something else, someone or something out there may find that record and hear Beethoven explaining what it meant to be human. But here on earth our lives are so transitory. We must fully appreciate each moment, and each other.
