Last week’s concert by the Liverpool Phil with Vasily Petrenko was number 54 in the season and the 3rd for me as the band seem to be playing every two years, though Vasily has also put in a second appearance this year with the National Youth Orchestra. This year’s gig featured their second performance of the new work by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies alongside Delius’ Violin Concerto, featuring Tasmin Little,  and Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10 and it was the final piece that saw the whole hall go mad at the end and I even saw one man in the front stalls jumping up and down with his hands in the air shouting for more! It was an incredible reaction and some of the reviews coming through are echoing that man in the stalls. After the gig, as you might expect, we all caught last orders in the nearest pub were I met a student who wanted to know if I was with an orchestra (the instrument cases are a giveaway) as it was rare to see his local so busy! When I answered him yes and commented on the fact that surely it should be this busy every night during prom season, he replied ‘No, are they a northern orchestra?’. Priceless and lucky for me that I fell in with the right band!

Vasily Petrenko and the band in reahearsals

The Phil rehearse

Vasily Petrenko and the band in reahearsals

BBC Proms with The Phil and Tasmin Little

The Phil at The Proms

BBC Proms

The Phil at The BBC Proms

Vasily Petrenko conducts the Phil

The Albert Hall