From Wednesday 19 to Wednesday 26 January the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra took up residence in Orlando's Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts as part of the celebrations surrounding the opening of the new Steinmetz Hall.
Second Violin Peter Graham recounts the first week of the RPO's tour to the USA as the players visited concert halls along the coast of California. Stay tuned for parts two and three in the coming weeks!
Upon arriving at Heathrow on the morning of January 10th, I definitely felt a strong sense of familiarity and excitement, tinged with a certain amount of trepidation about spending 3 weeks in the USA in the midst of a pandemic. The fact that the tour could only be confirmed at the very last minute was testament to the extreme complications currently facing any orchestra hoping to travel abroad… will there be an audience? Will the venues even be open?
Composer Dani Howard is a shining light of contemporary orchestral music in the UK. Her music has been performed at home and abroad by the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and her recent Trombone Concerto, premiered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, was received with great acclaim as "an instant classic" (The Times).
Last week the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra touched down in California to begin our tour in the USA with our Music Director, Vasily Petrenko.
The first week of our January tour featured pianist Olga Kern and music by Britten, Elgar and Grieg, before we flew over to Florida for our residency in Orlando’s Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts from 19 – 26 January. Concerts on the East Coast are to follow in the last week of the month, topped off with a concert in New York's Carnegie Hall on 31 January, with this performance being given in honour of Lilia Bloom.
