As any of you who were at our Roundhouse show last week will no doubt be aware, towards the end of the concert we had a rather unusual hiccup. As Sir Mark Elder introduced the last movement of Berlioz’s Romeo & Juliet he realised that one section of the orchestra, the trombones and trumpets, were conspicuous by their absence. Despite a quick search for them backstage Sir Mark, helped by Orchestra CEO Stephen Carpenter, was unable to find the missing players.
Returning to the stage, Sir Mark, aided by the appearance of an audience member with a particularly ‘strong’ look, turned this to comic advantage and had some press reviewers wondering whether a second career in stand-up comedy might beckon for him. In true Night Shift spirit we decided to plough on, and the evening was finished with a spirited final movement, minus trumpets and trombones.
Obviously, jokes aside, this was all more than a little embarrassing for us, and is, we would like to assure you, a very rare, in fact unprecedented, occurrence. However, we are all human, and it seems that the schedule for the evening hadn’t quite been understood by everyone, hence sections of our brass thinking that home time was a lot earlier than it actually was.
Apologies to all who were there, and who have since watched via the live stream. You can be confident however that you witnessed what we hope will be a unique, one-off event…and one which unleashed Sir Mark’s comic potential.
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