Final concert in Milan

Friday night's concert in Milan ended the MSO's European tour in a bang with much warm applause from the audience and broad smiles from the MSO musicians. There was excitement at finishing the tour but not without a bittersweet thought that an extraordinary experience was coming to a close. But what a way to go out. The concert was also attended by the City of Melbourne delegation after a week of Melbourne a Milano celebrations. Fitting that one of Melbourne's greatest icons, the MSO brought it to a close.
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Some concert reviews

Agence France Press (Paris)
'the Australian orchestra impressed for its precision of attacks of the winds and the dynamics of the percussion...But above all with Stravinsky's Rite of Spring the MSO was able to prove the cohesion of its sections and its sense of rhythm'

El Periodico Mediterraneo (Castellon)
'Excellence, vesatility and perfection unted together on the stage.'

Heraldo de Aragon (Zaragoza)
'Oleg Caetani achieved the objective [of the music] of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony effectively, with a lot of expression and moments of excellence. Long applause followed.'

Diario de Noticias (Pamplona)
'Caetani conducted from memory and took the podium in the manner taht was reminiscent of the old masters. His conducting was confident and emphatic and not overly exaggerated in gesture, although very eloquent.'

'The relationship between the lower strings of the orchestra and the soloist [Repin] was very beautiful with delicate soft playing in the second movement [Sibelius Violin Concerto] and opening up with an explosion of strings in the theme of the third movement.'

Flight to Milan

One of the funniest moments on tour was the flight between Berlin and Milan. In a comedy sketch worth its Monty Python weight in gold, the Chief Flight Stewart proclaimed over the loudspeaker that 'I am the boss, the big big boss and Chief of this aircraft', much to the amusement of our Chief Conductor, the musicians and staff on board. He has us all in stitches as he then proceeded to introduce the flight staff by name and hair colour, throwing in a blonde joke or two along the way. Thanks go to all the crew for looking after us on the flight.
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Calling Dr Hook!

Thank goodness for Dr Hook! The sniffles started in Spain and then spread through a section of the orchestra and staff. Travelling in close proximity and with the relentless touring schedule, it takes one bug and then it starts. Fortunately no-one has been stricken with flu or anything more serious. So far we have only needed to source a local player when we were in Madrid to cover for one of our musicians. The Orch management team did a fantastic job to find someone at short notice.

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Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart...

Last night's concert in the Berlin Konzerthaus was enthusiastically received by the audience. Some German audience members commented to me on the warm, dark sound of the MSO strings, even suggesting the sound they created might be the envy of some of their own orchestras! After the high of the Paris concert, I feared there might be a plateau in the performance energy but the band once again put on a brilliant show, inspired by their surroundings and the reaction of the audience. The hall was absolutely gorgeous with paintings on the walls and ceiling plus marble busts of composers (Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart to name but a few) around the walls of the auditorium. One wonders what they might think of the MSO concert! If only they could talk...

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