“The concert was awesome. The hall was packed and the applaus was so loud, that makes you feel really good!”
Starting in August 2016, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will visit all 28 member states of the European Union in the course of two and a half seasons as part of the ‘RCO meets Europe‘ concert tour. In repertoire, in spirit and in practice this tour will serve to highlight the fundamental ideas and ideals that can hold Europe together. During the RCO meets Europe tour, in each country the orchestra will perform one opening work side by side with a local youth orchestra. On the 9th of september 2016, the third concert of this tour took place in the Netherlands. During the RCO Opening Night, also the inauguration of their chief conductor Daniele Gatti, a part of the Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands (JON) had the honor to play the Egmont Ouverture by Ludwig van Beethoven together with the RCO.
I couldn’t be more exited when I heard that I was selected for this project. I had to play the piccolo part, which made it actually quite scary. Of course, a piccolo can be heard all the time, so it had to be good. After a lot of practice sessions, the moment was finaly there: I could play Side by Side next to Kersten McCall. I was quite nervous on the first rehearsal, but I was quickly reassured. ‘Just play loud’, Kersten told me. After barely half an hour, the rehearsal was already done. The concert was awesome. The hall was packed and the applaus was so loud (…) that makes you feel really good.
You can see my experiences in this video:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j61MpAMwXps[/embedyt]
For a short photo summary, see the website of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.