Ahhhhh.... my first modern symphony orchestra job in about two decades! Of course, I've been a professional musician in all that time, just as a specialist in Early Music and not in the symphony orchestra stuff.

Thankfully, I'm starting with something not too nasty on the fingers, a park concert in the great outdoors with an Australian singer songwriter called Lior. Well, apparently he had a bit of a moment in the Sun a few years ago... and there were definitely people in the extended family that knew of him. Unfortunately, seeing I don't really follow that sort of music (I'm more a punk/ska guy...), I didn't really know his name... but apparently he had also had one of his songs translated and covered by a Dutch singer, so I might have heard his music in the background or on the radio at some point in the near past.

Anyway, in the evening rehearsal... I had quite enjoyed playing in a large group section again, and the principal violinist is really good as well! I'm looking forward to doing more concerts with the symphony again, but it does seem quite strange to play with the orchestra after 20 years away. There are quite a few familiar faces, and quite a few new ones... but the biggest thing for me is the fact that I'm no longer the kid of the orchestra... but a returning one with a few more years of experience under my belt!

We had a pretty nice afternoon doing a sound check and a final run through of the 15 or songs that were being done for the concert. I'll be returning back later in the day with my family... it will be a nice chance to have a little picnic before the Sun goes down and the concert starts. It is also a nice chance for my wife to meet some of her friends that she had also studied with that are also playing in the orchestra... again, it has been over two decades since she we have last seen them... and now everyone has partners and families to show off... and lots of news and life to catch up on!

I'm pretty thankful that the strings were set up behind the winds... as the Sun went down during the rehearsal, the front parts of the stage were starting to see some direct sunlight, which is decidedly uncomfortable for the players, and quite bad for the instruments...

I did get distracted at one point by a large group of bats that make their home here... mostly, they were just hanging around quietly sleeping. But when the band and orchestra started making a lot of noise, I think that they weren't quite so happy at being rudely awakened and they started doing some loud screeching of their own! It was mostly the bats in the front rows of trees... the ones nearer to the back were still undisturbed and still hanging and sleeping. Thankfully, the ones that were awoken didn't decide to do much more than make noise... no giant flock of bats attacking the stage!

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