Once "rusty" violinist is loving life with Chichester Symphony Orchestra

SussexWorld

A few years ago, Ana Palmer was a rusty violinist who hadn't played for 30 years.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers and also

00:06Chairman of the Festival of Chichester and it's so lovely every year, right at the heart

00:10of the Festival of Chichester, we have Chichester Symphony Orchestra. Now your concert this

00:15year is in St Paul's Church on Saturday July 5th at 7.30, such an important date within

00:21the festival and it's a lovely programme but before we talk about the programme, lovely

00:25sweet, Anna Palmer. Anna, the rejoining Symphony Orchestra has changed your life, hasn't

00:31it? You described yourself as a rusty violinist four years ago, you came back into the fold

00:37and you are loving being part of the Symphony Orchestra, aren't you? Why is that?

00:41Do you know, I really am, Phil. It's been a huge change in my life. I think prior to that

00:47there was a few things around lockdown that weren't great but I had just decided to pick

00:51up my violin again, having reconnected with some old friends from the orchestra a long

00:56time ago, more than 30 years ago and picking up the violin, it made me remember how much

01:03I loved playing it, even though I wouldn't describe myself as a particularly virtuosic player but

01:09I was serviceable and plucking up the courage to join the orchestra was no mean thing actually

01:15for me to do after all that time. And my very first rehearsal with them, I realised how much

01:20I had forgotten and I very nearly didn't go back.

01:24Wow, that would have been tragic. So what has it given you to have the violin back in

01:29your life?

01:31So much. It's a lot of purpose. I think my day job, I run a business and so I'm pretty

01:37much full-time and I run a house kind of on my own with my grown-up son living with me.

01:42So there wasn't a lot in my free time that gave me purpose but actually having the repertoire,

01:48each new concert to go and practice and learn again, going out on a Tuesday evening to rehearse

01:55with the orchestra and socialise as well, now that we were able to meet again. I think

02:01they had a bit of a break during COVID but certainly the time before the rehearsal, during

02:06the rehearsal break and afterwards and then of course our concerts. I've made so many new

02:10friends and being with people who enjoy the same thing, it fills you with so much purpose

02:15and joy and I've described this to all my friends as the best decision I've made in

02:20the last five years, I think.

02:21Fantastic. And you were saying you've done a number of Festival of Chichester concerts

02:24with the Symphony Orchestra and there's something particular about being part of the festival,

02:28isn't there?

02:29There is. It's a really special thing. I was lucky. I went to the launch event, not this

02:33year, but I attended last year's launch event. So it was lovely to hear Patricia Routledge

02:37and speak at the event. She's our patron. She's a wonderful woman, very, very generous in her

02:43funds to the orchestra and we're lucky to have her attend most of the concerts as well.

02:48So that's fantastic to see her.

02:51And it's a really lovely programme for this year, isn't it?

02:55It is. It's exciting. We normally do a concerto for the summer concert. We haven't gone with

03:00that this year. And the theme, the travel to America happened, I think, with choices of music

03:05that lent themselves to that particular theme. So that's how we came up with that. And I'd

03:11say that the summer concert, the festival concert always seems to have a particularly festive

03:16atmosphere, shall we say. It's lighthearted. We've been very lucky to have beautiful weather

03:21the last three, four years that we've done it. And St. Paul's is a gorgeous place to play.

03:27The way the light falls through the windows just makes it a relaxed and happy feeling. So

03:32we love that concert. It's my favourite of the year.

03:35Lovely. Well, certainly at the Festival of Chichester, we are always thrilled to have

03:39Chichester Symphony Orchestra as part of it. So the concert's Saturday, July the 5th

03:43at St. Paul's Church. Anna, lovely to speak to you. Thank you.

03:48So thank you very much, Phil.

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