I had lunch the other day with Loni Cleve of WHNT, and she admonished me for neglecting our blog!

On September 15, I premiered Christopher’s wonderful flute concerto. What a fabulous night that was! There was no rest for the weary though, with three more concerts coming up over the next four weeks.

We opened the Pops series on October 6 with Classical Mystery Tour, the nation’s best Beatles tribute band performing with live orchestra. I’ve never seen a symphony audience so ecstatic and rowdy. What fun!

The following Wednesday, the Prieto Quartet performed for an appreciative audience that filled the sanctuary of Nativity, and on Saturday, October 13, Carlos’s father played two concerti with the HSO on a program that included Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.

The orchestra achieved a new level of excellence with Tchaikovsky’s intensely personal masterpiece. Carlos never ran out of things to say in rehearsal as he continued to uncover layer after layer of emotional expression. I had tears in my eyes during the fourth movement.