Like a pro

Katie was incredibly delighted to be offered the inaugural opportunity of a student spot at the start of a professional chamber music festival concert. When she was 6, she sat in the closing night of their very first festival, and was totally enchanted by the whole occasion. We made some wonderful friends in the following five years. We made genuinely (musical) life changing friends.... Through them we made contacts who instigated a huge grant towards Ferdy, I got involved as core team and safeguarding lead, we discovered her gorgeous now piano mentor/big events accompanist.... nd today, they got to play together live in a performance for the very first time.

8.15 she arrived for rehearsal.... 9 hours after arriving home. Both her and L were sleepy to start but it was going OK. But half way through, B surprised her and stopped in on the rehearsal. It gave Katie the lift she needed and it all fell in to place. She found her performance sparkles.

I took her home to get changed and chill out for half an hour. Except we discovered her go-to daytime concert dress no longer fits. After 4 years! We were both a bit gutted and the chilled out time turned in to "argh find new clothes"! Thankfully, we both agreed she would wear blacks with added sparkle so we dragged some things out of the still packed belongings from school and found the very successful dress I made her for the school concert. We switched the bow for a gorgeous sparkly belt I had ordered. We were sorted!

Katie was the opening number to the concert. She played Elgar's Romance in D Minor. They were beautiful. It was her first public solo in 18 months. I could hear tiny touches of nervous, but the audience were absolutely delighted by her. R&L, directors of the festival were thrilled. She milked the beautiful acoustics that this venue offered and she danced with her bassoon. Then at the end she was surprised to be presented with her very first on stage performance flowers. A couple of extras from the morning! 

Its been a busy festival day for me. We nipped to get her some lunch and changed before going back to a rehearsal and to set an afternoon event. She was flagging so I took her home for a bit. Only she fell asleep. I woke her up and offered the choice of staying or coming. She chose to stay but text me a bit later to say she'd woken up and forgotten where she was or where I was! I was back not long after and we made tea. I had a quick festival job to do but we weren't needed as long as expected so we went back home for an hour. Once the admissions were done for the final concert (of a wonderful, wonderful festival) and the first piece had started, we made a quiet exit. As we closed the doors to the festival, the town centre erupted at the first goal of the football! 

She's on her last legs today. I was supposed to be off doing some jobs for the day tomorrow but my friends who were watching Katie are sick so I'm not going. But I have to admit, she is relieved at the opportunity of some time in pjs at home.