From March 25-30 David joined the Royal Scottish National Orchestra brass section for their performances of Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben. Here's his blog about the experience:

"Last month I had the great pleasure of visiting Glasgow to work with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. I was Principal Euphonium of CWS Glasgow Band from 2000 - 2002 so had previously spent quite a bit of time up in Scotland and have fond memories of the city and the people. It was great to go back, and even better to play as part of the brass section of such a fine orchestra performing Strauss' Ein Heldenleben - one of the few works in the orchestral repertoire with a euphonium part!

What an amazing experience... I didn't have much to do, but what there was seemed quite important, or at least it did to me! Despite my preparation, which included borrowing a short score from the library and playing along with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil (CD recording!), in the first rehearsal I definitely struggled to keep track of where I was amongst the hundreds of bars rest! For me it was also strange to be so far away from the conductor. If I'm not sat down on the conductor's right, I'm usually stood next to him, so to be a decent pitching wedge distance away required me to wear my driving specs to see what was going on!

Playing for conductor Peter Oundjian, and performing alongside such fantastic musicians was a genuine pleasure though. I enjoyed every moment of the three concerts in Dundee's Caird Hall, Edinburgh's Usher Hall and Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, and remain very grateful to principal tubist John Whitener and principal trombonist Dávur Juul Magnussen for looking after me, and introducing me to Glasgow's Grosvenor Casino!"

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