Orchestra marks 30th birthday with 90 year-old pianist
mainGimmick? Well, it caught my attention, and yours.
The Zurich Symphony Orchestra has booked Boris Mersson to play Mozart K537 in November. He will be exactly three times its age.
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Generation gaps among music-makers can have thrilling results, can;t they? But Mersson is ‘only’ three time the age of the orchestra. A couple of weeks ago we heard the scandalously under-recognised National Youth Strings Academy playing at St John’s Smith Square under Sir Neville Marriner, who was nearly 70 before any of the players was born, and at 87 is five times their average age. I could write any amount of bullshit about ‘the immediacy of the communication between conductor and players across the generational divide’ but I’ll keep it short: I could not keep back the tears.