THE JOHN WILSON ORCHESTRA

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Berlin, September 2016 – John Wilson, John Mills, Mike Lovatt, Matt Skelton

Somewhere over the Rainbow, Singing in the Rain, The Man I Love… call me sentimental, but I just LOVE the music from the classic MGM musicals! Berliners were in for a treat in the Philharmonie as John Wilson brought his orchestra over from London to celebrate this movie music at the Musikfest. It was a huge success and the standing ovation after the concert went on and on!

I had a wonderful day with John and the orchestra – the orchestra is made up of some of the top players in London and I knew lots of them so it was a nice reunion.

In fact, my orchestra flew back that morning from London after playing at the annual BBC Proms and the John Wilson Orchestra happened to be on the same plane so there was lots of loud talking and laughing going on for the whole flight.

And with so many musicians on board and so many instruments, there was quite a fight for the overhead bins!

I am now a total John Wilson Orchestra fan – as is my “Boss” at the Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle. (have a look at the outtakes to see what he thinks)

Thanks to John for being so welcoming and to the inimitable Tom Croxon, the orchestra manager, who made this programme possible. Just one more thing to say: John, if you ever need an extra horn… I volunteer!