Miranda Dale's introduction to the world of the "Sensational Seconds"

Miranda Dale’s introduction to the world of the “Sensational Seconds”

We are Britten Sinfonia’s Second Violins! Here we all are at our BBC Prom in September 2018:

…but how do we look so happy and healthy? Part of our happiness comes from spending so much time together – it’s essential for that blended sound…

Here we are on a canal cruise to celebrate my birthday:

And of course, we keep very happy with our extreme love of cake… we celebrated Suzanne’s birthday in Bilbao – cake brought from home and thawed out on the voyage!

And the source of our health with all this cake and celebration? Our secret comes in the form of running…

Here we have Bridget and Nicola stretching at Saffron Hall – Bridget actually represented GB in the World Masters Championships Marathon in Rimini ‘07 (the team won Gold)!
It’s a great antidote to touring – here are your Second Violins catching a quick run in Rome before their Sistine Chapel debut…

In fact one of the first questions asked about touring is “do you get chance to look around?” For many in the orchestra the answer would be “no”, but we try to don our running kit when we first get there and head out; often we can scout out a good place to eat later…

Eg. on our latest trip to New York, Anna and Marcus and I took in a loop of the reservoir, Central Park whilst scouting out…breakfast!

Sometimes we get to see the sunrise before rehearsals, for example our performance at the Musika-Música festival in Bilbao…

…and it gives us a chance to fit in those sight seeing moments which otherwise we would miss, eg. the New York High Line with Marcus and Anna on the day of our Lincoln Center concert (MacMillan’s Stabat Mater with The Sixteen).

And our only chance to see anything of Shanghai on our recent tour… here’s Marcus and me at The Bund

I feel so lucky to be the Principal of a section so interested in music, sport and fun and I hope you enjoyed a small insight into the world of Britten Sinfonia’s “Sensational Seconds“.

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