He was said to have tears in his eyes as he bade farewell to his stellar career. Retirement was the only option, and Julian gave his final live concert in May 2014 at the Forum Theatre, Malvern, with the English Chamber Orchestra. The operation could also have killed him. Surgery was ruled out because it might have left him paralysed, and also without a voice, as surgeons would have needed to go straight through his vocal cords. The problem turned out to be a herniated disc that was pressing on his spinal canal. I really thought I was going to drop the bow.”
“It was the most frightening and horrible experience. “In the middle of a concert I lost all control in my bowing arm,” he told reporters at the time. “It was worth every penny and it came to define my sound”). Julian had been wedded to his 1690 Stradivarius since acquiring it – with the help of a mortgage – in 1983 (“I didn’t choose the cello, it chose me,” he has said. “She won’t want to be left behind, so we’ll tell her much nearer the time.”Īlso missing will be his precious cello. We haven’t even told her we’re going away,” Julian laughs. “We need to focus on performing, so she will be staying at home with family. They married three years later and have a daughter – six-year-old Jasmine Orienta – but she won’t be joining them on Silhouette. Julian met the musician who was to become his fourth wife while touring New Zealand in 2006. It will be fun – and we’ll have some time to ourselves when we’re not performing, so we can go and explore ashore.” It’s very informal and for my turn I will show some clips of me playing, as well as taking questions from the audience. “I know Katherine, Alfie, Ruthie and the others already, and they’re all incredible,” says Julian.“My wife will be playing and I will introduce her. The world-renowned mezzo soprano, tenor and musicians will take it in turns to perform in the Silhouette theatre while the ship sails to Bilbao and back. The neckwear will come in handy when Julian, 66, joins his cellist wife Jiaxin Cheng, as well as Katherine Jenkins, Alfie Boe, Ruthie Henshall and the National Symphony Orchestra, aboard Celebrity Silhouette’s “Bravo! A Cruise of the Performing Arts”, which sets sail from Southampton on May 19. “I’ll put on a tie if I have to,” he smiles. The doyen of British cellists isn’t exactly a fan of dressing up – a requisite of most voyages – but he’s willing to make an exception just this once.
0 kommentar(er)
