London's Barbican Centre was sold out for the Minnesota Orchestra's concert there on Tuesday night, the opening show in an 8-city European tour.
Guest soloist Joshua Bell, who is touring with Osmo Vänskä and the orchestra, knocked over a large BBC microphone "tree" during rehearsal. The equipment fell off the Barbican's stage into the front row, but no damage was done.
Bell played the Barber Violin Concerto, then offered an encore, "Souvenir d'Amerique," by Henri Vieuxtemps, which turns the "Yankee Doodle Dandy" tune into high-speed bit of virtuosity. The applause sounded thunderous in the Wednesday afternoon rebroadcast of the concert on BBC Radio 3, which also featured interviews with Vänskä and Bell.
The orchestra musicians left England for Germany, where they were to play the famed Philharmonie in Berlin on Wednesday night. Other German cities on the itinerary are Cologne, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart and Frankfurt. The tour ends March 5 in Vienna, Austria.
CLAUDE PECK
