9: Last evening!

Today we were lucky enough to have the morning to ourselves. Some of us used the opportunity to get in some personal practice, do some work or to have a sleep in. Others went and soaked up what Ayr had to offer – going op-shopping, having brunch and visiting the Ayr nature display (all of the following photos are made entirely out of beetles and butterflies).

Then came 1.30pm which meant our break was over and that it was time to get back into rehearsal! We rehearsed all of the pieces that we were going to perform in tonight’s concert which included working with a young local pianist, Joshua Mann. This was Joshua’s first rehearsal with us where we rehearsed a piece he had been preparing Pride and Prejudice. We were all quite impressed with Joshua’s playing and found that playing with him brought us back to the early days of when we first were fortunate enough to play a solo with an orchestra. Joshua grew with confidence as the rehearsal went on. At the end of our rehearsal Noel, our stage manager, decided to distribute his raffle prize that he won at our concert in Moranbah amongst us all. We all got our share of candles, chocolate and chips!

After rehearsal we went back to our motel to relax for an hour, then get dressed to go have dinner before our concert. Most of us opted for Zambrero but some did go for Subway. Once we all had our dinner we then made our way to the Burdekin Theatre for our concert. The concert went particularly well – the rest morning definitely helped us to regain our energy and put together a spectacular performance. Our soloist, Joshua Mann, after using music in the rehearsal, we were really impressed to see that he had memorised the music for the night. As this was our last evening concert together, after the concert we made sure to take photos with each other and also, to celebrate the great tour that we’d had!