Welcome!

I welcome you all to my new website, and to my blog!

To blog or not to blog, this question kept me pondering for quite a while. Should I do this to myself? Should I do this to anyone ?

Then, as I was creating this new site and updating my resumé, I realised that this year is my twentieth anniversary as a concertmaster.  And I´d like to share with you everything I felt as I became aware of this period of time and all it means to me.

Twenty years… Looking back, it feels like time has simply flown, its almost unbelievable… It has been an incredible journey through the depths of musical, emotional and human intensity, through ups and downs, moments of glory and of learning that  can´t be forced into a time scheme. It is about an inner treasure, immeasureable, infinite.

Writing about my musical carreer could be interesting, of course, but in this opening blog I prefer to briefly relate my personal journey  – the development I was priviledged to experience.

How does it feel to become the concert master of a major symphony orchestra at the age of 24? Exhilarating, for the soul, but also in no small measure for the ego… You have proved something to yourself, but also to everyone else, and naturally you are happy and proud of your achievement.

How does it feel, twenty years on, to have become the concertmaster of a comparatively young, up-and-coming symphonic orchestra in Spain?
My soul rejoices, and I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude. Gratitude for being able to contribute some of the experience I have gathered over the years, but also to build upon it further. Gratitude for working in an environment that allows me to fully open my heart to the music, let go of my ego and immerse myself in boundless creativity.

I’ll surely tell you about the road in between these two milestones in other entries. Maybe this blog can become an inspiration to my young colleagues, and for those of my own generation a place for looking back and reflecting, but hopefully also for smiles and hearty chuckles!

(Translation Maja Plüddemann)