Miranda Playfair - Associate Leader
Q. What is your instrument/ position/ job title in the Orchestra?
A. Associate Leader
Q. When did you join the Orchestra?
A. September 23rd 2009 in a roughly half time capacity
Q. What was your earliest musical experience?
A. Trying to impress the giant twins who would come and occasionally visit at weekends. Both played the horn very well aged 10 as they were such big bruisers and already about 6ft tall. I heard a violin on the radio and showed vague interest. Maman and Papa acted immediately and bought me a shocking neon orange Chinese violin aged 7.
Q. If you could play a different instrument, which one would it be?
A. Horn. A beautifully phrased horn melody played by a horn player with a honey sound and imagination is a wonderful thing. It's so noble. Maybe now the viola as it has become more dignified and independent. At its best it reminds me of a wise comforting voice. I also love oboe, clarinet and bassoon.
Q. What would you most like to do if you weren’t a musician?
A. First choice: Architecture. Run a summer retreat for artists of every kind from all over the world (cooks, story tellers, actors, musicians, painters) where they can relax and inspire each other with new experiences. I would design the buildings myself in the mountains of Corsica, a combination of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Bauhaus style nestled into the rocks overlooking the sea. I'd love a bed and breakfast, or to have a shop selling things I design or buy personally on my travels. The options are endless. Any job is wonderful if you put your heart into it. I've just started a festival in Corsica, and anyone interested can contact me!
Q. What’s on your record/CD/MP3 Player/Spotify Playlist right now?
A. I don't listen to classical music very much. Mostly for study, to hear friends or to hear music I don't know. Schubert String Quintet goes on at 3am when I have drunk too much, or Mahler songs. Schubert songs too are a late night favourite. I listen to jazz to relax. Mostly the old boys. Birdsong, too. My friend's Pa records birdsong all over the world. I sometimes listen to it when I cook. I have an obsession with French chansons- Juliette Greco, Yves Montand, Georges Brassens etc. It's so evocative of another era, one that strangely I feel I belong to more than this one.
Q. What is your favourite Royal Liverpool Philharmonic recording?
A. Well I am new to the Orchestra and have yet to hear the recordings through completely. I've already played on a few. When they come on the radio I am stunned at how good they sound. Feedback from friends is astonishingly positive and my best friends are super critical when they listen to music, so I feel proud on behalf of the orchestra.
Q. What is your most memorable moment with the Orchestra so far?
A. The first violins having to do the walk of shame through the orchestra into the producer's recording booth. We all piled in to listen to playbacks of how shockingly untogether we still were in a tricky fortissimo industrial passage. We planned a strategy and nailed it in the next take! A very humbling and bonding experience, and one that made me laugh for months afterwards. Still does.
Q. What do you like to do with your free time outside music?
A. Museums for the art but also the atmosphere and the space. Many museums and concert halls are built by the best architects. The slow walk and quiet calms me. Time stands still and you can imagine yourself melting into the world of the artists. Eating well is hugely important so I spend a large chunk of my fee on good restaurants and food shopping though I am no gourmet snob. I'm a member of three film clubs specialising in foreign and independent films (the French Institute Cinemateque in London, The BFI, and Fact in Liverpool) and also love film documentaries which I devour on long tour bus journeys. I am very visual. I retain what I watch on screen more than when I read about it.
Q. What do you like most about Liverpool?
A. I respect the history of the city. It feels open, honest and totally friendly. The weather is shoddy, but buying a good hat is the solution, or staying indoors. People always seem to be out searching for fun, usually in stilletos and with impressively bare and tanned legs! The young girls in Liverpool do love a flawless tan. And why not. It has personality and pride and does not apologise for it. I also love being in smaller cities. I lived in Bergen and Oslo for years and then in Kuala Lumpur. I feel more of a sense of place and belonging in a smaller community. I will probably retire to a small village eventually with a goat, a designer hen (with fluffy legs) and a donkey, maybe a good man too. For now I live a few tube stops away from Maman and Papa in London after almost twenty years living abroad.
