Nicholas Cox - Clarinet
Q. What is your instrument/ position/ job title in the Orchestra?
A. Section Leader Clarinet
Q. When did you join the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra?
A. January 92
Q. What was your earliest musical experience?
A. Singing in a Church choir
Q. If you could play a different instrument, which one would it be?
A. I wish my mother had nagged me to practise the piano more as a teenager - I'd be a better pianist. My father wanted me to play the violin because it was his instrument and he had three of them in the loft. Otherwise playing the clarinet is hard enough, though I'd like to be able to conduct better. I chose to play the clarinet rather than become a singer... so I guess the human voice.
Q. What would you most like to do if you weren’t a musician?
A. Be a conductor? Win the lottery? Earn some serious money? Who writes these questions anyway? The politics of envy is anathema to most musicians who feel lucky to do what they are doing. None of us enter the orchestral profession thinking we will make a packet. How many people out there would love to be able to make a living out of what they love doing most? Maybe an antique restorer like my late father, winemaker or published poet? Not much money in these either unfortunately. A career diplomat? Don't think I'm diplomatic enough. Possibly a language teacher or a beneficent alien on the first new planet visited by man? An inventor of the first automatic desk tidier? A virtual philosopher?
Q. What’s on your record/CD/MP3 Player/Spotify Playlist right now?
A. Weinberg String Quartets, English Renaissance Polyphony, Ella Fitzgerald, the 12th Man, Bach Cantatas.
Q. What is your most memorable moment with the Orchestra so far?
A. The next concert.
Q. What do you like to do with your free time outside music?
A. Time with family.
