Sign O' The Times

Amount of creative activity achieved in last 24 hours: 2
Level of conviction in own genius: 7
Reading / Listening: 'The Piano Tuner' by Daniel Mason / my composition on Sibelius, over and over
Hair day: It's too early in the morning to say

juice had a marvellously successful concert last week in our most prestigious gig yet, as part of the Park Lane Group series at the Purcell Room. Finally, I've made the South Bank! We shared it, rather oddly, with a 'cellist whose programme included Shostakovich, whilst we performed our brazenly contemporary mix with nothing written earlier than 1996, including a piece of mine. We had a sizeable and supportive crowd and delivered almost everything entirely from memory, which means that while I appeared the epitome of easy poise, inside my brain was imploding... Two days later we had our first British national press, with The Guardian finding us too 'joky' but incredible virtuosos and The Times considering us the stars of the first night, with 'big smiles, a delightful manner' (ah, but you didn't know about the brain-melting), fabulous technical skills and we proved, they said, 'as tangy as their moniker'. Ho ho. Knew our name would come in handy for a choice quote eventually....

Now we're taking a wee break as performers so that Anna can sprout forth with child. She hasn't got long, though: in 6 weeks we're performing a live soundtrack to a 1916 silent comedy at the NFT! Hurrah!