Tonight was the Philharmonia Orchestra’s memorial concert for Sir Charles Mackerras. I have to say, I’ve rarely been to such an awesome concert. To start with, it was HUGE. A massive programme – 2 intervals – and everything was just perfect. Add to musical perfection the vast numbers of Mackerras family who turned up – Djelibeybi’s sister worked out that there were representatives from every branch of the family there, which is really saying something, including several who had come over from Australia just for the concert. So lovely to see everyone. And great to see Alex (Briger) conduct in a concert hall again – I’ve only seen him once before (conducting Mahler, and actually making him plausible, which in my book is a vast achievement as usually I’m bored witless 5 minutes in) as mostly we see him conducting opera. And he did a fantastic job of Charlie’s Cunning Little Vixen suite, the final scene of the same opera and then an absolutely sparkling rendition of the overture to Pineapple Poll as an encore. A very fitting memorial. Charlie would have loved it.