Showtime for Royal Opera

However, at an intimate reception given in the Kapok Hotel on Wednesday, orchestra members Philip Harmer and Andrew Stowell said they were honoured to be asked to come to Trinidad to premiere Dominique’s work here and were in raptures over that morning’s drive to Maracas Bay. It seems if anyone had told them of our dramatic mountain scenery and views along the North Coast, they hadn’t realised how truly spectacular is that scenic drive.

Perhaps our visitors appreciated a morning in Maracas all the more after enduring the rigours of 14 hours’ travelling from home to Heathrow, where they spent some time persuading Bee Wee to allow them to carry their precious instruments in the cabin instead of subjecting them to the dangers of the hold and sub-zero temperatures.

However, not all the Ensemble was able to enjoy Maracas. My photograph of the group was taken before the arrival of Nick Barr, who plays the viola and two more members of the Chamber Ensemble, “Peter” and “Chris”, (I learned no more than their first names and that one was the first violinist) who were en route for the Kapok from Piarco.