We left London on a bright and beautiful 58° afternoon filled with glorious sunshine. The train took us past fields of green and immaculate row houses with lace curtains framed by window boxes amazingly splashed with blooming yellow daffodils, purple hyacinth and fragile pink primroses. This February 22 in England is truly a "breath of spring!"

Along the way, we traveled through horse country with hedgerow fencing and an occasional golf course dotting the landscape. There were also several industrial parks sporting Oracle and Microsoft offices - backing up the claim that this area is England's answer to Silicon Valley.

Reading's performance hall is called The Hexagon and it is about a six block walk from the railroad station. The Hexagon is a model multi-purpose entertainment center. In typical European fashion, the seats are on all sides of this hexagon shaped hall - including above and behind the orchestra stage. A well-dressed lively audience (near capacity of 1500 people) settled down in the red upholstered seats in the contemporary hall with its bright chinese red rubbed wood paneling.

During this 5th and last performance in the UK, Eiji Oue, violinist Gil Shaham, and violist Nobuko Imai garnered "foot stomping" applause for their beatifully played Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante.

At intermission, several ushers dressed in red blazers and navy ties came strolling up the aisles selling little ice-cream "dixie cups" complete with the flat paddle spoons. A Minnesota Orchestra spouse remarked, "This is their version of Wally the Beerman!"

I talked with several people in the lobby who are with 3M, sponsor of the Orchestra's european tour and also with Honeywell representatives who sponsored this evening's concert. Everyone was thrilled with the performance and one woman especially remarked about the stunning sound and overall excellence of the Orchestra - as fine as any European orchestra she's ever heard.

The concert ended with rousing applause, more foot stomping - in the European manner, and two moving encores. Eiji Oue literally "danced" his way through the first - Bernstein's A Musical Toast and in a gesture to the English audience, the conclusion was Elgar's Nimrod, Enigma Variations. This literally brought tears to the eyes of many of the Brits.

What a night! What an audience! From the 20 or so young high school students in the second row to some of the musicians I talked to later - this tour is indeed a happening. Manny Laureano, Principal Trumpet, expressed how much it means to the musicians to have these marvelous audiences embrace and acclaim the Minnesota Orchestra endorsing its prestige as a world class symphony.

Now it's off to Paris - with the next concert in two days at the Theatre des Champs Elysee.