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14. Other musicians

Paula Robison, the ideal flautist and delightful raconteur (in Poulenc's Babar) is the subject of my interview, to be published here early in 2002.

Oboist Katherine Needleman also deserves an honorary mention for her beautiful playing in Mozart's Quartet K370 and her superbly classical Bach Sonata.

Finally, that very special singer Randall Scarlata. A concert artist surely emerging from a line of twentieth century greats like Fischer-Dieskau, Bernac, Souzay, Warren, Merrill, Milnes, Hampson as a real interpreter of the Lied, Chansons, Ballads, and so on. A stylist, whether in Beethoven and Schubert Lieder, Schumann's Dichterliebe, J S Bach, Chausson or Barber, his stage craft and diction never failed to impress.

Indeed, as I look back in my imagination to all those pleasurable events I see their smiling faces all around me, and that includes the charming young ladies in their grey uniforms who made sure I had the best available seat in the house. That precious mix of conviviality with a strong sense of conscientious duty and politeness made it succeed on the highest level of excellence. This is what Spoleto and the Festival is really about.