"Trust me, when thrown into the deep end, you learn the fastest!"

I started to work as a PR assistant at the Limburg Symphony Orchestra (now Philharmonie Zuidnederland) in 1992.

When Shlomo Mintz was appointed guest conductor and soloist in 1994, it offered the orchestra the opportunity to hire me full-time via a shortcut. So it was decided that I would be his personal assistant.

"I Capricci" of a Star and his Entourage

I will never forget the first meeting with this artist. Looking very eccentric - a bunch of wild curls and a pair of big red glasses - he arrived with a bodyguard, or at least that's what the guy looked like, and a red sports car, which he was used to parking everywhere, with the result that after our first meeting, the car was behind a closed gate. So I had my first assignment to call a contact at the local bank, calm her down, and ask gently if she could open the gate for ten minutes, and yes, I am so sorry, but you know this is our guest star from abroad, he doesn't know Dutch rules for parking, etc, etc.

My baptism of fire

Our first meeting introduced him to the management and me as a personal assistant. Mintz used to speak softly and slowly, habitually putting tension on the most ordinary sentence so that everyone hung on his every word and would believe they had just heard a very important message.

I immediately got an order from the Maestro; could you contact my manager in Paris and plan my next travels?

Back then, you would pick up the phone to talk to someone, and it was my baptism of fire right away.

The lady on the other end of the line immediately found a reason to intimidate and burn me down completely. After a heated "?a ne va pas" monologue of ten minutes on her part, the phone was hung up, and she left me puzzled and stunned with no answers to my questions, a red ear, and a phrase in my head, "What's your problem, girl?

Irma

#respectforpeople at all times ;-)

Next time: to play Il Cannone, you must keep your eye on the black horse.