Fionnuala Hunt
Artistic director and leader of the Irish Chamber Orchestra
Causes of stress:
Travelling is a big part of what I do. I drive, but if I can get a lift, then I prefer to do that. It certainly does all add to the stress, the travel aspect, especially if you are travelling abroad. Often, your case doesn't arrive and you've all your black gear in it, so you have to go out and buy something else. I don't tend to carry spare clothes in my hand luggage, because when you've got a violin, that's generally enough to be carrying.
I don't try to get into analysing my performance too deeply. The main thing is that your performance is of a certain standard. It's never going to be perfect, anyway, and you've got to accept that and try not to dwell on it.
You're only as good as your last performance, and you've got to go out and do it all again the next night. I wouldn't be doing this as a job if I didn't love it. But it's hard to always be creatively artistic - it just isn't possible. And there are days when I might not be feeling very well and I just have to go on, but the audience never knows that.
Coping with stress:
The adrenalin rush needs to be there, and a certain amount of stress needs to be present, for a performance. Who doesn't have stress in their lives? Everyone needs it, but it's how you deal with it that matters. I have a certain mental preparation which I do to get me psyched up for the moment, and I've been doing it since I was a child.
My mother-in-law, Gay Blake, is a yoga teacher, and quite recently she's been doing a lot of work with me, and I've been using relaxation tapes. I think if you are in control of your breath, you are halfway there when it comes to dealing with stress. Breathing is immensely important, and I have tried to make myself more aware of it during the last few years. Breathing can actually affect the tempo of the music. Yoga is a new form of relaxation for me, but it is something I had always meant to come to grips with. It's just fantastic.
Life changes:
The changes in my life since I got married in the last year have all been very positive, and having that support from my husband, Raymond Blake, who is a wine writer, is fantastic. Life is much better now.
I'm just about to start the Irish Chamber Orchestra's Four Seasons tour, which I'm directing and will also feature as a soloist in. We're doing eight venues around the country. I haven't done the Four Seasons for a couple of years - I think you can get overdosed on it a bit - but it's such a great piece of music that I come to it with something fresh every time.
For relaxation, I read quite a lot. And apart from Raymond's own work, I have a tremendous interest in wine. We discuss it quite a lot and try different wines - it's good to relax with a glass of wine. There are some great low-alcohol wines, such as the German Rieslings, which are underestimated, I think, and we don't get a lot of them here.
My contract ends in a year's time, and I will certainly continue to work with the orchestra, but probably in quite a different way. That will also give me more time to do some of the other things I'm interested in. I've turned down a lot of work in the last couple of years, and it will be nice to have a little more time.
In conversation with Elaine Edwards