'Being prinicipal guest conductor with the BBC Concert Orchestra is great fun because they're such a versatile outfit. My first orchestra was called EOS...many of the members of which still play in my chamber orchestra, Excellent Device. We've toured festivals, Europe and played at most of the major London venues. We've sort of grown up as musicians together.

My period instrument outfit is called Army of Generals. They're called that because they're all such sensationally good musicians in their own right. It's very exciting working on Mozart or Haydn with this band... it's like seeing an Old Master painting restored. They've been the backbone to the music in the TV series I've made on Mozart and Beethoven and in my new series on the birth of British music.'