At Home with Alan Smith

Hi everyone! I’m Alan Smith, Associate Concertmaster at Queensland Symphony Orchestra. I thought I’d share a little of my home life with you whilst we wait for things to return to normal.

This is my practice area. Behind the piano is a Japanese wall hanging and some photographs from our QSO visit to Tokyo in 2002. Touring is always enjoyable and, being an international tour, this was particularly memorable.

In this time of lockdown, it’s particularly nice to be able to have a break from practising on my own and enjoy some duets with my wife, QSO violinist Jane Burroughs. The two of us met whilst studying in Germany and we’ve played together in symphony orchestras and string quartets ever since.

I start my practice with some technical work; so scales and studies are ever present. During a normal work year it often feels as if there’s not much time to practise anything other than orchestral repertoire, so I’m taking advantage of the current opportunity to enjoy other works. Unaccompanied Bach is essential for the soul and the Brahms D minor sonata is a future project with pianist Alex Raineri. 

We feel fortunate to live in a leafy part of Brisbane, close to Mount Coot-tha and the surrounding bushland. A morning walk gets my day off to a good start, although I struggle to keep up with my son! Oh to be 21 again! Liam is a UQ physics honours student. Jane and I are treasuring the chance to spend more time with him.

And then there’s the garden! I don’t know why we planted so many golden cane palm trees, but we did – and after many years of neglect we’re now trying to stop them taking over the entire garden. It’s a wonderful time of year to be outside and to catch up on all the odd jobs that need doing around the house.