Ian Crisp wrote: >Cellists among us - is a new string harder on the bow than a well-used >one? What - if anything - does all this tell us about the player's >preparation or the state of his equipment or the way he plays? Well, to get his take on it, here are excerpts from the Telegraph's report last night. He won #4,500 prize money against 550 other competitors. THE TELEGRAPH, LONDON MAY 29 2000 By Nicole Martin ... Guy Johnston, 18... After the performance at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, he said he was "absolutely thrilled" with the award, which was presented on Saturday night by the Duchess of Kent. He had dedicated the piece to his brother Rupert, 22, badly injured in a road accident three years ago. He said: "I had had a nightmare two nights ago that my A string snapped on stage and so, when it actually happened in the final, I couldn't believe it. I could hear gasps from the audience and had no choice but to stop and leave the stage to get a new one. "I had to focus my thoughts because the opening to the piece is a great build-up. It was exhausting to do it all again," said the teenager, who has been playing the cello since he was three and is studying in New York. I think that sounds like a rather poised youngster... Andrys in Berkeley http://www.andrys.com/books.html search sheet music, videos, CDs http://www.andrys.com/cbooks.html newer classical music books