What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Gerard: Life is full of challenges. I think there are generally a lot of misconceptions about classical musicians. People often ask “You have a concert today, so the rest of the day you must be free?” They don’t realize that with every concert come hours and hours of practicing and rehearsing. Of course, as musicians we take the things that come with it. Playing an instrument until you reach a certain level of mastery requires a lot of practice. We all go through ups and downs and the hard work is not always fun. But in the end it’s the music that wins. And when we are on stage we forget everything else.

Irene: The planning. Traveling is great fun, particularly if you’re with friends who are practically like family, but organising yourself can be a nightmare. I am not naturally a very well-organised person, and still have to watch not to lose documents, miss trains, or get off at the wrong stop (and make the others get off too!) because I was reading a book or listening to something really good. Can’t say it hasn’t happened recently, but I’m really trying very hard to have it happen less.

Vera: My greatest Delta-challenge is finding Irene’s passport, making sure she gets on the right train and wakes up for the right stop! My second greatest challenge is time-management. There is so much I want to do, try, learn, play, see, read and listen to and there are so few hours in a day! It’s a constant struggle against time.

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