Teamwork, split-second decisions and ‘moments of pure terror’ – there are plenty of parallels between music and sailing according to TSO violinist Susanna Low.
Susanna recently took up yacht racing as a somewhat surprising – and very Tasmanian – way to unwind from the orchestra’s busy performance and rehearsal schedule.
‘I love it!’ she says.
‘Like music, sailing is a whole new language, and you have to work as a team. There are long periods of great enjoyment with always the potential for moments of pure terror – whether that’s leaping to a high C# or falling overboard – possibly both, if it’s a Mahler symphony,’ Susanna jokes.
When she’s not in the concert hall, Susanna can often be seen sailing around Hobart’s River Derwent with one of her sisters, former TSO violinist Alison Lazaroff-Somssich.
She says learning to sail this past year has been a ‘steep learning curve’, although she’s always had a love of water.
‘Growing up in Queensland in a family of five violinists, our only non-practice time was spent at the local pool,’ Susanna says.
‘At Christmas and Easter we would go on family houseboat holidays – think sweltering heat, sand flies, cicadas, card games and lots of swimming.’
‘Now that I've started sailing with my sister Alison and her partner Bert, we race twice a week’.
Did you know?
Susanna and Alison previously played together in the TSO and, for a period, were also joined in the orchestra by their other violinist sister, Rosalin Lazaroff.
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