Vibrant cafe culture helps Sheffield conductor concentrate

Green spaces

Today, the morning jaunt with our black Labrador takes us through Endcliffe Park, which is a handy few hundred metres from our front door. The huge weeping birch tree at the entrance is just in need of a trim – I know this because it’s brushing the top of my head, I’m 6ft 5in and can usually walk straight under it without ducking. The park keeps me in touch with the seasons, which I find a comfort, travelling as much as I do for work. The Porter Brook was torrential and ferocious during the autumn and winter, the spring blossom particularly abundant this year, and the trees, including the winter evergreens, are always vibrant throughout the year.

One park leads to another, and to another, and if you keep walking for long enough the teams of joggers and dog walkers dwindle, and the trail lifts you up to a spectacular view back across the city from Ringinglow.

The photographs I take never seem to do it justice.

Café culture

On a normal day, one without the need for social distancing, I enjoy working from home.

A conductor’s life has its contrasts. The actual activity of conducting, besides the creative aspect, is social and demonstrative; sometimes a dialogue between musicians, other times more like a negotiation, but it’s never lonely. In the weeks before those concerts, however, I’m more reclusive.

For this reason, when I work from home I like to immerse myself in our local café culture.

Ecclesall Road is on our doorstep and we’re blessed with a choice of marvellous cafés and restaurants. Like Sharrow Vale Road and its plethora of small, independent shops, these businesses have to be so much more creative and original to cultivate custom. Generally, this means quality, the personal touch, and atmosphere. I love Hopper for its unique menu and friendly owners, and Coffika is the place to get my head down over a score, sitting in their sunny window. The buzz becomes white-noise and I can concentrate.

Sheffield General Cemetery

After lunch I walk in Sheffield General Cemetery with the dog. When I first moved to the city in 2016, someone quipped to me that the best thing about Sheffield is how quickly you can get out of it! I decided to take the more positive meaning, and this is true: our walk to Ringinglow shows how close the countryside is. It’s not a long drive to Burbage, Lady Canning’s Plantation, Redmires, or Stanage Edge – all places I love in all weathers – but equally, the green spaces inside the city are

also to be treasured. Nature is trying to reclaim the cemetery in a gentle, slow-motion grapple. I’m fascinated by the stonemasonry, some toppled, cracked or half-buried, others overgrown and peeking out of the vegetation. I often stop to read a few words since this might be all that remains of someone. The dog disappears into the bushes, sniffs the bluebells or startles the pigeons.

Sheffield Cathedral

One of the reasons I started the Brigantes Orchestra was because the journey to work means having to fly. I discovered a rich seam of local musicians who were also leaving the city to perform, and so we decided to show audiences in Sheffield what talent was living just around the corner from them. We performed in Sheffield Cathedral in February and it was a wonderful experience.

That night, with the peak of a storm building, life imitated art as we played Sargent’s An Impression on a Windy Day. Before the audience arrived, and while the musicians were out to tea, I had a few moments of contemplation alone in the church. It was atmospheric with the dim lights, warm, close air, and a heady scent.

Rising Sun

One of our local pubs might be the final stop for the day in better times. Naturally, they’re closed at the moment but The Rising Sun with a locally brewed ale on tap is a favourite. The pub is on the same route as we took this morning. I love the fact that the trail through the park is the way into nature and, at the end of the day, to a good pint.