Brian Eno

In 1999, we shared the stage with ambient pioneer Brian Eno for one evening at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam. The Metropole Orkest performed a live orchestral version of The Shutov Assembly. According to Brian, the album had always been an orchestral work in his mind, but until then he had never had the opportunity to perform it with an actual orchestra. Steve Gray translated Brian’s electronic soundscapes into arrangements for the Metropole Orkest, with Dick Bakker conducting. It was a special evening for us, and apparently for Brian as well. Before the concert, he said:

‘Fortunately, I happened to work with an orchestra who, first of all didn’t disdain the idea of doing that, but also turned out to be extremely sympathetic to the work and made a great job of it. So I thank both Steve [Gray] and the orchestra, and especially your conductor tonight, Dick Bakker. Thank you very much.’