When I was younger I imagined it was possible to find a place of perfect musical expression: some mode, or technique of bowing or fingering that would solve all my problems; physical limitations of the body would fall away and I’d become living conduit of the music. Of course, I know now that true perfection does not fall within the purview of the human experience, but this doesn’t mean I stop trying for it!

This is the truth of performance stagecraft: you are always in the process of eternally failing to realise your most perfect self, and constantly learning and growing as a result. Thus an authentic performance is not the smooth and polished fake perfection of an actor, but the honest presentation of the human soul – as my old teacher used to say – “warts and all!”