After enduring repeated COVID-19 testing and a 5,400-mile (8690-kilometer) flight from London to become the first international symphony to tour the United States in 23 months, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra arrived in California to discover some brass had not.
“The cargo people messed up one of the pallets, so a load of the instruments didn’t arrive,” co-principal horn Matthew Knight said. “Our trumpet section had to borrow trumpets from Yamaha and do the first concert on those — and then rent or buy tails, because all their tails were in the box.”
