Christmas started early for me this year. Throughout September and October I’ve been busy orchestrating for a Sinatra Christmas programme which Raymond Gubbay is promoting – great Sinatra tunes like Have yourself a merry little Christmas, The Christmas Waltz, The Christmas Song and of course White Christmas. Also ready is the new Sound of 
Musicals programme for Gubbay which I’m conducting and Graham, singing. Last weekend I flew to Vienna with the RPO to record a DVD with German singer Helene Fischer. She is a huge star in Germany (her last album sold 2.5 million copies!) and her new Christmas album was recorded by the RPO with me conducting in Abbey Road studios last summer. This DVD will be on general sale and will also be used for a broadcast on German TV just before Christmas. It’s a mixture of traditional European Christmas songs and great American “standards” variously orchestrated by Steve Sidwell, Cliff Masterson and the brilliant Chris Walden. The venue was the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna and they had really gone to town on the Christmas decorations – it looked quite fantastic. RB