«The Tchaikovsky Affair»

The Tchaikovsky Affair

By Marie Swift

© Marie Swift 2013

Cover Photograph: © Robyn Mackenzie | Dreamstime.com

The purchaser of this book is subject to the condition that he/she shall in no way resell it, nor any part of it, nor make copies of it to distribute freely.

This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental.

One

Shannon McClintock always loved the first day of the new concert season. She loved seeing familiar faces she had missed over the break and looked forward to meeting the new musicians. She also enjoyed the challenge the first few weeks always brought: figuring out how to work as a cohesive unit and learning new and exciting pieces. She could feel the collective enthusiasm in the air as she practically skipped into the New York Philharmonic’s spacious rehearsal room. This was the point in the season long before people began to get burnt out and exhausted from working long hours; the point before people began to show their true diva colors.

This year, however, she was doubly excited. Her hard work from last season had paid off and she had been given the highly sought after position of 1st violin and concertmaster. Being concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic was about as good as it gets. Added to the prestige was the fact that the featured piece of this season’s main concert was to be Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D Major”, including one of the most impressive and technically difficult violin solos in all orchestral history. Solos were always awarded to the first chair of the appropriate section. With this solo, Shannon was sure to become a household name in the orchestral circles and possibly even on a larger scale. It was going to mean a lot of work, but she had been preparing for this moment since she touched her first half-sized violin at age four.