Love Boat. . .

COLD, damp and treacherous to board, a narrow boat on the Thames is not where you would expect to find two professional musicians hanging out, but Rowena Calvert, 28, cellist of the Harpham Quartet and Rhys Watkins, also 28, first violinist in the London Symphony Orchestra not only overcome all the obstacles that would put most people off such an adventure but seem to embrace it with humour and enthusiasm. Having met at the Royal Academy after studying at Chetham's and the Menuhin School respectively, Rhys and Rowena have had their two beloved narrow boats for two years now and wouldn't dream of being anywhere else. "You don't realise how great it is until you've gone and lived back on dry land then come back again. It's like when you play on a crap violin then borrow a Strad, and it's not until you get your crap violin back that you realise truly how great the Strad was" laughs Rhys.

Rowena explains how she feels healthier when she's there. "It's like living outside. Above our bed is a skylight so we can lie in bed and look at the stars.We sit and watch a family of coots who have made a nest in a disused dinghy and watch them every year as their babies are born and struggle to survive. In the winter we have fun chopping up wood for the fire, it's so cosy and if I'm there without Rhys, the neighbours will bring firewood round, it's such a fantastic community.

 And what an interesting community with everyone from carpenters and clothes designers to firemen and lock keepers moored alongside them. This all sounds very romantic of course but what about the practicalities of getting on and off the boat with instruments? "We have had a few funny moments!" giggles Rowena.  

They access the boat by rowing to it in a small dinghy from the riverbank and once, rather than getting on to the narrow boat and reaching back for his violin, Rhys took a short cut and flung his violin, in its case with his laptop in the pocket, onto his shoulder and jumped. Yes you can imagine the rest... He slipped and the case with fiddle and laptop plunged into the murky depths of the Thames. Rhys lunged into the freezing river and pulled it out in a matter of seconds. He could not believe his luck when he opened the case to find his Storioni totally bone dry, but his laptop sadly didn’t survive the dip. Rhys howls with laughter as he admits he didn't tell anyone for months and when people asked him if he's ever dropped his violin in the river, he scoffs “how stupid do you think we are?"

Life became slightly less improvised for Rhys when he joined the first violin section of the London Symphony Orchestra a year ago and although he has been late to rehearsals a few times, when the rope to the dinghy has frozen and he's been stranded, he loves his new life there. "The more I play in the orchestra, the more I realise how important experience is" he tells me. "The most important thing I've learnt is when not to play. My moment of realisation for that was when I was on trial and we were doing the Rite of Spring with Gergiev conducting. The orchestra know it backwards but I'd never done it before and I was sitting on the outside of desk five (known as the toilet seat) which feels like the most exposed seat on stage when you're there. Luckily my desk partner was my friend Jorg who helped me out by leaning towards me every time there was a rest he thought I might play in. A great idea in theory but he must have regretted it by the time we got to the Danse Sacrale at the end when he was having to bob around like a ping pong ball!"

Of course he gets to see the world touring with such a great band and recently went to Abu Dhabi and Mumbai on tour, "Mumbai was great, but on the last day I got food poisoning and spent the 10 hour flight back in the plane toilet- everyone else thought it was hilarious... then a well meaning lady from the violins gave me 'something to stop you up' and nothing came out of me for a week!" Has this put him off touring? Not likely. We don't need to worry about Rowena sitting at home pining for her globe-trotting hero though. She's recently joined the Harpham Quartet and they've just been appointed Junior Fellows at the Royal College of Music with a scholarship to study with Gunther Pichler of the Berg Quartet in Madrid. "We'll go out there about seven or eight times this year for five days each time and immerse ourselves in his world, studying with him and playing concerts and of course eating fabulous Spanish food."

Don't be under any illusion though, despite their happy-go-lucky appearances, success like this doesn't come cheaply. Both Rowena and Rhys are very determined individuals; nothing will get in the way of their practice. Rowena recalls a very long train journey from her parents’ house in Inverness to London; "I was practising my cello in the guard's van on the train as I often do, sitting amongst some polystyrene boxes being transported. When the train came to a station and switched its engines off I became aware of a squeaking noise. It turns out the boxes were full of live lobsters waiting to meet their doom!" Rhys has also had to be inventive when it comes to practising. "When I'm on the boat, there's only one place under the skylight I can stand and play without breaking my bow on the roof. But I have to make sure I start my scales on an up bow and always finish on a down bow or I come to a nasty end." //