David takes on Hamer Hall

It's not often that community musicians have the chance to play with world-class performers in a professional venue, but local double bassist and conductor of the Gippsland Symphony Orchestra David Williams, recently had that chance.
Under the baton of conductor Nathaniel Griffiths, David and more than 40 community musicians joined the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) at Hamer Hall earlier this month for a special performance of Rachmaninov's Symphony No 2, as part of the orchestra's "Symphony in a Day" program.
David was one of four community double bass players in the concert, but this wasn't his first rodeo. He has performed in seven Symphony in a Day concerts, treating every experience as a chance to improve his skills.
"You're playing with top line conductors, playing next to and sharing a (music) stand with some of the best players in Australia," he said.
"We come in as amateur, non-professional musicians, wide-eyed and enthusiastic and then we get to sit with them and play. It's one of those experiences is very hard to put into words."
David said having the opportunity to play alongside a "world standard orchestra" like the MSO inspired him to give the performance his all. "You hear sports people talk about when they play in a good team, they become better players," David said. "Well I sat next to a guy named Rohan, he is just a monster of a player and I just loved it, it really inspired me and I just went for it."
"There were a couple of moments that weren't 100 per cent from my side of things, but just to play with him and have that urgency and that attention to detail that (MSO players), you go to a whole different level."
"There's no slow tempos – they rehearse and play as if they're doing one of their regular concerts and you just have to keep up."
Also playing in David's section was MSO double bassist Suzanne Lee, who has a special connection to David and to Gippsland.
David met Suzanne in 1988 when he was a student at Melbourne University. His double bass teacher at the time wasn't recognised by the university and he needed to find a new teacher.
"I actually rang the MSO, and said look I'm looking for a bass teacher ... I ended up talking to Suzanne and she became my teacher," David explained.
"In my second year I decided to pursue jazz and our lessons stopped. I thoroughly enjoyed my time studying with her."
About three decades later, the pair were reunited, and got along like no time had passed.
"Thirty-odd years passed, and in the last three MSO performances I've done, I've played with Suzanne," David said. "We had such a great time together, I really enjoyed the opportunity to play with her."
Suzanne also has a connection to the Gippsland Symphony Orchestra – her brother-in-law is the principal French horn player.
David said his experiences playing with the MSO filter back into how he teaches and conducts with the Gippsland Symphony Orchestra.
"I played a piece with the MSO earlier in the year and I'm playing that piece now with the community orchestra," he said. "Going into rehearsals, the way I'm playing it is as if I'm still with the MSO because I remember how they played it."
"I treat it like professional development."
At the end of the Symphony in a Day performance, the community players were given their own special bow. David said the moment left him feeling "like a million bucks",
"There are no words that can truly convey how I feel about those people and the way they encouraged us, let us make mistakes, and they did it with good grace and a smile," he said.
"We walked away feeling a million bucks. They're a very special group of people."