Sarah Barzel, Patron & Volunteer
I came here thinking I knew a lot about music but then I realised I didn’t, and my knowledge has expanded exponentially by being exposed, as a presenter, to composers I didn’t know. I call 3MBS my happy place. If you broadcast what you love you will gain an audience for the things you love. Enthusiasm is very important.
I don’t think you know that Tchaikovsky wrote a ballet called ‘the Nutcrapper.’ When I said it, I got the giggles and couldn’t stop laughing and I had to put on some promos. Yet nobody upstairs heard it; they assumed I had said Nutcracker.
I had to do a live-to-air interview with Nigel Kennedy on Divertimento. He’d just flown in [to Melbourne] and had done a heap of interviews, and he was in a foul mood. Adrian McEniery came in and said he won’t do the interview unless he can “suss” you out first. I said 'that’s no problem'. I knew he was English with a Polish wife, and they live part of the year in Krakow. I came out to meet him and started speaking Polish to him. He said 'we’re not going to do the interview in Polish are we?'. I said 'nah' and he was eating out of my hand after that. Two hours later I got a phone call, and he demanded I come to his concert. I was in the front row in the balcony and when he came on the stage, he waved to me.
Being at 3MBS is very different from what I have ever done, it is a big challenge, but it embodies what I love—the music.