It’s 9:30 in the morning here in Berkeley and this is what it looks like outside. The sky is dark as if it were 5am and it’s an eerie faded, pumpkin colour. Is this a repeat of what caused the dinosaurs to die out or are we simply trying to imitate a scene from Dante’s Inferno? No-one here has seen anything quite like it. The cause is smoke and ash from wildfires as far north as Oregon which have blotted out the sun, combined with thick fog.

Even if it this dystopian gloom hangs around all day, a lucky group of us will be able to provide our own sunshine. We are recording Bach with the Cantata Collective, Sherezade Panthaki and Reginald Mobley. To be making music again after so many silent months is marvelous and to do it with good friends is even better.