The jazzmen's suits were Hawaian extravaganza compared to the white tie and tails worn by the RSNO's saxophonist the following evening.  I suppose the appearance of a saxophonist in a symphony orchestra is rare enough that not to have had him wear the 200 year old uniform would have seemed doubly indecorous.

Not that wearing the tie and tails outfit is uniformly applauded.  This item from Toronto (from whence the RSNO's current music director came) muses on how long it may last and includes a little video showing that I'm not the first person to have thought of enlisting the talents of students to rethink musical uniforms.

The saxophonist was there to play in Copland's Piano Concerto which uses stylistic elements associated with jazz. While it's unusual to see a sax at a symphony concert it is probably even more unusual to have two piano concertos on the bill.  In the first half of the programme Xiayin Wang played Barber's Piano Concerto.  I enjoyed both pieces but the Barber wins hands down in terms of  bravura and excitement.

That excitement means the orchestra and the pianist have to go like the clappers a lot of the time and it's not surprising, aesthetic reasons apart, that Xiayin should have changed her iridescent gold dress at the interval for a similarly iridescent blue one to tackle the Copland in.  Harder to tell if the string players changed one white shirt for another but given the sweat they must have worked up in those tailcoats I shouldn't be at all surprised.