The master of ceremonies

Here to stay

Christenings, confirmations or weddings: the Englishwoman Emily Middleton sets the tone for numerous celebrations in the church.

As organist she hurries to the First Holy Communions, then to the celebrations of the “Kirchentaler Skapulierbruderschaft“, (Kirchentaler Scapular Confraternity) or to the performances of the “Lofer Passion Play“. She also sits at the keyboard for the Sunday Masses in the imposing pilgrimage church, Maria Kirchental . There, in the so-called “Pinzgauer Cathedral“, it isn’t just the acoustics which give her great pleasure but also the sledge ride back down to the valley afterwards. In the summer she heads up to the peaks of “Gföllhörndl“ or “Großes Hundhorn“ and loves to swim in the” Red marble lake in the Almenwelt Lofer. Why did the teacher leave the United Kingdom behind eight years ago? “I came to the Salzburger Saalachtal on holiday purely by chance and fell in love with the mountains straightaway“, explains Emily Middleton. The impression must have been very great as she moved to Pinzgau a few months later with the cats Moo and Boo. “Here I have found what I have always been looking for, my ‘life balance’, my inner core“, she affirms.

Actually, the Briton could be standing on a bigger stage today. A violinist from the “London Symphony Orchestra“ discovered and encouraged her talent at 5 years old. She played violin in the “National Children’s Orchestra“ among others in the famous “Royal Albert Hall“ in London. At seven she began to learn piano and the organ at twenty. A few years ago she added the horn, which is among the most difficult of all instruments – no problem for the English woman who plays it with bravura in a south Bavarian orchestra. She can be heard on the violin in the “Orchester der Salzburger Kulturvereinigung“. In fact she is a chemistry graduate as well as a trained teacher. “I was always ambitious and somehow on the lookout. Now I have reached the destination of my journey“, explains Emily Middleton, relaxed and laid-back. She is a tutor for children in English and Maths, translates texts, teaches violin and piano to everyone from tiny children to pensioners. Yes, she misses the North Sea now and again, says Emily who regularly skypes with her family in Rowlands Gill in Newcastle and tells us, “These days what counts is pure zest for life. The beautiful nature is balsam for my soul.“