First up, feedback from Principal Harpist, Andreja Malir. Scroll down to read feedback from some of our audience.

A graduate of the Royal Conservatory of the Netherlands, Andreja Malir has been principal harpist with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra since 1988 (one of the youngest ever to be appointed). With the RTÉ NSO Andreja has performed concertos by Handel, Debussy, Gliere, Ginastera, Mozart, Murray-Schafer and more.

This September the beginning of the new RTÉ NSO season began with a new bright idea from the marketing and communications team: a 'meet & greet' for members of the audience to get to know and put voices to the faces of the orchestra for the first four Friday concerts - and an opportunity for members of the audience to get to know each other. It proved a very popular initiative, with about 50 audience members joining between four and six members of the orchestra in the Carolan Room (beside the upstairs bar) for a chinwag at the interval.

Many of us do meet and talk to audience members after the Friday concerts but you invariably fall into the same routine of talking to the same (sometimes extended) group. You'd feel you might be rude if you said 'I'm off to talk to someone else,' so by having it in a designated space there was a bit more freedom to say 'I'm off to mingle.'

From the performers' viewpoint on stage, we do see regular concertgoers. We may not know their names but the faces are familiar, so to have an environment set aside solely for the purpose of a 'meet & greet' was a welcome idea and meant you didn't feel like a total eejit going up to someone and saying hello.

I'm always slightly surprised and amused at the reaction of people I'm meeting for the first time when they ask me what I do. Invariably I say, 'Well, we perform on Friday nights at the NCH.' Then the question comes back, 'But what do you do the rest of the week?' So here was an ideal chance to explain the working life of the RTÉ NSO and perhaps to dispel a few myths of exclusivity and snobbishness, which exist to this day and may never be eradicated entirely. These informal sessions have the power to change perceptions and invite our audience into 'Our Space'. Though the orchestra's voice is through the composers it performs, the 89 members are all individuals. They do have something to say and the audience, I feel, are curious to hear.

Early on in September Fergus O'Carroll and myself were guests on RTÉ Radio 1's Tubridy Show, chatting about certain perceptions surrounding classical music. The show then ran a phone-in competition in which three prizewinners were each given two tickets to the concert on 2 October. The programme that evening was a very popular one, including the Grieg Piano Concerto (made famous in recent years by Morecambe & Wise and a very tolerant André Previn - check out YouTube!) and Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.

All six first went to Soundings, the pre-concert talk, which featured Senator David Norris in conversation with the evening's conductor Kenneth Montgomery. Then they were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour by Aidan from the NCH and Angela from RTÉ Performing Groups. They loved all of this. Then all they had to do was sit back (in what they said were very comfy seats) and enjoy the music. What surprised them the most was that the atmosphere had such a buzz about it but was relaxed at the same time, and that people just seemed to wander in early for a drink or a bite to eat and a catch up. We met up with them in the Carolan Room at the interval and were greeted with beaming smiles all round! In the middle of all our chitchat, the composer Gerry Murphy strolled over to say hello. It was lovely to be able to introduce them to one of our long-term fans. It just goes to show that one can always find something to talk about whether you're a first-timer or a lifelong friend. With all the positive experiences of that evening, they all said they'd make a point of coming again.

So onwards and upwards and to the next 'meet & greets' on Friday 6 November and Thursday 3 December. The programme on 6 November will have the French horn players out in force, with Mozart's 4th Horn Concerto - with soloist John Ryan - and Richard Strauss' Don Juan. Strauss wrote and conducted this piece when he was only 24 years old. It's a testing piece for the horns in the orchestra - and was so even when Strauss rehearsed it. As Steven Ledbetter wrote in a Boston Symphony Orchestra programme note: The orchestra took the piece well after the initial shock of the first rehearsals. One of the horn players remarked, "Good God, in what way have we sinned that you should have sent us this scourge!" But Strauss was in good humor throughout the difficult rehearsals, and he wrote after the premiere, "We laughed till we cried! Certainly the horns blew without fear of death...I was really quite sorry for the wretched horns and trumpets. They were quite blue in the face, the whole affair was so strenuous."'

But before that, Benjamin Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, where John Ryan is joined by tenor Robin Tritschler. This brings back many happy memories of my Dad (Principal Horn with the RTÉ NSO from 1954 to 1980) performing that work in his heyday and one funny story about a poor unsuspecting horn soloist! The Britten Serenade ends with an ethereal epilogue in which the horn player usually plays from offstage. So, in a certain performance, the horn soloist leaves the stage and steps into an elevator at the side thinking it wouldn't be in use during a concert.Er, not so - in mid-phrase the doors close, leaving the poor soloist struggling to play as loud as he can as he descends into the basement. The audience exclaimed it was the most spectacular diminuendo they'd ever heard!!

That won't happen on Friday 6 November, I'm sure...

Celeste Guinane and Gregor Heine have been attending RTÉ NSO concerts for three years and over the last two have become season subscribers.

They enjoy a wide and varied selection of modern and classical music. For Celeste and Gregor the beauty of the season ticket is that they can go to every concert and it gives them an opportunity to learn about new works and experience some surprises along the way.

A very pleasant new feature of our Friday evenings with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra has been introduced this season with the Meet the Players receptions held during the interval. This is the second year we have had full season tickets to the RTÉ NSO which ensures us a superb start to each weekend. Now it is a treat to have the opportunity to say hello to some of the familiar faces we normally only see on the stage.

We have been to each of the four events held so far and the players are very much in demand. It is a very pleasant, sociable and informal way to relax during the interval. We were lucky enough to have Boris Giltburg attend after his great rendition of the Grieg Piano Concerto on 2 October.

These events are definitely worthwhile and added to our evening's enjoyment; it made us feel like we were part of a private party. Also there was no queue to get a glass of wine and the small discount on wine and soft drinks at the receptions also helps. I feel the atmosphere in the Carolan room at these events is conducive to socialising and with regular events you get to see many of the same faces over time and can start chatting to each other.

There have been many great Friday nights this season, notably the recent stunning Shostakovich 1st Cello Concerto, and we are really looking forward to the rest of the Tchaikovsky symphony series. Thank you to all the players for sharing their talent and to those who give even more of their time to come and meet us during the interval.

All that you ever wanted to know about the RTÉ NSO (but were afraid to ask)......

Donal Ryan has a broad taste in music and has become a regular RTÉ NSO concert-goer over the last two years. From attending concerts, what strikes him is the difference between recorded orchestral music and live orchestral music. He feels that modern recording techniques, no matter how efficient, cannot adequately replicate the aural dynamic of a live orchestra.

What note do they use to tune up and why do they need to?

Are any of the orchestra members related? (Are there musical dynasties?)

Are there pieces which the orchestra particular enjoy playing?

If so why? Where did I leave my anorak?

The Meet the Player Interval receptions with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra provide concert-goers with an opportunity to ask these and whatever other questions they wish in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

This new initiative also allows the members of the orchestra to obtain feedback from the general public from whom they are usually isolated (we don't use chicken wire any more).

From the audience perspective, it certainly adds to the whole experience for me. I'm a musician myself (spoons, washboard & spittoon, since you ask) so an opportunity to discover any of the secrets of 'proper' musicians is always welcome.

The receptions take place in the Carolan Room, which is behind the first floor bar. Just take a jaunt up the stairs in the John Field Room and you'll find it.

I was fortunate enough to collar Colm Byrne, Principal Trumpet, on 2 October and I discovered that no, he never gets asked to play the 'bit from Penny Lane' at parties...and in fact the 'bit from Penny Lane' is played on a piccolo trumpet, in which the tubing is exactly one half the length of that in a standard B flat trumpet. Thanks, Colm!

It may sound slightly anorakish, but every trade and profession has its secrets and many people with an interest in music of whatever genre are curious as to how it's made. The next Meet the Players is on Friday, 6 November. Now's yer chance!