Hello and welcome to the first blog of our exciting 25th Anniversary season! I am the new intern here at Southern Sinfonia, and I am thrilled to be writing the first entry in the blog at the start of a very special, celebratory year.
Firstly, let me give you a few facts I'd tell you if we were on a first date...I recently graduated this summer from the University of Sheffield with a degree in Music, and now I'm hoping to begin a career in the big wide world of arts management. I am a first study flautist, and have a big interest in Shostakovich – writing a 15,000 word thesis on his String Quartets Nos. 8 and 15 last year. Aside from the musical world, I am a keen, if somewhat average, cricketer. If any of you are cricket fans, please come over and find me at one of our concerts this season! The way English cricket is going, however, it might be a short and depressing chat. Nevertheless, I'm tall and approachable so come and introduce yourself regardless of whether you like cricket!
With this being Southern Sinfonia's 25th Anniversary season, our first major concert is “Classical Celebration”. Held on 31st October in the beautiful St Nicolas Church in Newbury, the evening will contain an eclectic mix of Mozart and Beethoven. We are thrilled that our patron, Sir Roger Norrington, will be conducting some wonderful music. Fresh from his two outstanding performances at the BBC Proms this year, Sir Roger will be joined by winner of the Hampshire Singer of the Year 2013 – Sarah-Jane Lewis. It promises to be a fantastic evening of music and tickets are selling fast, so get yours soon!
You don't have to wait until 31st October to see some brilliant music, however. Our Cafe Concert series begins on Friday 26th September with “one of the greatest up and coming young piano talents in the music world”, Martin James Bartlett. This year's winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year, Martin will providing a wonderful repertoire including Bach, Liszt and Prokofiev. Looking further into the Autumn (uh-oh, depressing...think sunshine), Friday 17th October sees the Villiers Quartet, our Quartet in residence, visit the Corn Exchange. Their programme promises to give a thrilling lunch hour for the audience members, including works by Delius, Britten and Bridge, as well as a multimedia performance of Chris Roe's 'Jetez!'.
These concerts will be my first taste of Southern Sinfonia, and I am thrilled to be given the chance to work with such a diverse and exciting orchestra. Live classical music is something that I absolutely love, and feel everyone should experience. Over the summer I attended a number of the BBC Proms (as a Prommer, of course, as I'm still pretending to be a student). I really do love the atmosphere both in the Royal Albert Hall, and outside on the steps as the queue grows along with the anticipation for the evening's concert. A particular highlight for me was the performance of Mahler Symphony No. 5. The work is one of my favourite Mahler symphonies (along with 2, 6, 8 and 9, if you're interested!). Standing in the middle of a very warm, packed-out arena, I was completely transfixed from start to end. As the final chord of the powerful, sublime fourth movement died away, I looked around and saw nearly everyone staring intently, not making a sound. Everyone in the audience that night was mesmerised by what they saw and heard, and that is why live classical music is such a wonderful thing.
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With this in mind, I can't wait for my first taster of Southern Sinfonia, and what an opening concert it will be! I look forward to meeting lots of you there on October 31st as Sir Roger brings the baton down on Mozart and Beethoven.
