The Southern Sinfonia Blog

The Four Seasons and Visual Art (Spring)

2012-02-24T12:28:00.001Z

With our upcoming performance of the Four Seasonsin mind, we’ve been thinking about the parallels between music and visual art.So, we thought in the run up to our concert on the 9^th March, we’dshare some of our favourite representations of the seasons with you from thevisual arts; starting with Spring:

Spring

(La Primavera) - Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8 RV 269

1. Dame Barbara Hepworth
(1903-1975)

Spring (1966)

2. Cy Twombly
(1928-2011)

from Quattro Stagioni (A Painting in Four Parts)

Quattro Stagioni: Primavera (1993-5)

10 things you never knew about Vivaldi...

2012-02-15T12:59:00.002Z

1.Vivaldi died a pauper in Vienna and was buried in an unmarked grave

2. His relationship with the Board of Directors of the Ospedale della Pieta (the orphanage in which he worked) was notoriously tense. The Board took a vote every year on whether a teacher should be allowed to remain and Vivaldi's support was very rarely unanimous. In fact, in 1709 the vote went 7 to 6 against him, but after a year, the Ospedale asked him back again.

3. Vivaldi's father Giovanni Battista Vivaldi was a barber, as well as a professional violinist.

4. In fact Vivaldi's father may have been a composer too. As, in 1689 an opera titled La Fedelta sfortunata was composed and is attributed to Giovanni Battista Rossi. (Rossi is Italian for 'red' and may have referred to the colour of his father's hair, which must have been a notable trait of the family).

5. Vivaldi was regarded not only as an exceptional composer, but also an outstanding violinist. The German architect Johann Friedrich Armand von Uffenbach said of Vivaldi's violin playing 'Vivaldi played a solo accompaniment excellently, and at the conclusion he added a free fantasy (an improvised cadenza) which absolutely astounded me, for it is hardly possible that anyone has ever played, or will play, in such a fashion.'

6. The inspiration for the Four Seasons was probably the countryside around Mantua, where he has been appointed Maestro di Cappella at the court of Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt (Governor of Mantua).

7. There was something of a scandal over his relationship with a young aspiring singer Anna Tessieri Giro, who was his student, protegee and favourite Prima Donna. There was much speculation about the nature of their relationship, although Vivaldi obstinately denined any romantic attachment between them to his patron Bentivoglio in a letter dated 16th Nov 1737.

8. In 1715 Vivaldi planned to present his opera Arsilda regina di Ponto (RV700), but the state censor banned any performance of it as the main character Arsilda falls in love with another woman disguised as a man. However, Vivaldi managed to overturn the ban the following year and it would go on to be a resounding success.

9. Vivaldi was very sickly and suffered with what was described at the time as strettezza di petto (tightness of the chest) and is probably what we now know as asthma. This prevented him, despite being a priest, from saying mass as he was unable to speak for any length of time without becoming breathless.

10. Only 3 portraits of the great composer are known to have survived. Arguably the best and most well-known is an oil painting found in the Liceo Musical of Bologna, which shows Vivaldi's red hair peeping out from beneath his blonde wig (see image above).

A Day in the Life of (1)

2012-02-01T15:34:00.001Z

We thought it might be nice for our audience to know a bit more about the running of Southern Sinfonia. So, we've opened a new area on the website called 'A Day in the Life of', where we'll post the typical day-to-day activities of a different member of the team every month. The first one is Eileen Forsey, our Marketing Co-ordinator:

10am Part of my role is to co-ordinate Southern Sinfonia’s marketing activities, so my day always begins with the update of our Facebook, Twitter and Flickr pages, as well as our News feed. Related to this is the Southern Sinfonia website, which I am also responsible for. The website is essential for communicating with our audience and Friends, so I ensure it is as up-to-date, interesting and visually-stimulating as possible, in order that regular visitors don’t get bored with the same information and images.

11am I also do a lot of work with our Concert Operations Manager Louisa Portal. As part of this, Louisa and I send out the music for all of our concerts to our musicians, so that they can practise it before the rehearsal. We don’t ever send out the original music, as this has a horrible tendency of getting lost or misplaced, but instead use a file-sharing website called Dropbox. Dropbox is great because not only is it free, but it’s also far more eco-friendly than sending out photocopies of the music as we did in the past. So, once we have sorted the music into sections, I upload it all to Dropbox and then invite the orchestra to view and download it.

12.30pm I also have a lot of contact with the local media, especially Trist Lee Arts Editor of the Newbury Weekly News. As part of this I write all the press releases we send out to local newspapers, radio stations and magazines. Press releases can be difficult to write; so I always make sure that after I’ve written one I go off and do something else for a few hours and then come back to it with fresh eyes.

1.30pm While my press release is having a bit of a rest, I use the intervening period to email as many local magazines and publications as possible with information about our upcoming concerts. I’ve been trying to build up our relationships with these publications recently, as I think that communicating via local channels is really important.

2pm The orchestra often performs at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. It’s an amazing venue, but there is also quite a lot of behind-the-scenes admin that needs doing before the performance. Because it’s a royal residence, security is understandably tight. Therefore, it’s my job to ensure the whole orchestra provides any information the security team at the castle needs, e.g. passport photos, date-of-birth, country of origin, current address etc. This can take a while, and usually involves a number of pretty interesting photos, but it’s definitely worth it in the end.

3pm Now I can come back to my press release. If it looks and reads well, I’ll take it to our MD Kay Lawrence to sign off. If she likes it, then I can send it out. I make sure that the press releases are tailored to the interests of the media I am sending them to. So this might require a bit of tweaking or the addition of a few paragraphs depending on who I am contacting.

3.15pm Southern Sinfonia also has a blog, which I am responsible for and update as often as possible. The posts provide an insight into the day-to-day running and behind-the-scenes activities of the orchestra. Posts don’t take long to write and are great for keeping up the level of interaction with our audience between concerts and letting them see what it’s really like to run an orchestra.

4.00pm Home time!

Fitzwilliam Cafe Concert Programme

2012-01-25T15:31:00.001Z

Last Friday (20th January) saw our first Café Concert of 2012- The Fitzwilliam Duo, featuring Colin Scobie (violin) and Heather Tuach (cello). Heather will be a familiar face for all those who come to our Main Concerts, as she heads up our celli section. Colin is the newest member of the Fitzwilliam Quartet, following the retirement of their second violinist of 37 years Jonathan Sparey, and he currently plays a violin from Jonathan’s own collection.

As mentioned above, the duo played a varied repertoire that ranged from Bach, to Bartok, to Kodaly. We had a number of audience members approach us about the pieces they played, so in response to this we will post the Cafe Concert programmes after they take place, so all those who came can find out exactly what it is they heard.

Here’s the programme for The Fitzwilliam Duo’s Café Concert:

'Methodical' Sonata in A Major - Georg Philipp Telemann

Two-Part Inventions - Johann Sebastian Bach

Hungarian Folk Melodies - Béla Bartok

Duo Op. 7 - Zoltan Kodaly

Passacaglia - Johan Halvorson

For more information about upcoming Café Concerts, please visit our website.

Fitzwilliam Kicks Off Cafe Concerts for 2012

2012-01-20T15:59:00.000Z

We’ve just had our first Café Concert of 2012 and you’ll be pleased to know that it was amazing. With the Café Concerts we try and showcase as much talent from across the musical spectrum as possible and this lunchtime was no exception.

The Fitzwilliam Duo opened our Spring season for us with a beautiful programme to include Bach, Kodaly, Bartok and Halvorsen. The Duo was made up of the famous quartet’s cellist Heather Tuach (who heads up Southern Sinfonia’s celli) and violinist Colin Scobie (the most recent addition to the quartet). We particularly enjoyed the Kodaly piece.

Lots of our usual friends were there, but we were also really pleased to see lots of new faces as well.

We’ll post some more detailed information about what they played as well as some photos of them in action next week…so watch this space.

Out & About in Newbury

2012-01-12T12:34:00.000Z

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (10^th & 11^th Jan) saw Southern Sinfonia’s crack team of leaflet distributers out and about in Newbury doing what they do best…distributing leaflets.

We’ve gone for a Concert Card this season, rather than a brochure, because it’s more environmentally-friendly and is also far more handbag/ pocket/ fridge-friendly because of its size. (It’s only A6- i.e. the size of a postcard). Our lovely lime green Concert Cards outline all of our local events up till April and offer an exclusive discount of 10% on tickets for our Main Concerts when you buy your tickets in advance.

So, equipped with a boot-load of these, Eileen (Southern Sinfonia’s Marketing Co-ordinator) and Evie (her sister) set off across Newbury and the surrounding area to distribute them to Southern Sinfonia’s current audience members (and hopefully some new ones too).

If you didn’t get one through your door, they’re also in all arts venues across West Berkshire, so you can pick one up there. Here’s a pic of one, so you know what to look for…

NYE Viennese Gala Concert with Claire Rutter & Stephen Gadd

2012-01-05T11:53:00.000Z

On New Year’s Eve (2011) we were in Winchester at the Guildhall with Stephen Gadd and Claire Rutter for their Viennese Gala Concert. We were led by our very own Alexander Hohenthal, who flew in from Austria (where he lives) especially for the concert, and conducted by Matthew Wood.

We were very excited to have been invited to play with Stephen and Claire, the latter of whom is currently starring as Tosca at English National Opera, and it was great to hear them perform together.

The Guildhall was an awesome venue to play in. Although we did all feel a bit like we were in Crystal Maze when we tried to find the toilets (which are on Ground Floor by the way, should you ever need to know). The hall was open to the public during the day, when the rehearsal took place, so it was really nice to have people pop in to have a chat and a listen.

Favourite pieces of the evening have to be The Blue Danube (Johann Strauss II), the Overture to ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’ (Jacques Offenbach) and ‘On my Lips Every Kiss is like Wine’ from ‘Giuditta’ (Franz Lehar).

Christmas Carols in the Community

2011-12-22T12:04:00.000Z

This week the Southern Sinfonia string quartet went to Lambourn Court (in Newbury) and Brendan Care (in Southampton) to celebrate Christmas with the residents. Both Lambourn Court and Brendan Care provide supported housing for older people.

We’ve been visiting for a number of years now and are really happy to see the audience steadily grow annually. Many residents find it difficult to come to our concerts, so at Christmas we take the music to them- as everyone needs a little bit of live music at Christmas!

This year, the quartet started off with some Christmas favourites to include Winter Wonderland and The Christmas Song (that’s the one that starts ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire’), as well as the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah and a Sound of Music medley (which was very popular). We then had a cup of tea and some Christmas cake, before we came back and sang some carols together.

We at Southern Sinfonia firmly believe that music should be open to all people, whatever their age, so it was great to see that in action this week. We had a fantastic day and are all feeling very very Chistmassy now and would like to thank the residents and management of Lambourn Court and Brendan Care for their continued commitment, support and enthusiasm.

The team took some pictures, so please feel free to take a look at these below, or check out our Flickr photostream opposite, if you’d like them in a larger format.

Merry Christmas!!!

Behind the Scenes at Eton

2011-12-15T15:24:00.000Z

Tuesday saw the orchestra perform with Windsor & Eton Choral Society at Eton College School Hall. Not only was it our first time playing in the newly refurbished school hall (we were all a bit afraid to touch anything it was so beautiful), but it was also the first time we had worked with their new conductor Tim Johnson.

Tim is the new Precentor and Director of Music at Eton College and he replaces Ralph Allwood. The orchestra have done a lot of work with Ralph and WECS over the years, so we were all very sad to see him go, but also very excited to meet Tim.

We had some local school children attend the rehearsal, which was great. In fact, we’re pretty sure we spotted some conductors of tomorrow amongst their number - a couple were doing a serious amount of impressively energetic arm-waving.

Here are some pics of the rehearsal in action:

Tim Johnson (the one in the white shirt), Southern Sinfonia, tenor Adrian Ward (the one in the pink jumper) and the choir

A nice hallway

The orchestra in rehearsal, local school children and the choir

Tim Johnson and the orchestra (plus someone who must have just really wanted to be in this picture)

Tim, the orchestra, school children and the choir

Welcome to Southern Sinfonia's Blog

2011-12-09T12:20:00.000Z

In our first ever blog entry, we'd like to introduce Southern Sinfonia - a professional chamber orchestra based in Newbury, Berkshire. We play with informed playing-style, that is to say we perform music as it would have sounded when it was first composed. So we play modern music in a modern playing style and music from the baroque period is played with informed phrasing and minimal vibrato. As a result of this, we tend to get up to quite a lot.

Sir Roger Norrington is our active patron and David Hill is our Music Director and as an orchestra we strive to bring concerts and recitals to a wide area of the South of England – including Winchester, Wells, Canterbury and Cambridge. We are also passionate believers in the benefits music can provide for children and we work in as many schools as we can in our local area to ensure all our primary school children have a foundation in and an understanding of classical music.

We'll introduce you to our team in later posts, but in the meantime here's some photos to get you started.