Can you help an aspiring young musician?

Southern Sinfonia remains in close contact with many of its Newbury Young Musician of the Year finalists from years gone by. One such young person is Sophie Simpson (18).

Sophie is a first-year violin undergraduate at the University of York. She would love to pursue a career as a professional violinist, but is finding it difficult to bridge the all-important student-professional gap.

However, she has been offered an exciting opportunity to help her make this transition, with an invitation to take part in the Cambridge International String Academy (CISA), which runs from 24^th July to 12^th August 2012. This course aims to help students aged 15-32 years expand their solo repertoire, participate in high-level ensemble performances, receive guidance on orchestral audition technique and take part in master classes, all of which are an essential part of Sophie’s development as a professional violinist.

Scholarships and bursaries are increasingly difficult to come by, especially during these challenging financial times, and as a full-time student Sophie is unable to meet the cost of the course herself. She is therefore looking for sponsorship so she is able to attend.

The course costs £1950 in total and would provide an invaluable opportunity to benefit from the expertise of specialist teachers, individual tuition and performance alongside professional musicians; all of which will improve her performing ability both technically and musically for the future.

Sophie would be very grateful for any financial support you might be able to offer her, however small, so that she can attend. To talk to Sophie about supporting her, please email her directly on sophie@simpsonfreelance.com or contact the Southern Sinfonia office on 01635 580035.

For a few words from Sophie herself please click here and for more information about the CISA course please follow this link www.stringscambridge.com.

A few things you might not know about Beethoven

• Beethoven was said to have been very particular when it came to his coffee, counting out 60 beans for every cup to ensure it was just right every time. 
• He came from a pretty dysfunctional family: 3 of his 6 brothers and sisters died, his father was a violent alcoholic and, later in life, he became embroiled in a bitter custody battle over one of his nephews. 
• In his later years, when he had become profoundly deaf, there are notebooks recording what visitors said to him. However, his comments went unrecorded, leaving a tantalisingly one-sided account of Beethoven's conversations.
• Beethoven was a notoriously messy worker. His sketchbooks and scores were always full to the brim with crossings out, revisions and alterations. 
• As he became more and more absorbed in his work, he began to take less notice of his general appearance. So much so, that on one of his regular afternoon constitutionals he was mistaken for a tramp and arrested. 
• His work wasn't the only thing that was messy, his rooms were incredibly untidy as well; with tall piles of manuscripts and sheafs of paper no-one was allowed to touch and a number of pianos without legs so he was able to feel their vibrations. He was also prone to work in his underwear and, on occasion, even naked, completely ignoring friends and colleagues if they went to visit him while he was composing.
• His foul temper is also well-known; with stories of him throwing food at a waiter, sweeping candles off the top of a piano and perhaps even hitting a choirboy, coming down the centuries.

Despite his terrible temper and other quirks he remains one of the most significant and influential composers of the western art music tradition and we can't wait to hear his 7th Symphony and Violin Concerto in D major this evening!

Southern Sinfonia's concert The Genius that is Beethoven takes place on 18th April 2012, at St. Nicolas Church Newbury at 7.30pm. Tickets: £14, £10 concessions, £5 under 25s from the Corn Exchange.

Beethoven's 7th in Film

In anticipation of our concert 'The Genius that is Beethoven' next week, we've been having a look at the great man's 7th Symphony (our concert programme on 18th April includes the 7th Symphony and Violin Concerto in D major) in film soundtracks over the years and we've come up with some interesting results.

The most recent use of the 7th is in the much-acclaimed heartstring-tugger that is The King's Speech. Colin Firth gives his patriotic address to the nation right at the end of the film, with Beethoven's 7th as a backdrop.

Similarly, KNOW1NG (2009) - don't worry, this one passed us by too - starring Nicholas Cage as a teacher who opens a time capsule that contains some 'chilling predictions', also makes use of the 7th. 

It's also used in Immortal Beloved (1994), a film about Beethoven's life with particular focus on his love interests and the mysterious immortal beloved to whom he addressed various love letters. Perhaps it's just us though, but we reckon Beethoven looks uncannily like Dracula in this one...

Gary Oldman as Beethoven in Immortal Beloved

It also appears in a Looney Tunes short from 1949 called A Ham in a Role, featuring the Goofy Gophers and a dog with aspirations of becoming a Shakespearian actor. (It's about 4.23 mins in, when the dog is addressing a skull and the gopher is getting dressed into his skeleton costume).

However, our absolute favourite use of the 7th in a film has to be The Black Cat (1934) just because it sounds fantastic. It's about an American couple honeymooning in Hungary who become trapped in the home of a Satan-worshiping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.  Couldn't get much more far-fetched than that could you, good old Edgar Alan Poe.

Can you come up with any more?