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?

The Song of the Earth

This Tuesday (27th March) we performed the premiere of Reverend Professor June Boyce-Tillman's new work The Song of the Earth. The rehearsal and performance took place in Winchester Cathedral, which was as beautiful as ever.

The project involved over 300 local primary school children, who sang in the choir. The choir was not stationary however, oh no! - these amazing children were moving, singing and walking all over the cathedral. During the performance, the entire length of the building was used, with African drums at one end and singers at another. Each of the schools involved were one of the four elements (earth, wind, fire and water), so all the children had a different coloured glowstick that represented their element- so it made for a very colourful display.

This young choir was accompanied by our (Southern Sinfonia's) players, as well as key members of Hampshire Youth Orchestra. This was as part of one of our side-by-side projects, which provide the opportunity for young musicians to play alongside our professionals, who mentor and guide them through a professional performance experience.

The performance was an amazing success (there were a lot of very proud parents in the audience), with a standing ovation and an encore of the 8th Movement.

We took some photos during the rehearsal that you can see below...

A very empty stage...

Not any more...the children are at the back and our players are in the foreground

Double Bass from Hampshire Youth Orchestra, as well as our Celli and Perc players

Reverend Professor June Boyce-Tillman (in blue) conducting the rehearsal

A Few Things you Never Knew About Beethoven's 7th Symphony

Ok, so you might know a few of them already, but hopefully there are a few interesting bits in here for you.

• At its debut, Beethoven was noted as remarking that it was one of his “best works”

• The second movement Allegretto was instantly popular, resulting in its frequent performance separate from the complete symphony.

•  The first performance of the piece included some of the finest musicians of the day, including violinist Louis Spohr who made particular mention of Beethoven's antics on the rostrum: "as a sforzando occurred, he tore his arms with a great vehemence asunder ... at the entrance of a forte he jumped in the air"

•  The symphony was premiered at a concert, given on 8th December 1813, to benefit soldiers wounded in the battle of Hanau a few months earlier. Paired with the Seventh at this concert was the first performance of Wellington's Victory, also known as the "Battle Symphony."

•  Richard Wagner’s expressive account of the work is particularly well known: "All tumult, all yearning and storming of the heart, become here the blissful insolence of joy, which carries us away with bacchanalian power through the roomy space of nature, through all the streams and seas of life, shouting in glad self-consciousness as we sound throughout the universe the daring strains of this human sphere-dance. The Symphony is the Apotheosis of the Dance itself: it is Dance in its highest aspect, the loftiest deed of bodily motion, incorporated into an ideal mould of tone."

To book tickets or for more information about The Genius that is Beethoven at St. Nicolas Church, Newbury, please follow the link.

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