A New Team Member and a New Season

By Richard Brewer

Hello and welcome to the first blog of our exciting 25^th 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 25^th Anniversary season, our first major concert is “Classical Celebration”. Held on 31^st 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 31^st October to see some brilliant music, however. Our Cafe Concert series begins on Friday 26^th 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 17^th 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. 

@bbcproms

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 31^st as Sir Roger brings the baton down on Mozart and Beethoven. 

You can find more about Southern Sinfonia by visiting our website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more images and information! 

A summer afternoon with friends and supporters - in pictures

By Southern Sinfonia 

Continuing our summer theme, we wanted to share some pictures of a recent evening Southern Sinfonia spent entertaining supporters at Combe Manor...

Our Chairman John Horsey talks to guests

Managing Director Kay Lawrence entertaining guests

Close friends Mary and David Russell, who hosted the event 

James Sherlock and Benjamin Appl on stage about to perform

Hannah Medlam, Benjamin Appl and James Sherlock 

Click here to find out how you can become involved with Southern Sinfonia. You can also visit our website, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook pages to find out more. 

Let's Keep the Ukeleles and the Recorders

Guest Blog

This week's guest blog comes from Nick Stringfellow, talented Southern Sinfonia cellist and member of our Quartet in Association, the Villiers Quartet. 

My thoughts have been occupied this week by the impact of systematic cuts to the Arts, and its effect on music in schools. I have recently experienced this first hand after visiting a handful of primary schools in different parts of the country.

The first thing that hit me was just how little instrumental teaching was happening in some schools. It is not unusual for a school musical evening to now consist primarily of children performing to backing tracks. Don't get me wrong, the performances themselves are often very creative and sometimes in the case of the dance ensembles, choreographed by the children themselves. The small instrumental element is represented by those children who learn their instruments outside school, privately or with a parent. I don't mean to generalise about this and I should point out that there is another side to the coin.

I also visited a school where instrumental teaching still appeared to be thriving. This school was obviously managing to cling on to its peripatetic music service. The class teachers (who probably remember how instrumental music in schools used to be) seem desperate to keep the home fires burning. But what becomes evident in this situation is the difficulty to maintain standards as the instrumental lessons get squeezed. Most of the time, we're talking about a 30 minute group lesson with 3 children. That's 10 minutes each! In real terms, after spending 2 minutes getting the instrument out of its case (and putting it away), a broken string would mean the end of the lesson!

Another model for instrumental music in schools is the huge sticking plaster known as "wider opportunities." This, I imagine, started life as a box ticking exercise, and on paper it looks pretty good. Alerted to the fact that instrumental music in schools was becoming extinct, the solution was to get everybody in a classroom playing the same instrument for a year. As a result, it's not unusual to walk into schools and find an arsenal of trumpets ready to “lock and load”. Unfortunately, there are some schools which acquired the instruments for wider ops, but now don't have the resources to properly support it. Then you’re left with a Performing Arts space which now houses a tenor horn graveyard...

Allow me to transport you back to the early eighties and to my primary school in Rotherham. I started learning the recorder using tablature like a lot of kids my age did. I can't remember a time when I wasn't playing chamber music in some shape or form, even if it was sharing a music stand with a flautist as we battled through "Cherokee Chief"! I was asked on the strength of those experiences (even with my "goldfish" recorder technique) whether I'd like to play the cello...and the rest (as they say) is history.

Rotherham music service was a crack team of enthusiastic and exciting professional teachers. They would come into school en masse and give ensemble performances displaying an infectious camaraderie and communication. This rapport existed because the teachers spent a lot of time working together. There were at least two youth orchestra rehearsals every week, which the majority of instrumental teachers would attend and coach their particular sections. I remember my very first experience of string quartet playing, after I had only been studying the cello a couple of years. It was a weekend chamber music course and the initiative of one of the string teachers who was passionate about quartet playing and wanted to share his burning enthusiasm.

I know from talking to many of my colleagues that this situation was not unusual and there were other notable music services in Leicester and Bedfordshire for example, who are now sadly struggling against cuts in funding.

I have to say at this point that there is an abundance of great teachers out there right now. They still have all that burning enthusiasm that they're desperate to share. I've seen amazing things happen in response to these cuts.... individual instrumental teachers holding 60 children spellbound with their charisma and instrumental virtuosity. In some ways these teachers have had to evolve with the environment and now need a comprehensive "tool kit" to deal with anything that might get thrown at them.

The problem is, morale is low in many areas of the teaching profession. These amazing people are now under so much pressure to get results that their passion and enthusiasm is waning. Many teachers are under much scrutiny from regulating bodies and effectively encouraged not to teach in a creative way. There is no longer space to nurture individual talent. This system of box ticking is eroding the rapport that existed between the teachers and making our schools soulless. My only hope is that somehow we find a way to increase the resources and inject life back into our music services and schools again.

Let's keep the ukuleles and the recorders. They are an entry point for children to quickly find a musical voice, and can be introduced in the classroom by every teacher. There comes a point, though, when some of those children need a leg up to the next rung of the musical ladder--the watchful eye of that teacher who recognises their talent and can say “How about trying the cello now? There’s one in the music cupboard with your name on it.”

Thank you to Nick for his very insightful words! We will be back in a few weeks' time with our next article. In the meantime, if you want to find out more about Southern Sinfonia, you can visit our website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Not to be missed - a look at autumn's Café Concerts

By Julia Hudson 

This week on the blog, I am delighted to announce the first events of our 25^th anniversary season – the Café Concerts. We have programmed a varied and fascinating selection of events, and I wanted to take the opportunity of having a little more space than in the various brochures to talk you through them!

As usual, all the Café Concerts take place in the auditorium of the Corn Exchange, Newbury on a Friday lunchtime at 1pm. First, on 26^th September, the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2014, Martin James Bartlett, joins us for an hour of piano music. Currently just 17 years old, the Royal College of Music calls him “one of the greatest up and coming young piano talents in the music world”, as he moves to take up his place there in September. On winning the competition, Martin said "It's such an amazing feeling. It's not just the highlight of my musical career, it's the highlight of my life." He was a worthy winner; reviews of his playing in the final mentioned “crisp articulation and playing of superb strength...a particularly individual performance of great character” (Bruce Reader, The Classical Reviewer) and we are very much looking forward to welcoming him to our series.

The second concert, on 17^th October, is the explosive and dynamic Villiers Quartet and their programme ‘Celebrating England’. The Quartet has established itself as one of the most charismatic and adventurous quartets of the British chamber music scene, and as such are bringing a this theme to their Corn Exchange recital. Their programme ranges from the evocative work of Delius, Britten and Bridge to a multimedia performance of Chris Roe’s ‘Jetez!’, and also features Britten contemporary and lesser-known composer Robert Still, who lived for 22 years and died in local Bucklebury, near Newbury. Hailed as "one of the best young quartets around today" (Jerry Horner), their concert, complete with projector and animation, promises to be a revolutionary approach to traditional string quartet performance.

Finally, on 21^st November, we welcome our second ‘Secrets of the Orchestra’ concert. Having had a wonderful hour with the winds, it is now the turn of the brass section, in ‘Brass Unwrapped’. Some of Southern Sinfonia’s most well-loved and prestigious brass players, curated by trumpeter Howard Rowntree, give an insight into the dynamics of playing trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba in the orchestra. An educational session in part, this concert will inform and entertain children from 10 upwards, while still being fascinating and beautiful for adults like you and I: the beauty being that, however knowledgeable we are about music, we have not spent years as professional brass players! The group will perform stunning music, written or arranged for brass quintet, and give an insightful and often amusing account of orchestral performance. A concert not to be missed.

As Southern Sinfonia’s season finishes, we say goodbye to our Administrator, Anita Forsyth-Forrest, as she retires this week. We will all miss her and we thank her for eleven years with the orchestra. In September, we welcome our new Intern, Richard Brewer, as he joins us upon his graduation from the University of Sheffield. He will be a regular contributor to this blog and we look forward to hearing his erudite thoughts and opinions!

As we continue to prepare for next season and take a well-earned summer holiday, our blog posts will become fortnightly. We promise, though, that we will be Promming and Glyndebourne-ing to the very best of our ability – and we hope you have a wonderful summer.

To find out more about Southern Sinfonia; click here to visit our website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Music and Motion Picture – A Natural Fit

By Chris Billingham 

Live music is most effective when every note and every instrument can be heard. Whether it’s a solo performance or full orchestra, concert attendees want the music to captivate and make its presence known. Indeed, the balance of sound and acoustic accuracy is why audiences spend more on seats in certain areas. However when music, especially classical music, appears on screen it is arguably most effective when it is barely noticeable.

Even those that are unfamiliar with classical music will have pieces that are hidden in their subconscious, thanks to their use in motion pictures. Whether that is childhood memories of Willy Wonka playing the overture of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro or realising that it is Bach’s Goldberg Variations perfectly juxtaposing a particularly violent scene in The Silence of the Lambs. The juxtaposition in that particular scene is a perfect example of classical music subtly adding a further dimension to a scene. It is used to compliment the visuals and bring the two art forms together in a way that enhances the film. As Director Martin Scorsese states "Music and cinema fit together naturally, because there's a kind of intrinsic musicality to the way moving images work when they're put together. It's been said that cinema and music are very close as art forms, and I think that's true.” This is especially true in the opening sequence to Scorsese’s 1980 film Raging Bull. Set to the intermezzo from Mascagni’s opera Cavalleria Rusticana, the mesmerising opening features Robert De Niro darting back and forth and throwing punches in slow motion. Without Mascagni the sequence wouldn’t be atmospheric; set to the piece it becomes the perfect beginning to the film. 

In a different genre, Brief Encounter provides arguably one of the most famous uses of classical music in film, with Rachmaninov’s second Piano Concerto having a presence throughout the story. It is said that Rachmaninov wrote the concerto to about his recovery from clinical depression; the piece is dedicated to a physician who worked on his self-confidence. However in the context of this 1945 film from Director David Lean, the piece perfectly summaries a love affair destined to end. The idea of the meaning of a piece of music coming from each individual listener has been discussed before in this blog, partly because it is one of the most fascinating elements to this particular art form. What’s interesting about music and cinema is that the meaning can be changed in a more controlled way. Everyone involved in creating a film, from the director to the actors, has the ability to shape a scene and use visuals to give a piece of music new meaning. 

David Lean and the production team behind Brief Encounter are not the only filmmakers to have achieved this; there are many examples throughout cinematic and musical history. A personal favourite is another example featuring Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, this time introduced not by an eccentric chocolate maker but an inmate of Shawshank State Prison. Whilst Mozart’s work is based on a stage comedy about a love triangle, when used in Frank Darabon’s 1994 classic The Shawshank Redemption it is about hope, freedom and the release classical music can bring. The scene in question features prisoner Andy Dufresne playing the letter duet ‘Che soave zeffiretto’ from The Marriage of Figaro to the whole prison over the public address system. The combination of the image of a normally rowdy group of inmates standing listening in silence, and the script providing the character of Red with rich dialogue, combine with the music to create one of the film’s highlights. As Red says 'For the briefest of moments every last man at Shawshank felt free' and therefore, in that moment, that is what the piece is about. 

Whether it changes the meaning of the music or subtly adds another layer of artistic merit, there can be no denying that music and film complement and enhance each other. As Scorsese said, they are a natural fit. 

What is your favourite use of classical music in film? Comment below or join the discussion on our Facebook or Twitter pages. 

You can also find out more about Southern Sinfonia by visiting our website or Instagram page.