Newsletter, September 2006
Dear reader
To explain what may not be immediately apparent, these Newsletters
are aimed at a wide audience - at Friends within and outside the Orchestra,
and also at charities, organisations and individuals who have supported
us in the past and/or who may do so in the future (the "TLC" list).
Hopefully there is something here for everyone!
Comments and suggested topics (or, better still, draft items) for future
issues would be welcome.
This issue includes one such contribution, from Carole Wrightson, the Orchestra's
principal viola player.
Ron Nourse
From the AGM of the Friends March 2006
The serving Officers were re-elected nem con:
Andrew Chapman (Chairman), Ron Nourse (Secretary) and Shirley Ridout (Treasurer).
The Treasurer reported that income for 2005 had been £4337, and payments
to the Orchestra had totalled £9500 (£3000 of that being in
respect of 2004). The annual average payment over the past three years had
been £5590.
At the end of 2005 the Friends had reserves of nearly £9000.
In view of the above figures, and anticipating increased costs in the near
future (for example an enormous increase from 2007 in the cost of hiring
Pittville Pump Room), the AGM of the Orchestra had earlier in the evening
voted to increase the rate of playing members' donations to the Friends
to £70 annually, with effect from January 2007.
Hilary Vallance kindly agreed to assist the Treasurer of the Friends in
the collection of donations from players.
The increase in donations will help to fund the Orchestra's ambitious future
programming and to meet other essential costs.
Q&A
Here are some of the questions recently posed by Carole Wrightson, and the answers from the Chairman and others:
How are the programmes for concerts decided?Members are regularly invited to suggest works that they feel would be suitable, which usually results in around half a dozen responses each time. David Curtis then constructs a draft programme, which in turn is honed by the committee, taking into account such practical factors as: the amount of rehearsal needed, the size of the venue, the likely audience, whether extra players will be needed, if a choir or soloist is required.
How far in advance does the Orchestra have to plan?
Generally up to 18 months. For example in June 2006, the full 2007 programme
was close to being finalised.
How are the venues chosen?
Many factors influence this decision: appropriate size for the chosen works,
hiring costs, geographical proximity to a particular charity's base.
Where does the Orchestra get its music from?
Ideally, from the Music Libraries network, which does so much to support
amateur music making in this country. Failing this, music has to be hired
(sometimes at great expense) from its publishers. With newly written pieces,
we can occasionally get the parts direct from the composer!
Do the Orchestra's concerts make money?
None of the Orchestra's concerts recently has made a profit for the Orchestra
(nor do we particularly set out to make a profit). The Orchestra receives
its income from Friends' subscriptions and donations, the fee asked of charities
that take our concerts, and occasional sponsorship. Out of this fee must
come such payments as conductor's, leader's and (sometimes) soloist's fees,
payments to extra players, hire of venues and of music. The total amount
varies from one concert to another.
How much has the Orchestra made for charity recently?
Recent examples: £392 for NSPCC, over £1000 for Farmers Overseas
Action Group, and £4000 for Save the Children.
How does the Orchestra attract new players?
Players new to the area can and do find out about us from the Orchestra's
website www.cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra.info. We are also to be found on
www.amateurorchestras.org.uk
and www.amateurmusican.co.uk.
Check them out! Also, our growing reputation is increasingly spread by word
of mouth, and local teachers recommend us to their pupils.
Are there formal auditions?
Not as such, although we reserve the right to hold them. In practice, aspiring
members generally attend a few rehearsals, after which it is usually apparent
to everyone whether permanent membership would be appropriate.
About the Philip and Dorothy Green Awards for Young Concert Artists (AYCA) scheme
This award scheme, run annually by Making Music, involves the selection of five or so young concert artists from among a large number of musicians in the early stages of their professional careers. The scheme includes subsidised concerts, allowing member societies to book these young artists for a quite small fee. In 2005 Samantha Ward (a 2004 winner) gave an outstanding performance of the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Orchestra (and we and she enjoyed the occasion so much that she will be playing with the Orchestra again at Christmas 2007). From the same AYCA "stable" will come Fenella Humphreys (violin, 2005 winner, at Christmas 2006) and Oliver Coates (cello, 2006 winner, in October 2007).
Recent concerts
The Orchestra has had a memorable half-year.
The performance in February of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Rachmaninov's
Second Symphony attracted high praise from Roger Jones, music critic of
the Gloucestershire Echo.
Of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn he wrote, in part:
Conductor David Curtis and the CSO must share the honours for the success of the performance. The Orchestra was never obtrusive, but captured the essential atmosphere and underlying profundity of each song with playing of rare sensitivity and refinement."
Then, of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, he wrote:
"(The Orchestra) went on to give an outstanding performance of this blockbuster work. The strings, in particular, played with polish and passion and the Orchestra had plenty of spring in its step in the lively Scherzo. The beautiful controlled rhapsodic Adagio sent a shiver up my spine.
If the players sounded triumphant in the festive finale, they had every reason to be."
In March the Orchestra again visited Winchcombe Church, performing, among other works, Schubert's Great C major Symphony, under a guest conductor, Ben Palmer. This reflects one of the Orchestra's stated aims, to perform occasionally under a guest conductor. It was a very happy occasion too, organised once again by Philip and Sue Adlard in aid of "Friends of Chilonga."
The Echo critic wrote of the concert in May:
"Perhaps local concert-goers needed something more relaxing than
the highly-charged first movement {of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony} with
its scurrying strings and the all-pervading fate motif which generates a
mood of despair.
.... The two subsequent movements quickly dispelled the sense of gloom.
The song-like andante radiated serenity and charm, while in the scherzo
pizzicato the strings greatly impressed with the delicacy of their playing.
The Orchestra then gave a full-blooded account of the finale, making it
sound truly festive.
Despite their fondness for large-scale Romantic symphonies, David Curtis and his players are not hesitant to champion contemporary music, such as Strange Seas by Julian Phillips. This work, built out of a number of musical motifs, depicts an imaginary journey through terrain which is difficult and treacherous. The CSO rose to its musical challenges and arrived at its final destination with calm reassurance.
This was a good concert. I trust these hardworking musicians will enjoy better support for whatever musical journeys they embark on in the future."
It was widely felt that the Orchestra gave one of its best ever performances at Leonard Stanley Priory on July 1st. The all-Russian programme included Kabalevsky's Violin Concerto played by Amelia Jones, GYM 2006.
The season ended on July 15th with the (augmented) Orchestra's appearance (the first for an amateur orchestra) at the Cheltenham International Music Festival, in a performance of Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts in Tewkesbury Abbey - a rare and memorable experience for any musician, amateur or professional. Martyn Brabbins (Artistic Director of the Festival, who conducted the concert) later said: "They" said that amateurs could not do it, but "they" were proved wrong!"
Still to come in 2006
October 14th at Pershore Abbey, at 7.30pm
Elgar: Sospiri
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2
Holst: Planets Suite
(In aid of Farmers Overseas Action Group)
Tickets: 01905 830745, and at the door.
November 11th at Leonard Stanley Priory, at 7.30pm
Beethoven: Overture: Coriolan
Mozart: Piano concerto in A major K488
(Soloist: Kerry Beaumont)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2
(In aid of Minchinhampton Centre for the Care of the Elderly, where Douglas
Smith is now a resident)
Tickets: 01453 731227 or 01452 812427, and at the door.
November 25th St Michael and All Angels, Ledbury, at 7.30pm
Beethoven: Overture: Coriolan
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2
Hummel: Mass in E flat (with the Penyard Singers)
December 16th at Pittville Pump Room, at 7.30pm
Max Bruch: Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra
(Soloist: Fenella Humphreys, winner of Philip and Dorothy Green Award for
Young Concert Artists 2005)
Philip Lane: "Overture on French Carols" and
"The Night before Christmas".
Paul Patterson/Roald Dahl: "Three Little Pigs".
With Berkhampstead School Chamber Choir.
Tickets: Cheltenham Town Hall Box Office 01242 227979