Hello everyone, I know I’m a bit late in posting these, but I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone for the incredible concert we put on at the Anstice for the Jubilee. Our ‘Last Night of the Proms’ style concert was a massive hit, especially with our new audience at the Anstice, and I think it was clear to see how much the audience enjoyed it; they couldn’t wait to get their first round of applause in after the Prelude and Aragonaise in the Carmen! And the whole vibe of the concert was just electric. I particularly enjoyed the second half during which the audience thoroughly joined in after realising what a treat it was having you play for them.
There were some truly brilliant moments: as above, the Carmen Suite went down a treat; when members started singing along to Adrian’s solo in the Fantasia on British Sea Songs, along with the delight of the Hornpipe lead by Dan and Lisa, and of course the laughs in Richard’s clarinet cadenza when there was the hint of the Hornpipe played in such a charming and cheeky way.
The feedback Phil and I have received from not only the audience but the staff at the Anstice has been nothing but overwhelmingly positive, and that’s all down to you and your hard work over the short term and in the concert. It was truly a joy! Both Lyndy and the audience have been desperate to know details for our next concert, and we’ve even been able to encourage non-classical music listeners to let their guards down and enjoy an orchestral concert, with many already signing up for the next one. I think that’s such a remarkable achievement.
I want to share a couple of things.
Firstly, Lyndy live-streamed the last 20 minutes or so of the event, with around 100 people watching it on Facebook. This view count has now risen to nearly 2,000!! You can check it out HERE.
Secondly, Teresa has written some lovely poems about the event:
Jubilee Concert
We came in our best plumage:
green silk cocktail frock-
will you take our picture?-
strappy numbers, hint of cleavage
the red, the gold, the sparkling slippers;
we don’t need the glitter ball.
The audience twirled their flags,
shyly at first, then with gusto,
let the music catch them, lift them,
a bit giddy, like us all.
Encore! Encore! they cried.
Outside in June dusk two women
clutched me, lined faces, fags in hand;
We absolutely loved it,
we’ve never heard live music.
-4/6/22
Jubilee Concert (Encore)
We’ve changed from our usual vestments-
sober serious black,
pin-dropping silence and frowns
if the audience claps
between movements.
Someone has let in colour,
and smiling
and good-natured queuing for beer.
The interval’s relaxed its dimensions,
a lightness of chatter prevails.
We’ve let out our faces, our shoulders,
our feet, may even have tapped out
the beat.
We may, or may not be believers
but we thought it was time
for a treat.
-6/6/22
Finally, info on next term:
On Saturday 12th November, we’ll be performing ‘Music from Stage and Screen’ – a programme featuring music from film, opera, and musicals. As this is a very different programme to what we normally do, there are a few hurdles for us to overcome regarding performance rights. Rest assured that I and the Committee are on this, so we’ll be able to put on a belter of a concert.
Following two weeks of playing through and rehearsing Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 5, we’ll be starting some of this new rep on Monday 20th June. A programme and Spotify playlist will be up soon for us all to use over the summer to learn the music.
Once again, thank you for all your incredibly hard work. As I said in the concert, a special thanks to all our guest players who support our work, and of course an enormous thanks to the committee who do so much hard work behind the scenes – in particular our Chair, Phil, who works tirelessly to make sure everything goes ahead brilliantly!
I’m really looking forward to continuing our incredible success at the start of this month.
– Ben
