2010-2011 Concert Season

A MESSAGE FROM THE
CHAIRMAN

We start with a concert in the Cathedral, with the internationally renowned violinist Tasmin Little playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. The Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 featuring Andrew Millington ends an evening surely not to be missed.

The subscription concerts in March and July 2011 comprise an eclectic mixture of works, from Mozart to Stravinsky, each promising an exciting and enjoyable experience.  I look forward to seeing you at our concerts and would like to hear any suggestions you may have to offer with regard to musical content, venues or indeed any aspect of our work.  In the meantime, please carry on enjoying our music.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Jevon
 

Saturday 13th November 2010
7.30 pm at the Cathedral, Exeter

Rossini:  The Thieving Magpie
Mendelssohn:  Violin Concerto
Vaughan Williams:  The Lark Ascending
Soloist:  Tasmin Little
Saint-Saens:  Symphony No. 3 (‘Organ’)
featuring Andrew Millington

Our concert programme on November 13th is everything an eager and enthusiastic concert-goer could want and you have the foresight and good thinking of our Chairman to thank for the idea and backing. The programme opens with one of those great curtain raisers by Rossini – the concert Ouverture ‘The Thieving Magpie’.  Loads of fun, good tunes and that infectious sense of climax always found in these pieces.

The orchestra is then joined by our soloist, Tasmin Little, in two of the best known pieces for solo violin and orchestra – that endearing early romantic violin essay by Mendelssohn, with that wonderfully understated start followed by the violin’s solo entry; a slow movement full of tenderness and melodic invention, and then a really joyful finale. Don’t be fooled though by the break at the end of the Cadenza – there is more.  An audience in a concert I attended in India started applauding here.  Charitable thinking supposed they were so impressed by the playing, but save it for the end!!  Following this we have a return to the bird theme with Vaughan-Williams’ little miniature, The Lark Ascending.  Be very still and let the music waft you first into the depths of the English countryside, and then the little creature will begin its ascent till quietly disappearing into the sky.

A similar mystic start to the Great Symphony No3 in C minor, by Camille Saint-Saens, but there similarities end as the organ symphony, so beloved of French composers both as a solo work and in this case with full orchestra, explores a multitude of musical styles, colours and textures, while demanding much of the players.  Strangely, not great technical demands on the solo appearance of the organ, [and I am sure Andrew will not feel I am belittling his efforts!!], but definitely that great sense of Coup de Theatre also loved by the French romantics with its appearance in the latter half.  The piano part is worth a listen too. A certain tune had another outing in a film a few years ago but I prefer it to stay where it started – here in the symphony - and who cannot fail to be excited by that wonderful C major organ pedal scale just before the symphony’s ending. Have a great evening!  Brian Northcott
 

Tasmin Little has played with many of the world's greatest orchestras in a career that has taken her to every continent of the world. In addition to her regular solo performances, she now play/directs orchestras such as Norwegian Chamber, London Mozart Players, Royal Philharmonic, European Union Chamber Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia. In 2007/08 she joined the London Mozart Players as soloist and director in a tour of the UK which also featured her UK conducting debut.  The Exeter Symphony Orchestra is delighted to welcome her to the Cathedral in November.

Proceeds from this concert are in support of the Cathedral’s Third Millennium Campaign Music appeal.

http://www.tasminlittle.org.uk  

Tickets available from http://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk (click on Campaign/Forthcoming Events) or in the Cathedral Shop 01392 271354.  Prices £25 and £15

Kindly supported by: 

 Media support from  

Saturday 26th February 2011
7.30 pm at Blundell’s School, Tiverton

A concert with Tasmin Little in aid of the ABF (Army Benevolent Fund) The Soldiers’ Charity
Tickets from ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, Wyvern Barracks, Barrack Road, Exeter 01392 492650 from Helen Vincent or Lieutenant Colonel Alan Gorzhyka.
 

Saturday 12th March 2011
7.30 pm at the United Reformed Church, Southernhay, Exeter

Britten: Matinees Musicales
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor
Soloist: Laurie Blundell
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 in Eb 

Saturday 9th July 2010
7.30 pm at the United Reformed Church, Southernhay, Exeter

Petrovitch Mussorgsky

Programme to include:
Stravinsky: The Fairy’s Kiss
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition