Click on the dates to see more details...
Friday 15 October 2010
Mendelssohn - Overture 'Ruy Blas'
Martinu - Concerto-Rhapsody
Schubert - Symphony No. 9 'Great'
Friday 19 November 2010
Haydn - Symphony No. 43 'Mercury'
Alan Rawsthorne - Divertimento
Schumann - Symphony No. 2
Friday 17 December 2010
Mendelssohn - Overture 'Hebrides'
Stuart Hancock - Violin Concerto
David Braid - Score for an Imaginary Film
Haydn - Symphony No. 45 'Farewell'
Friday 21 January 2011
Barber - Adagio for Strings
Herrmann - Music from Psycho
Ives - Quarter-Tone Chorale
Benjamin Frankel - Concertante Lirico
Elgar - Introduction and Allegro
Friday 18 February 2011
Herrmann - Aubade
Elena Firsova - Cello Concerto No. 4 (WP)
Mozart - Symphony No. 41 'Jupiter'
Friday 18 March 2011
Schubert - Symphony No. 3
SPS Composition Prize-winner
Sibelius - Symphony No. 3
Friday 8 April 2011
Beethoven - Overture 'Fidelio'
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto
Sibelius - Symphony No. 2
Friday 22 April 2011 (Good Friday)
Bach - St John Passion
Friday 20 May 2011
FILM SPECIAL
Stuart Hancock - 'One Week' (WP)
Stuart Hancock - 'Lucky Star'
Friday 17 June 2011
Mahler - Adagietto from Symphony No. 5
Bruch - Violin Concerto No. 1
Mahler - Symphony No. 4
Past Seasons
2009-10 d 2008-9 d 2007-8
2006-7d d 2005-6 d 2004-5
Friday 21 January 2011 at 7.30 p.m.
SINFONIA STRINGS
Barber - Adagio for Strings
Ives - Quarter-Tone Chorale
Herrmann - Music from Psycho
Benjamin Frankel - Concertante Lirico
Elgar - Introduction and Allegro
Andrew Morley - conductor
We begin the new year with the Sinfonia string sections displaying their virtuosic talents, in a programme that is trans-Atlantic in the most literal sense.
Starting Stateside, we open with probably the most famous piece of twentieth-century music ever written. Most famously used in The Elephant Man and Platoon (but also in, amongst many others, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, Amelie, and Kevin and Perry Go Large!), the aching harmonies of the Adagio for Strings are instantly recognisable.
We continue with a short, quirky piece by one of America's great pioneers, Charles Ives, and then instantly into one of the all-time great film scores. Bernard Herrmann's score for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho mirrored the master's decision to shoot it in black and white, by using just strings for the entire score. From the driving rhythms of the title sequence, to the stabbing chords (literally!) in the shower scene, Herrmann's music for Psycho has never been equalled in its intensity and uncanny mirroring of the action on screen.
After the interval, we move to England, for music by another film composer. Benjamin Frankel wrote over 100 film scores during the 1950s and 60s, including The Importance of Being Earnest, The Man in the White Suit, and the Hammer horror The Curse of the Werewolf. His Concertante Lirico is a lovely example of his purely orchestral music.
Finally, an all-time classic of the string orchestra repertoire. Elgar's Introduction and Allegro, for solo string quartet and string orchestra, will show off the brilliance of the Sinfonia strings to the full, and will work wonderfully well in the beautiful acoustic of St Paul's Church. We hope to see you there!
Tickets £10/£8 - available on the door from 7.00 p.m.