OCTOBER 2014 JULY 2015

OCTOBER 2014 JULY 2015 www.cam-phil.org.uk

s Introduction Welcome to the 2014 15 season of the Cambridge Philharmonic, one of the UK s leading music societies. With a full symphony orchestra and a large chorus, the Cambridge Philharmonic presents a series of concerts in, St John s College and Ely Cathedral. This season we are delighted to welcome for the first time the phenomenal young Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu, who is collecting awards and accolades like a Hollywood film star! She performs at the Concertgebouw and records Tchaikovsky with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra before joining us in November to perform Rachmaninov s achingly beautiful Piano Concerto No. 2 at West Road. Sarah Castle, who performed the solo in Mahler s Third Symphony with us last year returns to take the title role in Carmen. She is joined by Nicholas Ransley, who sang Rodolfo with us in La Bohème, Simon Thorpe, who sings the role of Escamillo with Welsh National Opera just before he appears with us, and a whole host of familiar faces well-known and loved by our Cambridge Phil opera audience. January s family concert is going to require a TARDIS to fit in all the music! This year we explore film and TV themes from Star Wars to Strictly and from Frozen to Dr Who, so prepare to be thoroughly entertained. Cambridge Firsts in March offers the chance to hear a brilliant new harp concerto by Paul Patterson, a world premiere by Elgar Howarth and Jonathan Dove s beautiful and moving cantata There Was a Child, for which we are joined once again by King s Junior Voices. In May, another first will be the chance to hear the orchestral music of Wagner s Ring, woven into an ingenious concert work that has been recorded several times and heard throughout the world but never before in Cambridge. The season is framed by choral classics from Vivaldi and Elgar featuring the glorious sound of the Cambridge Philharmonic Chorus in the intimate setting of St John s and the inspiring grandeur of Ely Cathedral. So from Baroque to the present day, family concerts to opera and with plenty in between, there s something for everyone in what promises to be another very exciting season. We look forward to seeing you at a concert and thank you for supporting the Cambridge Philharmonic. Principal The world renowned Cambridge Philharmonic one of Cambridge s great city institutions. Local Secrets Season Summary Saturday 18 October 2014 Vivaldi Magnificat, Gloria Autumn from The Four Seasons Palmerston Room, St John s College, Cambridge Saturday 8 November 2014 Shostakovich Festive Overture Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 Bartók Concerto for Orchestra, Cambridge Saturday 20 December 2014 Bizet Carmen, Cambridge Saturday 24 January 2015 Family Concert TV and film favourites Williams Music from Star Wars and ET Grainer Theme from Dr Who Lopez Music from Frozen, Cambridge Saturday 14 March 2015 Dove A Song of Joys, There Was a Child Patterson Spider s Web Howarth Dover Beach, Cambridge Saturday 23 May 2015 Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture Debussy Prélude à l après-midi d un faune Wagner The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure, Cambridge Saturday 11 July 2015 Elgar The Dream of Gerontius Ely Cathedral www.cam-phil.org.uk

Saturday 18 October 2014 at 6.00pm Vivaldi Magnificat Autumn from The Four Seasons Gloria Sopranos Mezzo soprano Violin Harriet Eyley Alys Roberts Anna Harvey Alexandra Reid Cambridge Philharmonic Chorus and Chamber Orchestra The season begins with music by one of history s most prolific composers, Baroque master Antonio Vivaldi. His Gloria is sunny, uplifting and exuberant little wonder that it's among his best-loved works. But without doubt, his most popular work was written not for voices, but for strings. As music director of a girls school in Venice, Vivaldi was required to write two concertos every month. Of the 500 he composed, the group entitled The Four Seasons is certainly the best known. Popular throughout Europe during the composer s own lifetime, today they are among classical music s most instantly recognisable works. Saturday 8 November 2014 at 7.30pm Concerto! Shostakovich Festive Overture Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 Bartók Concerto for Orchestra Piano Alexandra Dariescu From the Royal Albert Hall in London to Carnegie Hall in New York, the young Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu has dazzled audiences worldwide with her effortless musicality and captivating stage presence. Recently named as one of 30 pianists under 30 destined for a spectacular career, she joins the Cambridge Philharmonic for the first time in one of the most sumptuous, romantic and well-loved piano concertos ever written. A concerto of a different kind completes the programme. Bartók s Concerto for Orchestra is a spectacular showcase for the Cambridge Philharmonic: virtuosic, nostalgic and witty in equal measure and with one of the most exciting finales in all the orchestral repertoire. Tickets (reserved): 12, 16, 20, 25 Alexandra Dariescu Alexandra Dariescu blew their minds sheer quality. Financial Times Those of us who were there wouldn t have missed it for the world. Local Secrets The Cambridge Philharmonic chorus were on splendid form. Cambridgeshire Pride Tickets (unreserved): 15 Palmerston Room, St John s College, Cambridge

Saturday 20 December 2014 at 7.30pm Bizet s Saturday 24 January 2015 at 2.00pm and 4.00pm FamilyConcert Carmen Don José Escamillo Michaëla Zuniga Frasquita Mercédès Dancaïro/Moralès Remendado Sarah Castle Nicholas Ransley Simon Thorpe Prudence Sanders John Molloy Kristy Swift Christina Haldane Leandros Taliotis Ted Schmitz and Chorus Love is a rebellious bird, sings Carmen in the Habañera as she tempts Don José away from his childhood sweetheart Michaëla, whilst also attracting the amorous attentions of matador Escamillo Expect an evening of love, jealousy, passion and sensuality starring Sarah Castle (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) in the title role and the exciting young tenor Nicholas Ransley (Scottish Opera) as Don José. Quite simply one of the most spellbinding evenings this reviewer has spent at the West Road Concert Hall. Local Secrets Mezzo Sarah Castle is, in a word, luminous. It is rare to encounter this role sung with such unfussy beauty and acted with touching believability. Union-Tribune, San Diego Tickets (reserved): 15, 20, 25, 30 Grainer Williams Lopez & Beck Gray Davenport Dr Who Music from Star Wars, ET and Indiana Jones Music from Frozen Thunderbirds In the Night Garden From the very earliest silent film to the very latest TV blockbuster, music has always been an essential part of the movies. Come and hear some of your favourite TV and film themes played live by the Cambridge Phil and discover how music can bring a film to life. This concert will appeal to all ages and promises to sell out quickly so make sure you book early! Tickets (reserved): 10 I d like to thank you wholeheartedly for yet another FANTASTIC + WONDERFUL family concert this afternoon! Just wish it could go on for longer! Audience member John Williams has given movies a musical language that can be spoken and understood in every country on this planet Without question, he has been the single most significant contributor to my success as a filmmaker. Steven Spielberg

Saturday 14 March 2015 at 7.30pm Cambridge Firsts Saturday 23 May 2015 at 7.30pm The Ring Imagination creates reality. Wagner Dove Patterson Howarth Dove A Song of Joys (Cambridge premiere) Spider s Web (UK premiere) Dover Beach (World premiere) There Was a Child (Cambridge premiere) Harp Soprano Tenor Elizabeth Scorah Linda Richardson Peter Auty and Chorus King s Junior Voices Three of Britain s most celebrated composers are featured in this concert of firsts. Jonathan Dove is renowned for his vocal music and so this chance to hear his most ambitious concert work to date will appeal to all lovers of choral music. Paul Patterson, who recently succeeded Sir David Willcocks as President of the Cambridge Philharmonic, is one of the most accomplished composers for the harp writing today and Elgar Howarth, who celebrates his 80th birthday in 2015, has had a glittering career as trumpeter, conductor and composer. His beautiful setting of Matthew Arnold s Dover Beach features the brilliant English tenor Peter Auty. The concert begins with A Song of Joys which was given its second-ever performance by the Cambridge Philharmonic in 2013 and is known to millions as the theme to the BBC Proms. Tickets (reserved): 12, 16, 20, 25 There Was a Child is joyous, vibrant, passionate. Easy on the ear as well as uplifting, it deserves to be taken up by orchestras and choral societies on both sides of the Atlantic. Financial Times Peter Auty is on fantastic form. The Guardian Pre-concert talk 6.45pm Join conductor in conversation with some of tonight's composers (free to ticket holders). Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture Debussy Prélude à l après-midi d un faune Wagner (arr. Vlieger) The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure Wagner s four-opera Ring Cycle (Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung) is one of the most extraordinary works ever conceived. Contained in the four operas is a wealth of orchestral music unrivalled in its power, beauty and sheer brilliance. From Ride of the Valkyries to Siegfried s Rhine Journey, Wagner s distinctive sound has inspired countless composers and has influenced the history of music. Woven together by Dutch composer Henk de Vlieger into one mighty work, The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure features the vast orchestra you d expect including nine horns, four Wagner tubas, two harps and three anvils! The concert begins with music from composers who preceded and followed Wagner Mendelssohn s Hebrides Overture is much more than a musical postcard of his trip to Scotland and Debussy s hazy, sensual daydream opens in a cloud of Wagner-inspired harmony. Tickets (reserved): 12, 16, 20, 25

Saturday 11 July 2015 at 7.30pm Gerontius Elgar Mezzo soprano Tenor Bass baritone Ely Cathedral The Dream of Gerontius Yvonne Howard Daniel Norman Nicholas Garrett and Chorus Along with Handel s Messiah, Haydn s Creation and Mendelssohn s Elijah, Elgar s The Dream of Gerontius is one of the pillars of the British choral tradition. Since its premiere in 1900 it has been rightly celebrated as not only one of Elgar s greatest works, but arguably the most important choral work written by any English composer. Setting Cardinal Newman s poem about a dying man s last moments on earth and the long journey of his soul towards the judgment of God, Elgar s Wagner-infused score is a moving and unforgettable masterpiece. Tickets (reserved): 15, 20, 25 / (unreserved): 10 Box Office: 01353 660349 (Ely Cathedral) Online: www.elycathedral.org/shop/tickets Directed as usual by, the choir and orchestra gave their very best in a performance of outstanding fervour, intensity, rhythmic vigour, reflective sensitivity and technical command I loved it; and judging by the applause, so did the rest of the audience. Cambridge News This is the best of me. Elgar Cambridge Philharmonic Supporters Scheme The Cambridge Philharmonic is a charitable organisation and has to be fully selfsupporting. Our main sources of revenue are ticket sales, membership fees and the generosity of Cambridge Philharmonic Supporters, which include businesses, trusts and individuals who share our vision, and whose support we gratefully acknowledge. The Cambridge Philharmonic Supporters Scheme (CPSS) is open to all and is intended to give music lovers an opportunity to become more closely involved with the Cambridge Philharmonic and its objectives. We cater for various levels of support and in return offer a range of benefits. These include an advance copy of our season brochure allowing preferential booking, acknowledgement on the Cambridge Philharmonic website and in newsletters, invitations to open rehearsals and the opportunity to sponsor a concert. The funding we receive through the Supporters Scheme is vitally important. It allows us to be more ambitious with our programmes, to engage leading musicians to work alongside our largely non-professional membership, and to continue to attract the enviable roster of world class soloists who perform with the Cambridge Philharmonic every season. For information on becoming a Cambridge Philharmonic Supporter please write to: friendssec@cam-phil.org.uk For information about concert sponsorship write to: chairman@cam-phil.org.uk For their continuing support we would especially like to thank: Patrons total eye care Principal Benefactors John Short and Debbie Lowther The Pye Foundation Benefactors Gillian and Edward Coe Rob and Janet Hook Donors David and Jackie Ball Gerard and Margaret Chadwick Churchill College Trinity College Friends Emmanuel College Pembroke College Cambridge Philharmonic Society, Registered Charity No. 243290 Design & artwork: John Williams. Cambridge Philharmonic photos Bill Hiskett. Alexandra Dariescu photo London Studios. Other images: page 4 courtesy pixabay.com/peter Kraayvanger; page 8 courtesy pixabay.com/kismoslek; pages 5, 6, & 9 Dreamstime; page 7 courtesy Pixabay.com/WikiImages & Wikimedia Commons; page 10 Bill Hiskett.

How to book Tickets for Saturday 11 July available from: Ely Cathedral Box Office: 01353 660349 www.elycathedral.org/shop/tickets Tickets for all other concerts available from: Corn Exchange Box Office, 3 Parsons Court, Cambridge CB2 3QE: 01223 357851 or book online at www.cam-phil.org.uk tickets & prices West Balcony 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 S 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 S 1 2 3 4 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 T D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S Stage 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 S D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S E E 19 E 20 21 S 20 21 22 23 24 T Wheelchairs 5 6 7 8 East Balcony 15 19 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Price 1 Balcony: Lowest price Price 2 Second price seats Price 3 Third price seats Price 4 Highest price seats Family Concert: all tickets 10 Please note: some seats in the balcony have a partially restricted view Wheelchair + companion Further information To join the Cambridge Philharmonic as a performer please email: chorus@cam-phil.org.uk or orchestra@cam-phil.org.uk For information on becoming a Cambridge Philharmonic Supporter please email: friendssec@cam-phil.org.uk To receive our newsletter about forthcoming concerts email: info@cam-phil.org.uk For information about concert sponsorship email: chairman@cam-phil.org.uk For all other enquiries, please email: secretary@cam-phil.org.uk www.cam-phil.org.uk