After a very successful season last year, with sell-out performances, the Alderley Edge Orchestra is ready for an exciting programme of concerts ahead. The 2017 – 2018 season will feature a variety of excellent conductors and soloists, bringing new repertoire and new interpretations of well-loved pieces.
The next concert on Saturday November 18th starts with a Rossini overture from the comic opera, The Barber of Seville. This is a tuneful, lively romp which will get your fingers tapping and your feet dancing. It is followed by the very popular Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2, played by young soloist Joshua Kelly. Rachmaninov was a Romantic who said "I compose music because I must give expression to my feelings" and this is well exemplified in this concerto with its brooding melancholy and yearning, interspersed with outbursts of fierce emotion. At its first performance in 1901, it gained immediate success and has never lost its popularity. Many film directors have tapped into its emotional heft and some of you will recognise the music from films such as David Lean's Brief Encounter, the 1946 Garbo film, Grand Hotel and Clint Eastwood's 2010 film, Hereafter.
The conductor on November 18th is Richard Howarth who says, "The orchestra must be applauded for taking on new ideas for repertoire and this concert will include a rarity in the concert hall, Massenet's Scenes Pittoresques. The four movements offer wonderfully tuneful music, but it is the third movement, Angelus which offers the deepest experience with its hymnlike tune underpinned by rich orchestral textures."
The final item in the programme is a well-known favourite, Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, showing all the passion and drama of Spanish dance and featuring the orchestra's leader, Shahla Armitage. Rimsky-Korsakov said, "it was my intention that the Capriccio should glitter with the virtuosity of its orchestral colour and vivid brilliance," and the Alderley Edge Orchestra will not disappoint!
The concert will take place at 7.30pm on Saturday 18th November in the Methodist Church in Alderley Edge, SK9 7DU. Tickets cost £10 for adults and £1 for under eighteens. Tickets will be available on the door or can be bought in advance through the website or on the ticket hotline 01625 581321.
Guest post by Helen Hall.
