Welcome to our October Concert

Weston Youth Orchestra would like to welcome you to our October Concert which includes a wide variety of music, performances from both our Junior and Senior Orchestras, and a solo item. We hope that you enjoy your time with us this evening!

The Orchestra is very grateful for the support received from our audiences as well as from family and friends of Orchestra members. We are pleased to be able to offer young musicians the opportunity to experience orchestral playing, including concert performances, as well as the chance to socialise with other young musicians and to experience a broad repertoire of music.

The orchestra continues to invest in new items to add to our extensive library of music and some of our most recent purchases feature as part of tonight’s programme.

We continue to welcome new members each year to both our Junior and Senior Orchestras, so if you are inspired by what you hear this evening, or know of a young musician who might be interested to join us, please get in touch! More information about the orchestra, including its history, past programmes and how to join can be found at our website: www.westonyouthorchestra.org.uk. Forthcoming Concerts Available in the Foyer

Saturday 16 December 50th Anniversary Concert CD - £10 7.30pm (recorded at Weston Playhouse, 2009) Junior & Senior Orchestra Christmas Concert St. Paul's Church Music from Stage & Screen CD - £10 Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1EF (recorded at Weston Playhouse, 2013)

Sunday 18 March Weston Youth Orchestra Stickers – 50p 4.00pm Junior Orchestra Concert Raffle Tickets - £1 Boulevard United Reformed Church Waterloo Street, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1LF All funds raised contribute to the running costs of the orchestra Sunday 22 April 5.00pm Junior & Senior Orchestra Concert Sidcot School Meeting House Oakridge Lane, Sidcot, BS25 1LT Our Soloist – Martha McLorinan

Martha trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and has received prizes at the Thelma King Award and ROSL. 2016 saw her perform as a soloist at York Festival (lute songs with Jacob Heringman), the Barbican festival (Copland's In The Beginning, /Jeffrey Skidmore) and Aldeburgh Festival (Bach's Magnificat, Les Siecles and London Voices/Francois Xavier Roth).

Operatic roles include The Notary's Wife and Anna (cover) in Strauss's Intermezzo and Lotinka in Dvorak's The Jacobin (Buxton Festival Opera), Mrs. Noye in Britten's Noye's Fludde (community opera in Somerset), Second Witch in Purcell's (Trevor Pinnock at the Wigmore Hall) and La Messaggera and Proserpina in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (I Fagiolini at Cheltenham and Swidnica Festivals).

Solo oratorio highlights include both of Bach's passions ( Symphony Hall, Ex Cathedra/Jeffrey Skidmore), Handel's Messiah (Birmingham Symphony Hall, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Simon Halsey and Cadogan Hall, English About Our Orchestra Chamber Orchestra/Nigel Short), Bach's Magnificat (St.John's Cathedral, Malta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/James Burton), Vivaldi's Gloria (St. Stephen's Weston Youth Orchestra was established in 1958 to provide an environment for Walbrook, The Gabrieli Players/Paul McCreesh),Haydn’s Harmoniemesse (Holland, young musicians to improve their performance skills through playing in an orchestra. The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and The Sixteen/Harry Christophers) and Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes (Kings Place, The Sixteen/Harry Christophers). She has Many former members have gone on to forge careers within the world of music, also toured How Like An Angel and Betrayal: A Polyphonic Crime Drama with I including conducting and performing with the world’s top orchestras, arranging and Fagiolini. composing music as well as playing for West End shows. In 2010 Nigel Hess, a former orchestra member and prominent composer of television and film scores, became Solo recordings include Garcia's Missa Pastoril (Brazilian Adventures, Ex the orchestra’s president. Cathedra/Jeffrey Skidmore), Gorczycki's Conductus Funebris and Litiania de Providentia Divina (Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, The Sixteen/Eamonn Dougan) and We are a self-funding voluntary organisation whose income is generated solely from Judith Bingham's The Drowned Lovers (Tenebrae/Nigel Short). public performances and annual membership fees.

On average we perform four full concerts each year. Repertoire for these is primarily sourced from our own library; this includes works ranging from standard Classical repertoire through to music from Stage & Screen. Programme Notes – Second Half Senior Orchestra

Carmen Suite – Georges Bizet A failure at its premiere, Bizet's Carmen began to find its enormous success only a few months later-and a few months after its composer's death. The opera's acclaim is mirrored by the popularity of the first orchestral suite drawn from it-like a second suite-by Ernest Guiraud, who also provided sung recitatives for the opera after Bizet's death. Our Senior Orchestra will now perform an arrangement of Bizet's 'Carmen Suite' for us.

Selections from Beauty and the Beast – Alan Menken Much like the film production, Beauty and the Beast's soundtrack was a massive critical success, receiving universal praise and recognition from both film and music critics. The music featured on the album won several awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television. Its title track and only single, "Beauty and the Beast", achieved similar success, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, Academy Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Awards for both Best Song Written for Visual Media and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Our Senior Orchestra will perform an arrangement of some of the highlights from the popular soundtrack for us today.

Caprice no.24 – Niccolo Paganini Caprice No. 24 is a famous work for solo violin. The work, in the key of A minor, consists of a theme, 11 variations, and a finale. Paganini's 24 Caprices are thought to have been composed in 1817, while he was in the service of the Baciocchi court. Junior Youth Orchestra Members: Programme Notes – Second Half Junior Orchestra 1st Violin Cello Oboe Toby Mitchell (leader) Natalie Page Archie Harris Grand March from Aida – Giuseppe Verdi Luke Curran Charlie Mitchell Anna Whiting Our Junior Orchestra will introduce the second half of our concert with the Grand Amelia Ford Peter Skeen March from 'Aida', which is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi. Set in Egypt, it Chloe Hanlon Ella Hutchinson Clarinet was commissioned by and first performed in Cairo on 24 December 1871; Giovanni Chloe Phipps Bottesini conducted after Verdi himself withdrew. The work receives performances 2nd Violin Double Bass Laura Caton Maisy Bartlett Peter Rice every year around the world; at New York's Metropolitan Opera alone, Aida has Julia Trybull Trumpet been sung more than 1,100 times since 1886. Sophie Gardner Flute Daniel Lucas Vicky Lee Selections from Harry Potter – John Williams Viola Maisie Slingsby Trombone John Williams is an American composer who composed the soundtracks for the first George Skeen Jess Lee Max Hutchinson three Harry Potter films. Well known in the film industry, he has frequently Lydia Cashmore Matthew Lucas collaborated with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to score such films as Jaws, Piano Superman: The Movie, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, E.T., Hook, Jurassic Park John Skeen French Horn Percussion and the Indiana Jones and Star Wars sagas. Our Junior Orchestra will perform a Katherine Dunbell John Skeen selection of musical highlights from Williams' Harry Potter scores for us today. Ben Doswell Luke Bartlett Rustic Dance – Charles Woodhouse Charles Woodhouse was born in London in 1879. He was a pianist and conductor; occasionally conducting for the Proms and regularly for the Civil Service Orchestra. Most of all he composed and arranged music for young musicians to play. Our junior members will perform one of Woodhouse's compositions 'Rustic Dance' for us today.

Theme from Thunderbirds – Barry Gray Born into a musical family in Blackburn, Lancashire, Gray was encouraged to pursue a musical career from an early age. Starting at the age of five, with piano lessons, he studied diligently and became a student at the Manchester Royal College of Music and at Blackburn Cathedral. Although best known for his score to Thunderbirds (in particular the "March of the Thunderbirds" title music), Gray's work also included the themes to all the other "Supermarionation" productions, including 'Stingray', 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons' and 'Joe 90'. Programme Notes – First Half Senior Youth Orchestra Members:

Senior Orchestra 1st Violin Cello Clarinet George Skeen (leader) Ella Hutchinson Adam Morris Overture to Orpheus – Jacques Offenbach Chloe Hanlon George Rabin Laura Baker The musical score of this piece was composed by Offenbach to a French text by Sam Elms Natalie Page Chloe Phipps Ludovic Halévy. The work, first performed in 1858, is said to be the first classical Andrew Barrington Charlie Mitchell Laura Caton full-length operetta. It also marked the first time that Offenbach used Greek Dennis Cole MBE Anne Tyler mythology as a background for one of his pieces. Bassoon 2nd Violin Double Bass Beshley St Leger Three Pieces from Sigurd Jorsalfar – Edvard Greig Toby Mitchell Peter Rice 'Sigurd Jorsalfar' is a work of 'incidental music' composed by Edvard Grieg for a Luke Curran Trumpet play by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson to celebrate King Sigurd of Norway. The full work Peter Skeen Flute Daniel Lucas consists of nine parts; five are purely orchestral, and four are scored for tenor or Helen Page Vicky Lee Sarah Alsop baritone, male chorus, and orchestra. Emma Hanlon Maisie Slingsby Jess Lee Trombone Serenade for Strings – Antonin Dvorak Viola Diane Parfitt Max Hutchinson The Serenade was composed in 1875 and it remains one of Dvorak's more popular Maria Parfitt Abi Evans orchestral works to this day. Dvořák is said to have written the Serenade in just 12 Tim Harrison Oboe Martha McLorinan Anna Whiting Percussion days, from 3–14 May. The piece was premiered in Prague on 10 December 1876 by John Skeen Adolf Cech and the combined orchestras of the Czech and German theatres. Alto Saxophone French Horn Ben Doswell Louise Druce Katherine Dunbell James Packer Voi Che Sapete – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The Marriage of Figaro is an 'opera buffa' (comic opera) in four acts. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786. This particular piece details when Youth Orchestra Members are taught by: character 'Cherubino' arrives, sent in by Figaro and eager to co-operate. Susanna urges him to sing the song he wrote for the Countess (aria: Voi che sapete che cosa Violins & Violas Cellos Clarinets è amor – "You ladies who know what love is, is it what I'm suffering from?"). Dennis Cole MBE Anne Tyler Laura Baker Suite from An American in Paris – George Gershwin Andrew Barrington An American in Paris is a jazz-influenced orchestral piece by the American Laura Heathcote Flutes Trumpets composer George Gershwin, written in 1928. Inspired by the time Gershwin had Helen Page Diane Parfitt Sarah Alsop spent in Paris, it evokes the sights and energy of the French capital in the 1920s. Jenny Heathcote Helen Page Gershwin brought back some Parisian taxi horns for the New York premiere of the Joyce Ruddal Alison Warner Trombones composition, which took place on December 13, 1928, in Carnegie Hall. Susie Spanring Carole Jenner-Timms Jon Hopes Nicola Bradshaw Mambo from West Side Story – Leonard Bernstein Bernstein was one of the central figures in 20th Century American music. He was a Oboes conductor, composer, educator, pianist and TV star. Perhaps his biggest success Rob Heathcote was with his musical West Side Story - a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet updated and moved to New York City. FIRST HALF SECOND HALF

SENIOR ORCHESTRA JUNIOR ORCHESTRA

Overture to Orpheus Offenbach Grand March from Aida Verdi

Three pieces from Sigurd Jorsalfar Grieg Selections from Harry Potter Williams I. Vorspiel II. Intermezzo Remembrances from Schindler’s List Williams III. Huldigungsmarsch Soloist: Toby Mitchell (violin) Accompanist: Helen Page Serenade for Strings Dvorak I. Moderato Rustic Dance Woodhouse Conductor: George Skeen Voi Che Sapete Mozart Soloist: Martha McLorinan Theme from Thunderbirds Gray

Suite from An American in Paris Gershwin SENIOR ORCHESTRA

Mambo from West Side Story Bernstein Carmen Suite Bizet Soloist: Martha McLorinan I. Prelude II. Aragonaise Interval - 20 minutes III. Seguedille IV. Habanera V. Les Toreadors Refreshments will be available at the back of the church Selections from Beauty and the Beast Menken

Caprice no.24 Paganini