Northern Ireland BBC Proms in the Park Saturday 10 September 2011 8.00pm - 10.45 pm, Bangor Castle, Bangor Welcome to BBC Proms in the Park, Northern Ireland from Castle Park, Bangor in County Down for a wonderful feast of music in the company of The Ulster Orchestra conducted by David Brophy, Barry Douglas, Lesley Garrett, Craig Ogden and Declan O’Rourke. Listen Again to Radio Ulster Coverage of the Event Part One Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart- Overture to The Marriage of Figaro Ulster Orchestra: Northern Ireland’s only full-time professional orchestra, with over 60 musicians. Most of the orchestra’s work is in the Ulster Hall and Waterfront but it’s members also record for the BBC, make CDs, give regional concerts and perform in schools. At the baton: David Brophy, principal conductor of RTE Concert Orchestra. Tonight’s boss travels the world conducting mostly classical music – but he has also performed with U2 and Riverdance. What’s an overture? Usually it’s a collection of the best bits from an opera. The audience hears the overture at the start, then recognises the big tunes when they come along later in the performance. What’s quirky about this overture? It doesn’t contain any bits from the rest of the opera! Instead, it’s a fast moving, bright and breezy starter which is often used by itself in concerts. Mozart is probably the most prominent composer of the elegant 18th Century classical style. He toured Europe performing as a child genius before building a career in Vienna. He was famous, but poor. More than anybody else, he uses simple scales to create sophisticated music which always feels elegant and balanced. Find out more ... o BBC - Music Showcase - The Genius of Mozart Suzy Klein's favourite Mozart musical moments from Radio 3’s Mozart festival (Jan 1 – 12, 2011). o BBC - Music Showcase- Discovering music: The Marriage of Figaro Stephen Johnson explores Mozart's musical depiction of character and drama in The Marriage of Figaro. o BBC - Music - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Artist biography and selected works. o BBC - Proms 2006 -The Marriage of Figaro – Overture; Proms' programme notes on Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. o BBC Radio 3 Composer of the week H-Q Discover the life and works of the world's greatest composers with these free downloads from the BBC. o BBC - Learning - Bitesize - Mozart Revision notes on Mozart and the Classical period of Music. o Ulster Orchestra The Official Ulster Orchestra website. Georges Bizet- March of the Toreadors from Carmen Carmen – Probably the best known opera in the world…. Contains many tunes which are recognised by those who’ve never seen a full opera. This rousing march is one of them. Bizet died of a heart attack at the age of 36 when his opera was still a commercial flop, scorned by the critics. Months later a production in Vienna was acclaimed by public and critics alike. Find out more ... o BBC - Music - Georges Bizet Artist biography and selected works. o BBC Radio 3 - Building a library - Bizet Recommended recordings of Bizet's work. o Wikipedia- Carmen (novella) Bizet's opera is adapted from Prosper Mérimée's novella Carmen. Lesley Garrett- Mercé, dilette amiche from I Vespri Siciliani (Giuseppe Verdi) Lesley Garrett - one of the UK’s most popular classical sopranos. She combines her successful international career as a singer with many television appearances on shows ranging from Strictly Come Dancing to Countdown. Verdi – master of 19th Century Italian opera, composer of many instantly recognisable snippets of opera, such as the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves and La donna e mobile (which has nothing to do with a lady on the phone…) What’s an aria? - This is one! It’s a self-contained song within an opera, usually with a very expressive tune. So when you hear someone singing part of an opera out of context, it’s almost always an aria you’re listening to. What’s it about? - This aria is sung in the opera by Elena, who has just escaped execution and been told that she can marry Arrigo, the man she loves. The title means “Thank you, dear friends” – and in the aria she thanks everyone around her for the generous gift of flowers - and expresses her delight for the fact that she is soon to experience the intoxicating joy of marital love. Find out more ... o BBC - Music - Giuseppe Verdi Artist biography and selected works. o BBC - Music - Showcase- Verdi Donald Macleod explores the operas of Verdi. o BBC Proms 2011 Video Highlights : Verdi: Soprano Solo from Requiem - excerpt A clip from Verdi's Requiem recorded in the Royal Albert Hall for the second of the Proms Choral Sundays. o BBC Proms 2011 Video Highlights: Verdi: Dies Irae from Requiem - excerpt A clip from Verdi's Requiem recorded in the Royal Albert Hall for the second of the Proms Choral Sundays. Lesley Garrett- The Impossible Dream (Mitch Leigh/Joe Darion) The Impossible Dream – written in 1965 by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion as part of the musical, Man of La Mancha. It is sung in the musical by Don Quixote, a character of great imagination, whose mid-life crisis results in a series of failed adventures. The song has become one of the standards of popular repertoire, recorded by artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and the Carpenters. Lesley Garret also performed this song at the London Proms in the Park in 2008, conducted by comedienne, Sue Perkins, who had won the opportunity to conduct at the Proms on the BBC TV series, Maestro! Find out more ... o BBC Radio 4 - Soul Music: The Impossible Dream This Radio 4 programme explores the song which has inspired generations of listeners. o BBC - Music – Lesley Garrett: Artist biography and selected works. o BBC Learning Zone - Lesley Garrett – Opera singing A group of young musicians listen to Lesley Garret sing. Lesley explains why breathing is the most important thing when singing. o Wikipedia - Don Quixote Read the plot summary from Cervantes's Don Quixote. Karl Jenkins – First Movement from Palladio Strings only – This is a very exposed piece for the strings, and they have to work hard to create a beautiful rich blend of sound. Palladio - written in 1996, but inspired by a 16th Century Venetian architect called Andrea Palladio. He rediscovered and reused some of the principles of classical Roman architecture. In a similar way, Karl Jenkins takes some of the principles of classical musical style and presents them in a fresh new way for modern listeners. This piece has become something of a jewel in the crown for Karl Jenkins, thanks to its appearance in a long-running series of TV commercials. Jenkins is also known for creating large choral works such as The Armed Man and Adiemus. For Adiemus, Jenkins famously set his music to meaningless “words”, so that listeners can focus on the pure soundscape of the vocal music. Find out more ... o BBC - Music- Karl Jenkins Artist biography and selected works. o BBC Radio 4- Desert Island Disc - Karl Jenkins Listen to Karl Jenkins's Desert Island selection of music and books. o BBC News - Architecture- Andrea Palladio: His Life and Legacy A clip from Newsnight exploring the architect Andrea Palladio's life and legacy. Craig Ogden - Cavatina from The Deer Hunter (Stanley Myers) Craig Ogden – one of the world’s finest classical guitarists. Born in Australia, his work has taken him all over the world. He was the youngest instrumentalist ever to be awarded a prestigious Fellowship from the Royal Northern College of Music. Thanks to an early recording by guitar legend John Williams, Cavatina by Stanley Myers was famous some time before the release of the film, The Deer Hunter, which uses it as its main theme. Some listeners may also remember it was the music from the Gallery in the children’s programme, Take Hart, where we also first met Morph. The melody is very simple to the ear, but requires real technical skill to play well. The guitarist has to move the position of his left hand many times whilst keeping the notes incredibly smooth, so that the phrases of the tune don’t break up. Watch how Craig manages to achieve this balance between getting his hands round the instrument and keeping the tune going seamlessly. Find out more ... o BBC Learning Zone - Music for Film Master Class by Alex Heffers Acclaimed film composer Alex Heffers has written music for, among others, 'Touching the Void' and 'The Last King of Scotland', and here he offers an insight into the role and practice of his profession. o Wikipedia - Stanley Myers Biography of Stanley Myers, British film composer o Wikipedia - The Deer Hunter The Deer Hunter was made in 1978 and follows the lives of a trio of Russian American steel worker friends who leave their American home town to fight in Vietnam War. o BBC - Bitesize Vietnam War 1954-1975 Revision notes on the causes and effects of The Vietnam War Craig Ogden – Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez (Joaquín Rodrigo) Concerto de Aranjuez – probably one of the most famous classical guitar pieces ever, composed in Paris in 1939. Rodrigo was blind from the age of 3 because of diphtheria and had to write his compositions in Braille. Rodrigo was something of a one-hit wonder among his contemporaries, but this concerto has done more than any other to earn the Spanish guitar its position as a serious instrument for classical music. Rodrigo was honoured with a hereditary title (1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez) because of his contribution to Spanish music.