After the Summer Wine Newsletter, summer 2025
Dear All,
I hope you’ve had a good summer. As you read a few weeks ago, we’ve had a terrific one, taking Don Giovanni around France, and now we’re looking forward to our Alpine Symphony and Walton Cello Concerto concert on 29th September.
Gregor Piatigorsky - the dedicatee of the Walton 'Cello Concerto
Alison Holford, our soloist writes :
After Ben's introduction to the awesome Alpine last month, it falls to me to wax lyrical about Walton.
The Cello Concerto, written in 1956, is the third in Walton's set of string concerti and is, like the violin and viola works, dedicated to one of the greatest string players of the 20th century, Gregor Piatigorsky (Jascha Heifetz and William Primrose being the other dedicatees)
Despite being regarded as 'avant garde' in his youth, by the 1950s, Walton was seen as a composer in the romantic tradition, and somewhat old-fashioned, compared to his younger contemporary, Benjamin Britten - also a great writer for the cello.
The cello concerto was criticised by some at the time for its nostalgic nature, but for me, it's this rhapsodic lyricism that makes the work so special.
The close collaboration with Piatigorsky resulted in a uniquely structured concerto that shows off the virtuosity of the cello through two cadenzas whilst retaining the sweet 'cantabile' style of 50s Hollywood strings that Walton explored in his film scores.
It soon became a staple of the cello repertoire and in my opinion, rightly so.
Der Ring news!
As you might imagine, after this symphony concert is over, our attentions turn entirely to DER RING! As I mentioned in my last missive, a marketing team has been hired, as well as PR and goodness knows what, so we’re planning for it to rather explode from here on out, If you haven’t got your tickets yet, I would strongly recommend getting them now!
Orchestral repertoire weekends
This is to let you all know nice and early that our upcoming orchestral weekends are:
Sunday 8th December 2024: Das Wunder der Heliane (Korngold)
Sat/Sun 8th/9th March 2025: Daphne (Strauss)
Sat/Sun 28th/29th June 2025: The Makropolus Case (Janáček)
Sun 30th November 2025: Rusalka (Dvořák)
If you’re interested in playing in these weekends please email Jon Cooley (strings and brass) or Carla Finesilver (woodwind).
From our friends:
FRANK’S CLOSET - opening at Wilton’s Music Hall on 3rd September. This is directed by Sasha Regan, who, next year will be directing our touring production of La bohème. We’re hugely looking forward to working with you, Sasha!
The ★★★★★ cult hit musical returns! Meet Frank. A soon-to-be groom with a closet full of Divas offering a gem of advice, and a musical number (what else?). A joyous, warm hearted celebration of camp, love and musical theatre.
And meantime, as ever, our thanks to our sponsors, Big Yellow storage in Camberley - thank you for looking after our stuff!
