West Forest Sinfonia - Summer Concert: Bernstein, Stravinsky, Debussy and Griffes at Great Hall - Reading University, Reading on Sunday 25th June 2023

Please note: This concert is in the past and has already taken place.

West Forest Sinfonia - Summer Concert

Bernstein, Stravinsky, Debussy and Griffes

Part of the West Forest Sinfonia 2022/23 Season

Add to my Calendar 25-06-2023 16:30 25-06-2023 18:30 36 West Forest Sinfonia - Summer Concert   On Sunday 25th June at 4.30pm, West Forest Sinfonia will give its final concert of the 2022-23 season. The concert takes place at The Great Hall, Reading University and will be directed by principal conductor, Philip Ellis. And what a programme!!  We start with music by American composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, a tone poem based on a representation of the famous poem of the same name by Coleridge. Written in 1912, revised in 1916, it is one of few works composed by a musician of tremendous talent whose life was cut short at the age of 35 by the Spanish flu epidemic that swept the world in 1919.  Composer Leonard Bernstein was a giant of American musical theatre. His smash hit West Side Story, inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet but set on the streets of New York among rival gangs, marked a real theatrical turning point when it premiered in 1957. The scoring calls upon a large orchestra and requires a vast percussion section.  Principal Clarinet of WFS, Caroline Owen, is soloist in the Première Rhapsodie by Debussy. This small masterpiece started life in 1910 as a test piece for clarinet and piano at the Paris Conservatoire where the composer had recently been appointed as an adjudicator. Clarinettist Jack Brymer described the composition as “the finest work of its kind, even more colourful with orchestra than with piano”.  This is a rare opportunity to hear the piece in a concert environment.  The concert draws to a conclusion with The Firebird Suite (1919) by Stravinsky. The first of three ballets choreographed by Diaghilev with which Stravinsky established his reputation internationally.  Great Hall - Reading University, Reading DD/MM/YYYY

Details

Great Hall - Reading University
27 London Rd
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 5AE
England

Sunday 25th June 2023
4:30 PM

Programme

Charles Tomlinson Griffes – The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, Op.8
Leonard Bernstein – West Side Story: Symphonic Dances
~ Interval ~
Claude Debussy – Première rhapsodie
Igor Stravinsky – Firebird Suite (1919)

Performers

Philip Ellis – Conductor
Caroline Owen – clarinet

West Forest Sinfonia

Programme Note

On Sunday 25th June at 4.30pm, West Forest Sinfonia will give its final concert of the 2022-23 season. The concert takes place at The Great Hall, Reading University and will be directed by principal conductor, Philip Ellis.

And what a programme!! We start with music by American composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, a tone poem based on a representation of the famous poem of the same name by Coleridge. Written in 1912, revised in 1916, it is one of few works composed by a musician of tremendous talent whose life was cut short at the age of 35 by the Spanish flu epidemic that swept the world in 1919.

Composer Leonard Bernstein was a giant of American musical theatre. His smash hit West Side Story, inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet but set on the streets of New York among rival gangs, marked a real theatrical turning point when it premiered in 1957. The scoring calls upon a large orchestra and requires a vast percussion section.

Principal Clarinet of WFS, Caroline Owen, is soloist in the Première Rhapsodie by Debussy. This small masterpiece started life in 1910 as a test piece for clarinet and piano at the Paris Conservatoire where the composer had recently been appointed as an adjudicator. Clarinettist Jack Brymer described the composition as “the finest work of its kind, even more colourful with orchestra than with piano”. This is a rare opportunity to hear the piece in a concert environment.

The concert draws to a conclusion with The Firebird Suite (1919) by Stravinsky. The first of three ballets choreographed by Diaghilev with which Stravinsky established his reputation internationally.

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