Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra Brochure 2024-25

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DAVID CURTIS PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR

2425

AWelcome fromOurChairman

tIcouldn'tintroduceourprogammeforthe2024-25seasonofconcertswithoutacknowledging ehepatienceandresilienceofourregularconcertattendeesduringallthedisruptionthatwe xperiencedthroughoutour2023-24season. Weareexceedinglygratefulforthatongoingsupportandwelookforwardtoseeingyouallagainduringthisnextseason.

Nowthatthe causesofdisruptionarebehindus, weexpectandlookforwardtoaseasonthatrunsas intended!

Wehaveawonderfulrangeofrepertoireplanned foryou, spreadoverthecourseofsix concertsacross2024-25, beginningwithahugecelebrationconcerttomarkthe150thanniversaryofthebirthinCheltenhamofGustavHolst, featuringThePlanets.

tAsacompletecontrastwewillbepremieringanexcitingnewworkforviolinandorchestraby herenownedBritishcomposer, PhilipCashian, andperformedbyanoldfriendofthe orchestra, MichaelFoyle - plusthereareothergemsandfirmfavourites, fromSchumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Sibeliusandmanymore.

gWearealsoverymuchlookingforwardtoworkingwiththeCBSO’sMichaelSealwhowillbe uestconductorfortheMay2025concert - onenottomiss!

Sopleasereadontofindoutallthedetails, andIhopetoseeyouallatourconcerts!

BestWishes, David

CSOChairman

The Planets

CheltenhamTownHall

Peerless Partners

Saturday 1st February2025

PittvillePumpRoom,Cheltenham The Wild Romantic

Saturday22ndMarch2025

PittvillePumpRoom,Cheltenham

Dramatic Moments Dramatic Moments Dramatic Moments

Saturday 28th June 2025

PershoreAbbey

TheCheltenhamSymphonyOrchestra isdelightedtobereturningtoCheltenham TownHalltocelebratethe150thanniversary ofthebirthinCheltenhamofGustavHolst, withaspecialperformanceoftheentire PlanetsSuite.Thiseverpopularworkthat emergedfromthemindofourlocalherohas, overtheyears,becomeafirmfavouritewith audiencestheworldover.Tobeabletohear itperformedinHolst'shometownissurelya specialtreatnottobemissed!

Asapreludetothattreat,wewillbe performingotherworksthatlinktoHolst'sin source,soundorspirit.Theconcertwillstart withaspine-tinglingFanfareforthe CommonManthatwillcertainlysetthe scenefortheevening.

We'llcontinuewithamoregentleinterlude ofFolkSongsfromSomerset,pennedby Holst,lostinthemistsoftimeandrediscoveredinNewZealandonlyafewyears ago.

Toconcludetheintroductiontothis spectacularshow,we'llpresent TheSorcerer'sApprentice,thatmust certainlyhavebeenaninfluenceonHolst himself.Seeifyoucanspottheconnection...

Celebrating Holst’s 150th Birthday

ALSO ON THE PROGRAMME:

CHELTENHAMTOWNHALL 7.30pm

HOLST: Folk Songs from Somerset DUKAS: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice ONLINEBOOKING www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra TELEPHONEBOOKING:03336663366

COPLAND: Fanfare for the Common Man Scantofindoutmore>> The Planets Tocelebratethe150thanniversaryof thebirthinCheltenhamofGustavHolst

MichaelFoyle

Regular attendees at CSO concerts will know that our esteemed conductor, David Curtis, is fond of inviting our audiences to imagine that they are listening to a piece for the first time. Well, for this concert, our audience will truly be abletodoso!

We have a cornucopia of Christmas gifts for you, including the World Premiere of a new violin concerto by worldrenowned composer Philip Cashian. We’re very excited to have been chosen to present this premiere and doubly delightedthatouroldfriend, MichaelFoyle,willbethesoloist inthisexcitingnewwork.

A A A Concerto Concerto Concerto ffor for or Christmas Christmas Christmas

Sibelius Finlandia

PhilipCashian ViolinConcerto(World Premiere)

MichaelFoyle–violin Beethoven Romance

Tchaikovsky NutcrackerSuite

Hely-Hutchinson CarolSymphony

The concerto will be preceded by a scene-setting Finlandia, a real favourite. After the concerto premiere, Michael Foyle willfurtherdelightuswithaperformanceofafavouriteofhis, the BeethovenRomanceforViolin...

...and as if that weren’t enough, we’ll complete the evening with a festive favourite - Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and orchestrated ChristmasCarols from Hely-Hutchinson.

Saturday Saturday Saturday7th 7th 7thDecember December December2024 2024 2024

PittvillePumpRoom,Cheltenham,GL523AG

ONLINEBOOKING www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra TELEPHONEBOOKING:03336663366

JackLiebeck

This concert is all about partnerships and collaborations, demonstrated most clearly by the performance of Brahms Double Concerto. It’s a fabulous work and a perennial favourite. Music analysts have declared that its performance requires brilliant, equally matched players so this performance by a partnership oftwoworld-classsoloistswillbeararetreat

RaphaelWallfisch

It’s often forgotten, or not acknowledged, that Brahms may not have reached theheightsthathedidwithoutthesupportof Schumann Duringtheearlyyears of his career, Brahms found himself being championed by Schumann and this developed into a close, collaborative friendship. The inclusion of Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in this concert is a reference to that friendship, it being Schumann’slastsymphony,onlycompletedayearorsobeforehisfirstmeeting withBrahms...

...One of the characteristics of a collaborative musical partnership is that ideas are passed to and fro between the partners and little gems can be taken and incorporated into something quite

and unexpected, much as a magpie might espy a shiny object and swoop in to add it to its collection.

FelixMendelssohn

Soprano Hannah Davey studied with Christine Cairns at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where she gained a First Class honours degree and won prizes includingtheStClaireBarfieldPrizeforOperaticDistinctionandtheBromsgrove International YoungMusician’s Platform. Her performances takeher across the UKandEuropeandincludesongrecitals,oratorio,andorchestralconcerts. SoloengagementsincludeaproductionofTheMerchantofVeniceattheRoyal ShakespeareCompany,regularperformanceswiththeOrchestraofStJohn’sat theWigmoreHall,alongwithsongrecitalsinFrance,SwedenandDenmark.

CSO is honoured to welcome the CBSO’s Michael Seal as guest conductor for this concert of Dramatic Moments. He will be guiding us through three quite different pieces, each of which in their own way, are crammed with dramaandexcitement!

Tchaikovsky perfectly encapsulated all the violence, drama and anguish of the Romeo and Juliet tragedy in this overture. In a concert of Dramatic Moments,itwouldbedifficulttothinkofamoresuitableopening.

The Trumpet Concerto by Arutiunian is an excellent example of the impact that the Armenian folk culture of his homeland had on his compositions, showcased through melodies that sound as though they could have been improvised,withmusicalgymnasticsrequiredofbothsoloistandorchestra.

In his 15th Symphony, Shostakovich was aiming to create a gift to himself, so took the opportunity to bring together in this one work, quotations and influences from Mahler, Wagner, Beethoven and Rossini, and maybe more, soitisasymphonyfullofsuchwonderful DramaticMoments!

Isaac Williams is a 19-year-old violinist from Gloucestershire He started learning the violin at the age of six, and won both the jury prize and audience vote at the 2023 Gloucestershire Young Musician competition and has recently given recitals at the Cheltenham Music Festival and for various other festivals and societies around Gloucestershire

He was awarded a scholarship for Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where he has been studying with Carducci Quartet' s 1st Violinist Matthew Denton since September 2022.

Isaac was also one of 21 recipients of the Royal Philharmonic Society's instrumental Purchase Grant for 2023, and with their generous support plays with a fine French bow by Joseph Voirin. Since studying at Trinity, he has played in several masterclasses with acclaimed artists including Roman Simovic, Jennifer Pike and Tasmin Little and often leads conservatoire orchestra projects.

► For a concert featuring the music of both Sibelius and Tchaikovsky, it would seem natural to start with a huge favourite from Sibelius, the Karelia Suite. Its music is inspired by the rough-hewn folk music of the Karelia region, a vast swathe of territory that straddles what is now the border between Finland and Russia.

► Within relatively few kilometres of the southernmost points of the Karelia regionliesthecityofSt.Petersburg,hometotheSt.PetersburgConservatory from which Tchaikovsky graduated in 1865. Whilst his Violin Concerto was composed some 13 years later in Switzerland, it’s a romantic thought that he mighthavetakensomeinspirationfromthelandscapestothenorth.Itisone of the most popular in the canon, and we are delighted that we have GloucestershireYoungMusician2023,IsaacWilliamstoperformit.

► To complete the trio of works for such an epic concert, Sibelius’ 5th Symphony is an obvious fit. This monumental symphony is vast in its scope and Sibelius himself felt that he was taking direction from heaven during its composition Nevertheless, he was intent on keeping it down-to-earth and vivid. In particular, its last movement is a huge piece of work that it’s easy to feel the evocation of a vast, EpicLandscape.

Sibelius: KareliaSuite Tchaikovsky:Violinconcerto

Soloist:IsaacWilliams(GlosYoungMusician2023) Sibelius Symphonyno.5

Saturday28thJune2025

P h Abb Ch hSt P h WR101DT www.eventbrite.co.uk

Visit bit.ly/cso-newsinanybrowser

The Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra is one of Britain’s leading amateur orchestras, each year programming an exciting and eclectic season of concerts covering a wide rangeofmusicalrepertoire.Theorchestraiskeentosupport emergingtalent,aswellasworkingwithestablishedsoloists, andperformsinconcertvenuessuchasCheltenhamTown Hall, Pittville Pump Room, Tewkesbury and Pershore Abbeys,andGloucesterCathedral TheCSOhasalsomade successful foreign tours to Annecy (2008, 2010, 2013) and Göttingen (2015), and have performed on BBCRadio3 and ClassicFM. www.cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra.info

www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra

TELEPHONEBOOKING:03336663366

Tickets: £20 & £17

Full-time students 50%, age 18 & under go free www.cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra.info @cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra @CSOrch

publicity@cheltenhamsymphonyorchestra.info

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