Opening Nights Ukulele Orchestra Performance Program

F L O R I D A S TAT E UNIVERSIT Y GEORGE HINCHLIFFE’S UKULELE ORCHESTRA O F G R E AT B R I TA I N SPRING 2021–22

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A Note from Michael

T

he Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB) is an English musical ensemble founded in 1985 by George Hinchliffe and Kitty Lux as bit of fun.

The orchestra features ukuleles of various sizes and registers from soprano to bass. The UOGB is best known for performing covers of popular songs and musical pieces from a wide variety of music genres taken “from the rich pageant of western music”.

The songs are often performed with a reinterpretation, sometimes with a complete genre twist, or well-known songs from multiple genres are seamlessly woven together. Pieces introduced with lighthearted deadpan humor and juxtaposition are a feature of their act, the members of the orchestra wear semi-formal evening dress and sit behind music stands, in a parody of a classical ensemble.

My personal and professional experience is that you can’t have much more fun in the theater than an evening with George Hinchliffe’s Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

We thank you for your support through sponsorships, memberships and attendance which makes all of what we do possible.

There are many great performances still to come this season and we hope to see you there.

Michael Blachly

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George Hinchliffe’s

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain TUESDAY, MARCH 29 GOODWOOD MUSEUM & GARDENS • 6:00 P.M. & 8:30 P.M. • $50 • GENRE INSTRUMENTAL, VOCAL ARTS MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC The Ukulele Orchestra is an all-singing, all-strumming group that has been performing for over 35 years using only a handful of ukuleles. They maintain that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation as long as it is played on a ukulele! Millions have enthused over the years about the fact that the Orchestra tears the house down with a lively, touching, catchy, emotive and foot-stomping show, threaded with humor and wit. The Ukulele Orchestra transcends differences between a serious concert and entertainment.

Continued on pg. 21

OPENINGNIGH T S .F SU.ED U | 1 7

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George Hinchliffe’s Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Continued from pg. 17

The Ukulele Orchestra is a touring musical group which has been delighting audiences, raising the roof, selling out performances and receiving standing ovations since 1985. This all-singing, all strumming group has been performing for 35 years using only a fistful of ukuleles and maintaining that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation.

The premise sounds astoundingly simple: instruments, voices, no gimmicks, no light show. Yet the New York Times exclaim that ‘they extract more than seems humanly possible from so small and so modest an instrument” and millions have enthused over the years about the fact that the Orchestra tears the house down with a lively, touching, catchy, emotive, stomping show, threaded with humor and wit which inexplicably draws the audience in, to a joyous world beyond the conflicts of musical genres and transcending differences between a serious concert and entertainment.

As soon as the performers walk on stage, the audience feels that they are in safe hands, at home with friends who are totally in command of the art, craft, and magic of the stage. Sitting in chamber group format, and dressed in formal evening wear (regardless of the time of day or the venue, whether Glastonbury Festival or Carnegie Hall), it uses the limitations of the instrument to create a musical freedom as it reveals unsuspected musical insights.

At this point, the audience may well sit back, all prior assumptions forgotten, and allow the Orchestra, which has 16-handedly changed the face of the ukulele world, to give what the Independent raved as “the best musical entertainment in the country”.

The first gig, intended as a one-off bit of fun was an instant sell out and led to national radio, TV, album recordings and international tours.

Since then the Orchestra has become what the Observer called “a much loved institution” giving thousands of concerts, TV and radio appearances all over the world. There have been tours in Britain, across Europe, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China America, Canada and the North Pole.

They also had the honor to perform, by invitation of The Prince of Wales, at the private 90th Birthday party for Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle.

The Ukulele Orchestra have released CDs and DVDs on their own independent label. The orchestra’s music has been used in films, plays, and commercials. The Financial Times praised, “The sophisticated sound they make—both percussive and melodic—is at once hilarious and heartfelt”

BIOGRAPHIES JONTY BANKES Jonty was serenaded to sleep as a child by his father playing Bach on the cello, inevitably he learned to appreciate music and knew from an early age that he wanted to be a performer.

His formative years were spent playing music and acting. He discovered and fell in love with the bass in 1972.

Moving to London to try an acting career in 1980 he met Dave Suich and acted in his show until the bassist left and he took over; he changed from struggling actor to struggling musician. He supplemented his income as a London double-decker bus driver.

Jonty became a full-time musician in the early 90’s joining the orchestra in 1992 while also recording and touring with Ray Davis, Louisiana Red, Marcus Malone and John Mayall. He can also be heard whistling on many TV soundtracks and commercials.

He currently lives in Germany and often performs as a guest bassist with various bands and supported Eric Clapton on the German leg of his 2018 stadium tour.

PETER BROOKE-TURNER At over two meters tall, Peter Brooke-Turner may well be the tallest ukulele player in the world—he is certainly the tallest in the Ukulele Orchestra. He was born in Portugal and grew up in the Soviet Union, Brazil, America, Finland and Italy. After false starts on the violin, trumpet and guitar, he finally discovered the ukulele and joined the Orchestra in 1995.

He has released three albums under his pseudonym Tony Penultimate and has worked with many well known showbiz names in the United Kingdom and has even lent his uke to Tiny Tim. He fronted his own ‘Ukulele Kings’ rock group in the 90s.

Peter has started the world’s first high-altitude drama company—the ATTC (Airline Toilets Theatre Company) which has subsequently produced over twenty high-quality, lowbudget songs, sketches and shows (all on Peter’s iPhone) from this oft neglected performance area. They can be viewed online.

LAURA CURRIE The youngest member of the orchestra. Laura was born in Dumfries, Scotland, and studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. She started playing the ukulele at the age of 15 after seeing UOGB in concert, and used the instrument to front her first rock band at 16 years old. She began performing with the Orchestra in 2019, and has since toured with them across China, France and Switzerland.

When not touring with the Orchestra, Laura performs under the solo stage name Ra. She writes and releases original songs and covers, and one of her collaborative singles was recently featured in a Netflix show. Laura has garnered an active online following for her eclectic mix of elaborately self-produced YouTube videos. During the Covid-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom, she used these video editing skills to produce the Ukulele Lockdown series that the Ukes released weekly on Youtube. Laura also plays piano, bass and guitar.

LEISA REA Leisa has worked as an actor, director, comedy writer and teacher. Her professional directorial debut in 1991 of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, won the Lloyds Theatre Challenge and was performed at the National Theatre in London.

Since then, she has taught Stand Up Comedy at the Soho Theatre, directed several smash-hit comedy shows, written and performed two critically acclaimed solo shows, and for some time, was one half of the duo, Adams & Rea, who scooped the Musical Comedy Awards prize in 2009. Alongside this, Leisa co-created a theatre show with Miranda Hart and was one of the writers for the pilot episodes of BAFTA-nominated Miranda on the BBC. When not on tour with the Orchestra, Leisa is a creative consultant for several organizations offering training, workshops and advice. She joined UOGB in 2003 and found it to be the perfect home for her colorful backstory.

OPENINGNIGH T S .F SU.ED U | 2 1

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BEN ROUSE Ben was born in Cornwall but grew up in Hampshire. At the age of 8 he began playing the drums, turning to the guitar at age 11. At 23, Ben formed the rock band Purple Monkey, which became a popular band along the South coast of England. At 25, he decided to learn the violin and mandolin and formed the folk duo, Teapot Junkies, releasing two albums of original material. He went on to teach himself the saxophone, flute, trumpet and banjo.

At 30, Ben decided that a proper job might be necessary and earned himself an HND in electronics, but in 2007 was drawn back to music when he saw the Ukulele Orchestra perform on Jools Holland Hootenanny. The next day he bought a ukulele and began performing

and teaching workshops at festivals around the United Kingdom until, in 2014, he was invited to play with the Orchestra. He has since toured America, China, Europe, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom with them.

DAVE SUICH Dave has worked as a teacher, a drama and a special needs specialist, and is a Makaton signer.

For many years he was a compere at Glastonbury Festival for the Theatre Stage.

Dave has been with the Orchestra for 35 years and notes that he has “jammed with a Beatle and performed for a Rolling Stone” as well as discussed gardening with HRH Prince Charles.

At the same Chicago Chamber Music Festival in which the Kronos String Quartet played Purple Haze in the 80s, Dave introduced the Ukulele Orchestra version of ‘Born To Be Wild’ to the north American audience. When Dave is not touring with the Orchestra he may be found instead with his bluesy group: The World Wide Whelks, or on his allotment.

EWAN WARDROP Ewan started playing the ukulele in 1998 but also plays mandolin, guitar and the penny whistle. Ewan trained as a ballet dancer and appeared in a record-breaking run of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake on Broadway. He has a

long history of working in theatre on an international stage and has worked with companies such as the The Royal Shakespeare Company and Kneehigh Theatre. He also has an experimental Morris Dance group called the Bo Diddlers.

THE ORCHESTRA In Europe and America the Orchestra are best known for playing versions of famous rock songs and film themes, sometimes changing these so that the expectations of the audience are subverted. Sometimes a rock song will be changed into a jazz idiom, or sometimes several songs which are known from different genres are combined in one “soup of contrasts.”

The founding brief for the group was to have fun and “not lose money.” Incredibly, throughout its 30-year career, the group has succeeded in both not losing money AND incidentally making millions of dollars. It has been seen worldwide by audiences including members of the British Royal Family and other OPENINGNIGH T S .F SU.ED U | 2 3

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crowned heads of Europe, at the Houses of Parliament in London, and by many millions of television and online viewers. In one territory, the Orchestra has played to audiences which comprise 60% of the population!

When The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain began in 1985, the public opinion was that an orchestra consisting entirely of ukuleles in different sizes was a strange concept. This was something that attracted the founders. The Orchestra members at that time had experience with many kinds of music and yet had become tired of the conventions of the music business, as well as the conventions of performance and genre stereotyping which were prevalent at that time. The idea was to make something fresh and entertaining, both modern and oldfashioned, in a different style which deviated from the current performance fashion.

In 2015 The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain celebrated 16 million minutes of “ukuleleation,” having been “on the road” for 30 years and counting.

While it is not normally in the nature of these artists from Britain to “blow their own trumpets,” or in this case to “pluck their own ukuleles,” it is an undeniable fact that UOGB has become not only a national institution, but also a worldwide phenomenon. Among their many international concerts and festival appearances, they have “Sold Right Out” twice at Carnegie Hall in New York, twice at The Royal Albert Hall in London, and also at Sydney Opera House in Australia.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain has been featured in a CNN report in 2012 and featured on CBS This Morning in 2013. The Orchestra has been invited by the British Broadcasting Corporation to play live on air for BBC Radio 3 (the classical music channel) as well as for BBC Radio 1 (the rock, Electronic Dance Music and youth music channel) and live on other BBC channels many times. They have taken part in The Electric Proms (in a collaboration with The Kaiser Chiefs), and the BBC Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London (The Proms), where they were the “fastest selling late night prom in history,” selling many thousands of tickets for the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London very quickly. At that concert the Ukulele Orchestra performed “Jerusalem” and other classics of the Last Night of the Proms, the celebrated

120-year-old concert series which launched in 1895. Around 2,000 ukulele players in the audience joined the Orchestra in playing passages from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. A DVD of this 2010 BBC Prom concert at The Royal Albert Hall is available to order from the website, ukuleleorchestra.com. For those who wish to perform with the Orchestra in the comfort of their own homes, chords and words to accompany UOGB during their 2012 Sydney Opera House concert are also available on this DVD. The Orchestra has recorded and released records, CDs and DVDs on its own independent label and with CBS, Sony, Discethnique, Longman, Volume, Tachyon and The Ministry of Sound, as well as appearing on Jools Holland’s Hootenany.

Original compositions and songs by the Orchestra have been used on television, film, and in radio plays, as well as in performances by other musicians. They have collaborated with the British Film Institute, providing music for silent films and also musically with Madness, Robbie Williams, Ant & Dec, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), Stefan Raab, Rainer Hersch and a full symphony orchestra performing at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Beatle George Harrison was a well known fan who established contact and played with the orchestra.

In addition to performing at theatres and concert halls, the orchestra has also packed the crowds in at rock festivals such as Glastonbury, The Big Chill, WOMAD, The Electric Picnic, and before 170,000 people in Hyde Park, as well as playing in seven cathedrals in England and Wales. The group has been commissioned to write commemorative concerts, e.g. The Cecil Sharp 100 Year Memorial Concert in 2012 and The 100 Year World War One Memorial Concert in 2014 for Birmingham Town Hall.

One unique feature of this, the original Ukulele Orchestra, is that although there are many examples of collaboration, they have remained a determinedly independent concern. Relying on their own resources and an email list of tens of thousands, they continue to run their own recording and publishing, eschewing mainstream advertising and record companies.

A typical UOGB concert will feature songs sung by each member of the orchestra so that the audience can get to know each person on stage. Often a fast piece will be followed by a

slow piece in order to maintain variety, and a rock song will perhaps be followed by classical music. The concept is that of a “level field,” and is maintained by playing only one kind of instrument, then all kinds of music can be played without the variety appearing to be chaotic. One important task of any musical group is maintain unity with variety, integrity with difference, many voices all working in the same direction. This orchestra is made up of performers who are different from each other, and with very different musical backgrounds, experiences and performing styles. The ukulele brings them all together.

Mr. Hinchliffe says that the work of the orchestra is like a pencil line drawing rather than a multi-colored painting. The palette is limited but the possibilities are endless. The ukulele in the hands of the orchestra is said to be like an iceberg; visible above the water, but with much more hidden beneath. There are spiritual dimensions which are far larger and not immediately seen. Within the limitations and the simplicity of the humble starting point of the orchestra, there are many possibilities for exploration and variation. It may be the case that the very nature of limitation (in this case to the sounds of the ukulele) enables wider variations to be pursued (which might seem too extreme in a less limited context). Perhaps the limitation stimulates freedom within a defined context. Too much variety could be confusing, too many limitations could become tiresomely familiar. With their combination of “unity and variety, and simultaneous individualism and collectivism” the orchestra is able to make the best of the over-riding vision as well as the individual talents and personalities in the orchestra.

Because the music is played on only ukuleles in different sizes, the conventions of any given genre might not be present. Sometimes the music sounds like folk music, sometimes, like a music without a tradition. The sounds of the instruments are not typical for most of the music played.

The arrangements of the music are specially made, often by director and founder, George Hinchliffe, or other members of the group.

The focus is to bring out the spirit of the music—to be faithful to the musical notes, while actually changing the style or genre by the mere fact of playing it on ukuleles.

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