Culture

Cellist Arturo Serna at the Grandsen

Classical music lovers will be in for a treat tomorrow evening, March 26, when Dorset County Orchestra performs in the Grandsen Hall in Sherborne. Gifted soloist and the orchestra’s conductor, Arturo Serna will be performing Mozart’s Overture to the Marriage of Figaro, followed by Dvorak’s Cello Concerto culminating with the flourish of Schumann’s –Symphony No. 3 The Rhenish. Dorset County Orchestra has long been active on the local orchestral scene, and usually perform three concerts a year, in varying venues across the county, but like many musical organisations during the past two years, have had to cancel or scale down their performances. But now they are delighted to be bringing this programme to Sherborne, home to their resident and guest conductor John Jenkins. Venezuelan-born British conductor Arturo Serna has a dynamic career as a conductor, cellist and teacher. His musical journey began as a second generation graduate of El Sistema in Venezuela and was influenced by his mother, a violinist with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra. After leaving Venezuela, he studied in France, Switzerland and England and holds a Masters in conducting. Arturo currently conducts the Dorset County Orchestra, Exeter Symphony Orchestra, Axe Vale Orchestra and Shaftesbury Symphony Orchestra. Arturo teaches at Sherborne Girls, King’s Bruton, Hazel Grove and Lewiston schools and many of his former pupils are now studying at world class conservatoires and university or play active roles in the music profession. Leader Bärbel Glaser graduated with a diploma in orchestral music and a degree in music education from the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Academy, in Leipzig, in former East Germany. Now with more than 20 years’ experience as a freelance musician in Dorset and Hampshire, she leads the Dorset County Orchestra, Dorset Chamber Orchestra and Wimborne Chamber Orchestra plus many choral societies. She is also the leader of Magna Sinfonia and the Parry String Quartet and enjoys solo recitals, as well as teaching at local schools and privately. John Jenkins joins the orchestra to conduct the Cello Concerto. He has led a varied musical career, from chorister at Bristol Cathedral, organ scholar of Durham University where he conducted both the

University College Orchestra and Chamber Choir. He has conducted the Derwent Singers, enjoys regular engagements as organist and continuo player, whilst his choral work with young people has embraced music courses across the country. John was appointed organist of Sherborne School for Girls in 1992, becoming Director of Music in 1996, and co-conductor of the Sherborne Schools’ Symphony Orchestra and Choral Society. Tickets are available from Winstones Book Shop on Cheap Street.

CELLO ACE: Artura Serna conducts the Dorset County Orchestra in Sherborne tomorrow night

Ta-da! Celebrating a hundred years

By Karen Bate

newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk

Thespians at Wessex Musical Theatre (WMT) are celebrating the centenary of their first stage performance with a medley of their best shows over the century. The oldest theatrical society in Dorset will bring A Night at the Musicals to Weymouth Pavilion as a fitting tribute to its anniversary and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, between June 1 and 4. Director and producer Paulie Beecroft said: “Having been a member of WMT on and off for over a decade, I really wanted to put on a medley of songs from some of our favourite musicals. “There’s a huge variety of numbers included from over 16 different shows, all of which we have performed at some point over the past 100 years. Our musical director, Alistair Dean, has done a fantastic job at arranging the medleys which show the diverse range of styles we’re able to perform. “After a twoyear break due to the pandemic, everyone is really enjoying taking part in rehearsals again and we can’t wait to stage this production over the Jubilee weekend.” Founded by Musician of Distinction, the late Edgar Lane in 1921 under the name of Weymouth Operatic

Society, some 139 shows have been staged, the annual musical in the Pavilion Theatre and a Christmas show in Hope Church, with just a short break during the Second World War and the coronavirus outbreak. Edgar was a great friend of Thomas Hardy, renting his home from the wordsmith and composing music for him. When Edgar died in 1938, he was honoured in the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express as one of the most distinguished musical figures to be associated with Dorset. In 1892 Edgar was appointed organist and choirmaster at St Peters Church in Dorchester. He settled in Dorset, moving to a house in Cornwall Road with his new wife Sarah, who he married in 1893. To commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, Edgar composed and conducted For Sixty Years our Queen for a massed choir concert

ON WITH THE SHOW: Evita from 2015, HMS Pinafore from 1922 and, below, Spamalot from 2017. Inset: The summer show at the Nothe Fort in 2021

of show tunes in one glorious night

SHOWBUSINESS: Guys and Dolls from 2018, The Producers from 2019 and, below, at Chesil Rocks festival in 2019

at Maumbury Rings. After the First World War in 1919, Edgar established the Weymouth operatic Society, which was merged with his Madrigal Society and became independent in 1921. Edgar’s surviving manuscripts, letters and performance billings are held in the Edgar Lane Collection at the Dorset History Centre in Dorchester. Musical theatre has moved on dramatically since those early days and the Wessex Musical Theatre has adapted to staging modern musicals, not just operatic or classic shows. A Night at the Musicals celebrates the society’s musical experience from Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore to Cole Porter’s Anything Goes and from Roger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma to Monty Python’s Spamalot. Spokesman Angela Elliott said: “Coming out to watch one of our shows that are staged as professionally as possible – but without the costs of travelling to London, is one of the most magical escapes for audiences and performers alike!” n A Night at the Musicals is being held from Wednesday, June 1 to Saturday, June 4 at 7.30pm with a matinee on Saturday at 2.30pm. For tickets ring the box office on 01305 783225

n wessexmusical theatre.co.uk

n facebook.com/ wessexmusicaltheatre

By Dan Goater

newsdesk@westdorsetmag.co.uk An author has penned a book about the people who have lived near Chesil Beach throughout history. Judith Stinton of Maiden Newton said she was inspired to write Chesil Beach: A Peopled Solitude while at Moonfleet Manor Hotel. Mrs Stinton said: “I was sitting in the subtropical garden of the hotel in Fleet, hearing the sounds of the waves crashing against the pebbles on Chesil Beach, when the idea came to me: many shelves of books have been written about the beach –its geology, birds, beasts and flowers – but no one had yet explored the lives of the people behind it. “Although it looks a lonely landscape, deserted and unchanging, there have always been people living there. “Poaching, smuggling and wrecking were common practices, but the beach also sheltered undercover agents, experimental communities and hushhush weapon testing. “D-Day soldiers left for France from this coast, and the Spanish Armada battled in its waters. “The sea provides rich pickings, but could become an enemy, a devastatingly destructive force. The seabed is crowded with shipwrecks, and in 1824 the villages of Fleet and Chiswell were swept away overnight, in the worst disaster ever to hit Lyme Bay. Chesil Beach itself is always vulnerable – to exploitation as well as weather.” Judith added: “This is my tenth book and has taken me five years to research, write – and, above all, to walk. “One of my earlier books is called A Dorset Utopia and has recently been translated into Japanese and is due to be published in May. “After deals fell through with a couple of publishers, I decided to publish Chesil Beach: A Peopled Solitude myself.” Judith says the book is available from harlequinpress.net and from Abebooks. She added that several Bridport shops are stocking the book, including Cilla & Camilla, The Bookshop and Bridport Tourist Information Centre.

BEACH HISTORIES: Judith Stinton at Moonfleet Manor and, below, her novel Shingle-minded writer in exploration of Chesil bank

Poet Ben’s bid to fund book tour and land agent

A young poet from Charminster has published a collection of his works. Alas The Day by Ben Robinson is on sale on Amazon and has been featured in Wetherspoon News. Now Ben is trying to raise enough cash to fund a national book tour and find himself a literary agent. Ben said: “I am currently fundraising for a book promotion tour around the country and to help fund the writing of my first novel, Space 2047, a comedy about people living on a spaceship after being exiled from their planet. “I am also looking for a literary agent this year to get the book promoted and published effectively. I am currently self-employed and the publishing world is incredibly competitive.” n You can read more about Ben and his work at writingandpoetry.com.