Hello All,
It was undoubtedly an incredibly well received concert on Sunday afternoon with nearly 900 in attendance and we have had lots of positive feedback from members of the audience. A huge all-round success.
As many of you know, after Sunday, Jonny went straight to London to start his Christmas run of Prokofiev’s Cinderella at Covent Garden. He has however had time to send us all some words on his time with us. Clearly very heartfelt thoughts! Please do send in your feedback about the concert as before to those in the Conductors Committee who have contacted you. They are very important to have for future planning.
Dear musicians, volunteers and friends of the Bardi Orchestra,
I am still smiling from our concert together last Sunday. Thank you for pulling out all the stops – in Ivan the organist’s case, really very literally – in creating such a special afternoon. First, I am thankful and amazed by your fine collective music-making, with some truly stunning solo contributions from all quarters of the orchestra. The way you improved so quickly and consistently week on week is quite extraordinary for an orchestra that does not meet every day for 6 hours at a time. What I loved also was the way you opened up generously, so that by the time we got to the concert you really committed to the music. Please know that this is not to be taken for granted, and it was really special.
I am also thankful and rather gobsmacked by the way the whole project was organised. One thinks of the sleek operations, the stunning publicity, plus all the unique peripherals such as the brass band, the nightingale, the extra saxophones, the solo piano… For most orchestras, a concert like this takes an entire backroom office of professional arts administrators to put together, whereas you all seem to take it in your stride, chipping in wherever and whenever you could. It was quite something.
I come away from Bardi having left a large piece of my heart with you. Thank you for being an inspiration. I do hope your run up to Christmas is full of the joy of music making, and the spirit of connection and inspiration with your community, your friends and your family. How lucky we are that at Bardi, that joy and that sense of connection is not just for Christmas!
With love and very best wishes,
Jonny
I then want to top and tail what is happening in the early New Year.
BARDI YOUNG MUSICIAN 2025 CONCERT
Saturday 25th January 7.30pm Holy Trinity Church Regent Road, Leicester
Conductor Paul Hilliam
Alto Saxophone – Prakash Easwar Bardi Young Musician 2025
Rehearsals ;
Monday 20th & Friday 24th January
Concert day 2-5pm
Beethoven – Prometheus Overture
Vaughan Williams – Five Variants on Dives & Lazarus
Maurice – Tableaux de Provence for Saxophone & Orchestra
Haydn – Symphony No.104 ‘London’
BARDI FEBRUARY 2025 HALF TERM WORKSHOP
Saturday 15th February 10am-5pm Holy Trinity Church Regent Road, Leicester
Conductor – Adam Summerhayes
Prokofiev – Symphony No.5
The 2025 Workshop is again on the Saturday at the beginning of the February Half Term and Adam will be taking us through one of the standout symphonies of the 20th Century. Some may remember a night at The Rowans many moons ago when we played through this symphony with Andrew Constantine just before he conducted it with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Festival Hall. This was his prize for winning the inaugural Donatella Flick Conducting Competition.
There is still an opportunity to have an evening meal after the Workshop if we have enough numbers to make it viable so we will be asking for replies about this in the New Year.
Can you please let the String leads know your availability asap for both of the above and I’ll co-ordinate with the Winds, Horns, Brass & Percussion as usual.
In closing I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy a Peaceful New Year.
Robert