29 November 2022

There was a real buzz in the foyer for the first concert of Bardi’s De Montfort Hall 2022-23 Season.

A number of people in the audience were there for the first time in almost three years keen to hear Adam Summerhayes’ violin concerto The Fiddlers Tale as well as the Orchestra playing the ever-popular Mussorgsky work Pictures from and Exhibition and, as a curtain raiser, Sibelius’ Finlandia. Audience attendance at concert halls across Europe and further afield is slow to return to pre-pandemic levels, but we were delighted to welcome a good-sized audience who showed their appreciation of the violin concerto (a De Montfort Hall premiere). 

The orchestra were delighted to perform alongside a colourfully-clad Adam, normally their leader, in the concerto. One attendee at the pre-concert talk, when questions were invited, asked “where did you get that shirt?” – he was told it was purchased at Glastonbury!

Adam has been the leader of the Orchestra for much of it’s existence and to mark the collaboration between Orchestra and composer/soloist on this occasion there was a surprise presentation, to a delighted Adam, at the rehearsal before the concert of a special picture by professional artist and Bardi Board member David Calow. 

A sparkling performance of Pictures at an Exhibition, in Ravel’s orchestration, ended the concert and was received with very enthusiastic applause by the audience. The buzz continued as concert goers headed into the cold damp November evening.   

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18th November 2022

There’s a real treat in the Bardi Symphony Orchestra’s concert at De Montfort Hall next Sunday. As well as Pictures at an Exhibition and Sibelius’ Finlandia, the Orchestra are also performing ‘The Fiddler’s Tale’ a violin concerto composed and performed by leader Adam Summerhayes. Originally commissioned by the Helix Ensemble this concert marks its Bardi premiere and the composer described his piece as follows…

Whether this is a tale telling of a fiddler or whether it is a tale told by a fiddler, I am not sure – the narrative told itself as I wrote it and it seems counter-productive to try to describe it in words: the musical story is more subtle than my words can tell and seems to shift every time I play the music.

The concerto owes something to medieval music, to minimalism and to pan-European folk music. Parallel 4ths and 5ths are a feature as are ostinatos, grounds and homophonic melodies with primitive rhythmic accompaniment – the modal world it inhabits grew organically from these elements.

The music is in one continuous span in 5 parts. Parts 2 and 4 function as slow movements and part 3 as something like a scherzo. The first interlude meditatively prepares the space for the second movement and the second interlude is reminiscent of the traditional concerto cadenza. The first part sets ideas in motion that eventually culminate in Part 5, after which the postlude ties things up in a somewhat post-apocalyptic conclusion … a conclusion that returns the music of the beginning of the work … it could seamlessly go round on a loop …

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7th November 2022

In spite of very heavy rain outside, a good sized audience gathered in St Nicholas Hall at Leicester Grammar School for the annual Bardi-LGS concert focusing on GCSE Set Works. 

The audience was treated to several solo performances by talented young pupils from the school enjoying the opportunity of playing with a full-sized orchestra.  The Bardi players also enjoyed the company of around twenty pupils sitting alongside them to play in the Orchestra. 

The audience were kept on their toes with interactive questions about the music displayed on a large screen, with responses from mobile phones in the audience, as the programme was described by Amy McPherson, Deputy Director of Music at LGS. 

Oh yes, and in the photographs you might be able to spot Orchestra Manager Robert Calow, he usually plays in the clarinet section but it was his birthday on the day of the concert so we let him join the percussion section and he had a wonderful time playing the cymbals.

Our wonderful LGS soloists for the afternoon were:
Vidhi Thakor (flute) played the Badinerie from Bach Suite No 2 in B minor
Samuel Li  (violin) played the 1st Mvt of Violin Concerto No 4 in D Major by Mozart
Elena Bensi (trumpet)  played the 1st Mvt of Haydn Trumpet Concerto in E flat
Leonora Ashworth Jones (clarinet)  played the 3rd Mvt of Kozeluch Clarinet Concerto No 2 in Eb major
Sarah Inchley (violin) played the 2nd Mvt of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No 1
Arjun Kotecha (cello) played the 1st & 2nd Mvt of Elgar’s Cello Concerto.
Katie Bensi (saxophone) played the 2nd mvt of Milhaud’s Scaramouche Suite

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10th October 2022

The Bardi Symphony Orchestra kicked off their 2022-23 season on Saturday after being invited by Leicester Philharmonic Choir to join them on stage for their Celebration of Vaughan Williams at 150 at De Montfort Hall. 

The concert was conducted by LPC music director Stephen Bullamore and commenced with the World Premiere of What man is he by Imogen Holst, a student of Vaughan Williams, for small orchestra and chorus.

Willard Welsford and the Leicester Youth Chorus then sang Thomas Tallis’ original setting of Psalm 2, the theme of which Vaughan Williams later used for the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. The Bardi Symphony Orchestra string section then took centre stage with a stirring performance of the Tallis Fantasia.

The second half featured a powerful performance of Vaughan Williams’ First Symphony ‘A Sea Symphony’. The Leicester Philharmonic Choir were joined by a much enlarged Bardi Symphony Orchestra and soloists soprano Nina Bennet and baritone Andrew Davies.

You can next see the Bardi on the De Montfort Hall stage performing Pictures at an Exhibition on Sunday 27th November at 3pm. Find out more here.

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29 September 2022

This September marks 112 years since the premiere of the Tallis Fantasia. Ahead of the Bardi’s performance at their 2022-23 season-opening concert, we explore the history of the English masterpiece in this the 150th anniversary year of the composer’s birth.

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is perhaps one of the most beloved string works in the repertoire – it has appeared in the top 5 of Classic FM’s ‘Hall of Fame’ list almost every year since the poll’s inception, is regularly performed and recorded all around the world and is seen as a symbol of ‘Englishness’.

The Bardi Symphony Orchestra rehearsing Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, 25th September 2022

And yet, its premiere 112 years ago could at best be described only as a middling success. It was performed at Gloucester Cathedral on 6th September 1910, and at the time Vaughan Williams was a relatively unknown composer, especially compared to Edward Elgar, who conducted his choral masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius to rapturous acclaim in the second half of the very same concert. The audience were perhaps unaccustomed to the gentle, pastoral nature of the music, when Elgar’s nationalistic pomp was seen as the standard of the day.

Described as both ‘extremely beautiful’ by The Daily Telegraph, and yet ‘a queer, mad work’ by music critic Herbert Brewer, the cathedral’s organist, it was too modern for the Edwardian listeners – however the composer intended the opposite, as the basis for the theme actually dates as far back as the 16th century.

When collecting old music and texts for his 1906 book The English Hymnal, Vaughan Williams came across a set of tunes based on Psalm 2, composed by Elizabethan Royal composer, Thomas Tallis. Enamoured with the rising harmonies and simple melody, he set about creating a homage to Tallis’ work. Taking inspiration from old renaissance fantasias like those by Purcell and Locke, he used the unique combination of two string orchestras to explore the tune in several different guises to give an overall impression of the original.

Over the years Vaughan Williams reworked the piece several times, but it was only when his other famous works such as The Lark Ascending came to the fore that his Fantasia was considered a triumph. You can hear the Bardi string section perform the piece at our Vaughan Williams 150 Celebration concert on 8th October.

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19th August 2022

The Bardi’s 2022-23 concert season is now on sale at De Montfort Hall. With orchestral masterpieces, concerto favourites and West End stars there’s something for everyone this season.

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29th July 2022

As we build up to the 2022/23 season launch, we’re taking a look back at some of the memorable highlights from the past year. Below are a number of performances from the 2021/22 season…

Bach (orch. Elgar) – Fantasia and Fugue in C minor – 10th October 2021

After more than 18 months away from the concert stage, the Bardi made a triumphant return to De Montfort Hall in October 2021 and a truly memorable performance of Elgar’s rarely heard, exciting orchestration of Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue opened the season in style.

Dukas – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – 20th March 2022

The Bardi Symphony Orchestra’s first concert of 2022 came with a number of Covid-related difficulties, none more so than Mihkel Kerem superbly standing in as leader on 24 hour’s notice. But the concert also helped to raise over £1,000 for the DEC’s Ukraine Appeal thanks to the generosity of our audience. The concert included this performance of Dukas’ riotous The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Elgar – Serenade for Strings in E minor – 15th May 2022

The Orchestra’s season finale at De Montfort Hall was an all-Elgar affair featuring the famous Cello Concerto, but it the concert opened with his Serenade for Strings allowing the Bardi string section the opportunity to showcase their beautiful sound.

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21st June 2022

A fitting climax to Bardi’s 2021-22 was provided on Sunday at the Bardi Young Musician 2022 Concert.

We heard a stunning performance of Strauss Horn Concerto No. 1 by 2022 Bardi Young Musician 18 year-old Francesca Penny who has played the horn since she was eight. The concert, originally planned for January,  is the first BYM concert since 2020 and was postponed from January this year for covid reasons. Fran’s assured and polished performance was greeted with enthusiastic applause from audience and Orchestra members alike when she collected her special trophy and prize at the end.

The concert began with spirited performances of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Overture and Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances by the Orchestra under conductor Paul Hilliam, and was completed in the second half with an exciting reading of Beethoven’s less often aired Fourth Symphony. 

Plans are already in hand to find Bardi Young Musician 2023 and applications are open now, all the necessary information can be found below.

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