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Students from LGS Perform Alongside The Bardi

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12th November 2024

An impressive array of talent was on show on Sunday in the annual Bardi/Leicester Grammar School concert.

A whirlwind tour through music history from the Baroque to John Williams saw the Orchestra accompany gifted young LGS players in concerto movements, whilst others sat alongside Bardi players in the Orchestra. 

The concerto players chose movements from composers ranging from Vivaldi, through Mozart, to 20th century French composer Paul Maurice played on instruments including cellos, trumpets, bassoon and saxophone. The orchestra was showcased in the overture from Beauty and the Beast by Alan Menken, a movement from Brahms mighty Symphony No. 4 and the concert culminated in a John Williams Tribute selection of music from the composers best known film scores. Each concert item was greeted with loud applause and was pronounced ‘the best yet’ by audience and players alike.

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The Bardi’s New Horizons season off to a flying start at De Montfort Hall

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7th October 2024

There was a distinct air of anticipation building in the foyer of De Montfort Hall on Sunday afternoon in advance of the Orchestra’s first concert of the New Horizons season under conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa.

Orchestra Manager Robert Calow had to step in at the last minute to do the pre-concert talk as listed host John Florance was laid low with covid. Robert did a sterling job and said afterwards it was easy as Natalia and soloist Lydia Shelley were a real pleasure to talk to!  

The concert opener Kauyumari by Gabriela Ortiz brought smiles to the faces of audience and orchestra alike, with a very large orchestra and an amazing battery of percussion instruments. The main theme of the piece emerged and with repetition became a pleasing earworm remaining long in the memory.  

This was followed by a popular return by soloist Lydia Shelley who performed Dvorak’s Cello concerto and provided clear evidence of the rapport between conductor and soloist as they gave a powerful and memorable performance of the work which was clearly appreciated by the audience. 

New merchandise proved a talking point in the interval with the ‘Bardi bears’ making a welcome return to the Friends desk, lots of them went off to new homes after the concert.  

The second half consisted of a single work, Brahms Symphony No. 2 which was, under the dynamic direction of Luis-Bassa, clearly enjoyed by players and audience alike with enthusiastic applause at the end.

The new season is off to a flying start! See you all at the next one on Sunday 1st December for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and more.

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Photography by Chris Roe

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The Bardi Welcome Natalia Luis-Bassa and a burst of Mexican sunshine to De Montfort Hall

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30th September 2025

Mexican Sunshine fills the air!

10 o’clock on a rather grey autumn morning in a distinctly chilly rehearsal venue was not a particularly auspicious start to an all-day Sunday rehearsal for the Bardi players. Things changed rapidly when conductor Natalia Luis-Bassa lifted her baton and the very large Bardi Orchestra came to life in Kauyumari, a short work written by Gabriela Ortiz, which was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and  premiered in 2021 to welcome their audiences back after the Covid-19 pandemic. Orchestra Manager Robert Calow called it ‘a sort of Mexican Bolero with a slow introduction’. He said ‘the little Mexican earworm of a tune starts on the piccolo and goes all round the orchestra’ rising to a very loud, exciting ending. The hall was flooded with Mexican sunshine and players faces began tentatively to smile as the compelling eleven-minute piece began to unfold under Natalia’s energetic direction. The percussion section in an orchestra are often referred to as ‘the kitchen’ and the Bardi percussionists are kept fully occupied throughout with no less than 16 instruments to play including exotic sounding things such as bongos, claves, a jawbone and a seedpod rattle (as well as, reassuringly, timpani and a bass drum). 

Audience and players are guaranteed an exciting and memorable start to the Orchestra’s ‘New Horizons’ season on Sunday 6th October, with two favourites from the classical repertoire, Dvorak’s much-loved Cello concerto, with returning international cellist Lydia Shelley, and Brahms’ tuneful Symphony No.2 completing the programme.

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Dvorák Cello Concerto
Brahms Symphony No.2

Sunday 6th October at 3pm
De Montfort Hall, Leicester

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Watch Highlights from the 2023/24 Season

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7th August 2024

As we prepare for our New Horizons 2024/25 season, we have gathered together a selection of highlights from last season.

Sunday 8th October 2023, De Montfort Hall
A Celebration of John Williams

Imperial March from Star Wars

Flight to Neverland from Hook

Sunday 24th March 2024, De Montfort Hall
Grieg – In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt

Sunday 19th May 2024, De Montfort Hall
Mahler – Symphony No.1 in D “Titan”

See our YouTube channel for more videos from the Bardi

Subscribe to the bardi youtube channel here

Bardi Wind celebrate 200 Years of RNLI at De Montfort hall

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10th June 2024

Thank you to all who joined us for what was a very successful Bardi Wind Orchestra concert on Sunday afternoon celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.  

There was a real buzz of anticipation in the De Montfort Hall for an afternoon of ‘Fantasy and Adventure’, with music from Disney, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean featuring prominently, and the feet were soon tapping!

The Wind Orchestra, in association with Oadby and Wigston Lions Club, were under the baton of guest conductor Dan Watson making his debut appearance, together with local favourites David Morris and Jenny Saunders joining them for several vocal items. Presenting the concert in a last-minute change to the programme, the Wind Orchestra were also fortunate to be able to secure the services of well-known local broadcaster Dave Andrews, who was able to talk to representatives of the RNLI about the amazing and invaluable work that they have been doing over the last 200 years.  

Final totals for the charity collections are still being tallied, but those collection buckets were certainly very heavy following another successful summer charity concert.

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A Scandinavian Triumph at De Montfort Hall

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26th March 2024

The music of Finland, Norway and Denmark added to the enjoyment of a sunny early Spring afternoon when the Bardi played a programme of Sibelius, Grieg and Nielsen at De Montfort Hall on Sunday.

The programme opened with a performance of Grieg’s Peer Gynt suites Nos 1 and 2 which was followed by a rare performance Nielsen’s Flute concerto by flautist Anna Wolstenholme, an internationally known player based in Norway. The piece demands a virtuoso player and Wolstenholme was certainly the right choice for the piece.

The second half of the concert was occupied by a performance of Sibelius Symphony No. 2 in D major.  Probably the most well-known of Sibelius’s Symphonies and certainly the most frequently performed, the piece runs through a wild gamut of feelings from a depiction of pastoral peace and quiet, through patriotism, the depiction of a national uprising and a positive finale portraying hope and victory over oppression.  The Bardi did justice to all of this in good measure and the overall mood of the departing audience was certainly life affirming and happy.

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Well done BYM24 Ewan Metcalfe on an excellent concerto performance.

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29th January 2024

The Bardi Young Musician concerts go from strength to strength!

Last Saturday’s concert saw 2024 winner Ewan Metcalfe give a breathtaking performance of Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1 to a large audience in what has become the Bardi Young Musician concert’s annual home – Holy Trinity Church in Regent Road, Leicester. 

The Orchestra revelled in the excellent acoustic of the venue with some well-chosen pieces from the classical repertoire, beginning with the overture to Mozart’s opera Cosi fan Tutte and the second half was taken with a comparatively rare opportunity in recent times to hear Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in the concert hall. 

In a speech at the end of the first half Vice Chair Mary Moore said she was heartened, with all the gloomy news in the media about music education in schools, that Bardi have been able run the competition since 2012 with a consistently high standard of winners. 

In a surprise move she invited Joseph Geary, last years’ BYM winner who was in the audience for the concert, to present the trophy to Ewan neatly rounding off the competition.

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Bardi Wind at DMH a great success for heroes of the RNLI

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12th June 2023

The Bardi Wind Orchestra rounded off their 30th anniversary season with their annual charity gala concert at De Montfort Hall on Sunday, this year fundraising in aid of the RNLI.

Well known in recent times from the BBCs programme ‘Saving Lives at Sea’ the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was the chosen charity for the Bardi Wind Orchestra’s annual charity gala in association with the Oadby and Wigston Lions Club. The charity receives no government funding but for almost 200 years has been saving lives from water in the most challenging conditions. Conductor David Calow chose a range of music appropriate to the invaluable work of the RNLI volunteers with the title ‘Heroes! Action and adventure from the Movies’. 

The BWO were joined by vocal soloists David Morris and Rebecca Temple who featured in each half and the programme was compered adeptly by  Colin Blackler with informative introductions to each piece (allowing the players to get their collective breath back). After the interval Colin had the opportunity to interview RNLI volunteers Brad and Alex who had travelled all the way from RNLI Skegness to be at the event. On stage, on probably the hottest afternoon of the summer so far, volunteer Alex wore his RNLI yellow crew equipment, of which the life jacket on it’s own weighed more than a heavy weekly shop. Launch authority Brad told us that he had come off a volunteer shift at 6am that morning! 

The programme for the concert included appropriate titles such as The Magnificent Seven, Band of Brothers, the Superman March and The Great Escape but perhaps the most appropriate piece had to be The Padstow Lifeboat, a march by English composer Malcolm Arnold complete with fog horn effects (thanks to a very good imitation by BWO lower brass).  Scene stealer for this number was David Calow who strode on to the stage and conducted in a fetching pair of borrowed bright yellow RNLI wellies!  The only thing missing was a lifeboat and even one of those (well, a model) was parked outside De Montfort Hall in the sunshine. Another great BWO concert to launch summer for the enthusiastic audience.

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Bardi Workshop Day 2023 – Sibelius Symphony No.2

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22 February 2023

The third Bardi Orchestra Workshop day has now cemented the event firmly into the Orchestra calendar.

Players gathered at Holy Trinity Church in eager anticipation of a day to be spent rehearsing and playing Sibelius Symphony No. 2 (a work which is programmed for a concert in the 2023-24 season). As we found when playing at the Bardi Young Musician concert in January the acoustic in Holy Trinity church is excellent and the larger orchestra assembled for the Sibelius sounded superb. Having worked through the whole symphony by four o’clock it was time to share an informal concert play through for members of the Bardi Friends and the Bardi Principals’ Club who listened attentively in the comfortable seats in the balcony at the church. Music Director Claus Efland wrote afterwards ‘The playing was of sheer passion and on such extremely high level. The dedication and commitment was simply stunning. I would like to see any Orchestra who after a couple of hours rehearsal could match that magnificent play through that we did at the end.’ 

David Blaine and the team at Holy Trinity Church went out of the way to be really helpful, supplying an excellent working lunch, and tea and coffee throughout the day. Taking a break after their work had finished players were able to enjoy some time together simply socialising (a luxury that doesn’t happen very often after busy rehearsals) and watch a film of archive material kindly put together by Alan Hames the Orchestra’s Sound Technical Adviser and Orchestra Manager Robert Calow.

The day was rounded off with a first class meal, again supplied by the Holy Trinity team, in the wonderful surroundings of the church transformed into a very special restaurant. Our particular thanks have to go to the Holy Trinity team for another memorable occasion!

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Bardi Wind Orchestra makes a triumphant Christmas return

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20th December 2022

It was three years since the last Bardi Wind Orchestra Christmas concert in December 2019 so a return to the Holy Trinity Church stage was an eagerly anticipated event.

In the 30 years that BWO have existed there have been 21 Christmas concerts and it has often been said that ‘Christmas begins properly with the Bardi Wind Christmas concert’. The 2022 Christmas concert had a fresh new look about it with the theme ‘Christmas at the Movies’ but a glance at the programme revealed that lots of old favourites were there with seasonal readings by John Florance and a finale with the enthusiastic singing of ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ almost bringing down  the roof of a beautifully decorated (a forest of Christmas trees)  Holy Trinity church. 

Film favourites with a Christmas flavour like ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’ and ‘The Polar Express’ were sprinkled through the programme.  In line with the whole refresh of Bardi branding this autumn the programmes and publicity had a really festive flavour. But the real joy was seeing familiar faces who have attended previous concerts, some since the first one, appearing at the ticket desk.

It was good to see new faces in the Orchestra too, alongside long-serving members there were a number of up-and-coming younger players who were relishing the opportunity to play with this high profile group. Received opinion in the foyer after the concert and since was that the sound has never been better. Christmas has properly begun!

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