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Remembering the Prague 1996 Tour

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5th August, 2022

Following on from the hugely successful, ground breaking tour to St. Petersburg in the Easter of 1994, Founder Music Director Andrew Constantine then planned an even more ambitious 12 day tour travelling by coach to eastern Europe, based in Prague, during August 1996...

Five concerts took place, two in Prague and others in Karlovy Vary, Marianski Lazne and in the famous Palace at Kromeriz. The Symphony Orchestra performed repertoire including the Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade together the Bruch Violin Concerto No.1, with leader Adam Summerhayes as soloist. The Orchestra rehearsed in the Prague Opera House and the extended nature of the tour meant that the players were able to also take in sight seeing in Prague and explore the various other concert locales.

Not being content with just a purely Orchestral tour, Andrew then planned for the Orchestra to be joined for the final few days by the Bardi Symphony Chorus to perform Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony. This was for Karlovy Vary, Kromeriz and then for the final concert on Tuesday 13th August in the Rudolfinum concert hall in Prague, the home of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. This high-profile civic concert also included the Brahms Double Concerto performed by the stunning Czech duo of violinist Jan Talich and cellist Jiri Bárta.

A much remembered party then took place straight afterwards for all concerned with everyone departing for Leicester on the four coaches in the early hours. One of the orchestra coaches then broke down at the Czech/German border, but that is another story…

Watch highlights from the tour

Top row: CD artwork from Beethoven Symphony No.9 concert recording at The Rudolfinum, with concert poster, right.
Bottom row: Prague scenes – Countryside Park, Mechanical Clock and The Rudolfinum.
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Highlights from the 2021-22 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.

“An orchestra that compares with the best in the capital, on our doorstep in Leicester”

2022-23 Concert Season

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Bardi Young Musician a sparkling conclusion to the 2021-22 season

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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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Applications for the 2023 competition are now open

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Presenting Francesca Penny, Bardi Young Musician 2022

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15th June 2022

Sunday 19th June sees the long-awaited Bardi Young Musician 2022 concert featuring this year’s winner, 18-year- old French horn player Francesca Penny.

In a popular programme which includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, and Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Overture, Francesca will be playing the virtuosic Horn Concerto No. 1 by Richard Strauss. 

A student at Wigston College, Francesca has been playing the French Horn since she was 8 and studies with her Father, French Horn player Mark Penny.  A member of the CBSO Youth orchestra in Birmingham she also plays with the Rutland Sinfonia and the Bardi Wind Orchestra. She is currently studying for A levels and is considering further study and career options in either music, or her other main interest which is modern dance.

The concert will be  is held in the hall of English Martyrs Catholic School, Anstey Lane Leicester and begins at 3.00pm.

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Photo of Francesca © Allan Simms

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Bardi Wind a triumph at De Montfort Hall

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13th June 2022

For the second time in just over a week the Bardi Wind assembled to provide an exciting concert in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee in this, the Wind Orchestra’s 30th year!

Following their appearance at Hinckley’s Hollycroft Park, where an audience of thousands celebrated the Platinum Jubilee in the sunshine with picnics, they appeared this time on the concert platform at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall giving their annual charity concert in association with the Oadby & Wigston Lions Club on Sunday 12 June.

A large contingent of civic dignitaries attended in support of this year’s nominated charity, Your Local Air Ambulance. The specially devised programme celebrated the Platinum Jubilee with 70 years of popular music associated with Her Majesty the Queen. It was presented by popular local compere Martin Ballard. Jenny Saunders and David Morris provided vocal items and the programme ended with a rousing ‘Last Night of the Proms’ finale which left the audience shouting for encores.

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Photos: Neville Chadwick Photography

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Bardi Wind celebrate the Jubilee in style at Hollycroft Park

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5th June 2022

The Bardi Wind Orchestra got the Queen‘s Platinum Jubilee celebrations off to a fine start in Hinckley at the beginning of the long Bank Holiday weekend. 

After a highly successful appearance at the town’s Hollycroft Park last summer, the BWO were invited to return for this special concert. Joined by popular vocal soloists Jenny Saunders and David Morris, and conducted by BWO’s conductor David Calow, the Orchestra held the attention of the picnicking audience until late in the evening. The weather was very kind and players eyes widened as more and more audience poured into the park before the concert – last year’s audience was large but this year exceeded all expectations. Those who could get a spot in front of the Orchestra happily sat under the trees at the side (where the view was limited) with their picnics and sang along anyway! As this was a free event it was not possible to get an accurate count of the audience, but it was thought to be several thousand (possibly ten thousand) and certainly the BWO’s biggest audience ever!

If you missed the concert, don’t worry the Orchestra will be doing it all over again at De Montfort Hall in Leicester on Sunday 12 June at 3pm. 

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Bardi Wind visit Air Ambulance HQ ahead of charity concert

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25th May 2022

Bardi Wind Orchestra Conductor David Calow, Orchestra Manager Robert Calow and Oboist Janet Hopkins along David Swanson and Jenny Fyfe, Chair of Oadby & Wigston Lions Club recently visited the Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance HQ at Coventry Airport. 

The Bardi Wind Orchestra, in conjunction with Oadby and Wigston Lions Club, have presented a major charity fundraising concert each year since 2009 at De Montfort Hall delighting audiences and raising many thousands of pounds for good causes over the succeeding years. The concert supports a different charity each year and this year is the turn of the local Air Ambulance.

At the airport BWO members and the Lions met Air Ambulance Paramedic Paul Mullins and Paramedic/Airbase Manager Pippa Gibbs who showed them around. They were able learn more about the vital life-saving work of the organisation which receives no public funding and is dependent on private fundraising.

During the visit they were also able to see some of the equipment in use which includes ambulance cars for difficult to reach incidents when helicopter landings are not possible in the immediate vicinity of an incident, the perfect backdrop for a photoshoot to promote the 2022 Charity Concert.

The 2022 concert supporting our local Air Ambulance takes place at De Montfort Hall in Leicester on Sunday 12th June at 3pm. 

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Elgar at De Montfort Hall: A Grand Season Finale

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18th May 2022

The Orchestra’s 2021-22 De Montfort Hall season drew to a triumphant close on Sunday with the long-awaited all-Elgar concert, The Essence of Elgar. The strings of the Orchestra opened the programme with the well-known Serenade for Strings. The remainder of the players then came on to the stage and were joined, in her first appearance with the Orchestra, by soloist Lydia Shelley for an effortless and lyrical rendition the much-loved Cello Concerto.

The inclusion of this work, although originally programmed over two years ago, provided a fitting piece to include in this concert which was dedicated to the memory of the Christina Warner, a long-standing cellist in the Orchestra who died earlier this year. The concert was attended by a large group of her friends and family.

The second half was occupied by the composer’s First Symphony, a big work in every way scored for a large orchestra and substantial in length. The Orchestra did it full justice and the applause lasted for some time. A fitting end to a season which was not without its logistical challenges as the country emerged from the grip of the pandemic. As one audience member commented on social media afterwards “the emotional atmosphere generated by this enthusiastic and accomplished orchestra would compare well with any in the capital, and all on our own doorstep. Thank you so much for a truly memorable concert”.

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The Essence of Elgar concert preview

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11th May 2022

Elgar on a late spring afternoon

The Bardi Symphony Orchestra’s long awaited Essence of Elgar concert is nearly here. The original workshop rehearsal for this long-delayed concert took place back in February 2020, and it has been twice postponed since. Recent rehearsals have been greeted with great relief and enthusiasm by players delighted to be able to play this wonderful music again after all this time. 

They will be joined for the Cello Concerto by internationally acclaimed soloist Lydia Shelley. Originally from the UK, Lydia now lives in Paris and pursues a varied career as both soloist, orchestral principal and enthusiastic advocate of the string quartet genre. The concert programme is completed with Elgar’s iconic Symphony No. 1, a first performance for the Bardi, and the well-known Serenade for Strings. 

There is special poignancy to the concert as it has been dedicated to the memory of the late Christina Warner, a cellist with the Orchestra almost since its foundation who sadly died earlier this year. You can read about Christina here.

The concert is also supported by the Elgar Society, for which the Orchestra is very grateful.

Orchestra Manager Robert Calow can also be heard discussing the concert on Wednesday on BBC Radio Leicester at 2hr 12 on this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0c2nh35

Join the Orchestra at De Montfort Hall for what is guaranteed to be a wonderful afternoon of English music.

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The Finale to Elgar’s Symphony No.1 rehearsed back in February 2020.

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Exploring the Bardi’s long history performing Elgar

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24th April 2022

Edward Elgar is by some distance the most performed composer over the years by the Bardi.

The sheer range of repertoire is breath-taking including the large-scale Second Symphony, The Dream of Gerontius and The Music Makers all being performed twice. It is perhaps not a surprise that the Enigma Variations is the most popular orchestral work with three performances.

Of the two string concertos, there is only one performance of the Violin Concerto to date by the Bardi Leader of that time, Jagdish Mistry, in 1993. However, the Cello Concerto has been performed four times and also during the Bardi’s SaarLorLux tour in 1998. The Concerto also appears on the Orchestra’s first CD release in 1995 with soloist Leonid Gorokhov. Raphael Wallfisch was the first soloist performing the Concerto in 1991 for a charity concert raising over £3,000 for the Jaqueline Du Pré appeal. There is also a performance of the Sea Pictures song cycle but unusually with baritone soloist, Jeremy Huw Williams on that occasion.

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The two popular concert overtures Cockaigne and In the South appear as do the Introduction and Allegro for string orchestra and the smaller String Serenade. ‘Last Night of the Proms’ type concerts have also included the Pomp and Circumstance March No.1, with perhaps the most memorable being in front of a 5,000 capacity audience at the EXCEL Centre in London.

There are also some real Elgar rarities with the Falstaff symphonic study, The March of the Mogul Emperors (from the Crown of India Suite) and (as performed to start this current season) the Bach Fantasia and Fugue orchestration.

1995 – Cello Concerto CD sleeve with soloist Leonid Gorokhov

Despite all of the Elgar performances over the years, one main work had eluded the Bardi – the Symphony No.1 in A-flat major. Sunday 15th May 2022 finally saw the Orchestra perform this epic symphonic masterpiece in De Montfort Hall. The all-Elgar concert also included the String Serenade and Cello Concerto with soloist Lydia Shelley.

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