June 2009 - St Botolph's Church, Shepshed

For the Summer 2009 concert the orchestra selected a variety of shorter pieces and were joined by 2 guest soloists. The programme opened with 3 movements from Benjamin Britten's Matinees Musicales, a suite of five pieces he adapted from piano pieces by Rossini. These were followed by the first solo piece. Clare Lee, a local professional musician played Massenet's Meditation, the beautiful violin solo which forms an intermezzo between the 2 scenes of Act 2 of the opera Thais. Clares romantic sound brought the piece to life and filled the auditorium with wonderful music.

Elgar's Chanson de Nuit was originally composed for violin and piano and later arranged for small orchestra. This gave the orchestra a chance to show the more delicate side of their playing. The final suite of pieces in the first half was a total contrast. Seven Rumanian Folk Dances were collected from Eastern Europe by Bela Bartok and arranged for small orchestra. The lively rhythmic pieces brought the first half to an end.

The second half opened with another suite of short pieces. Airs de Dance by Delibes was created from incidental music which he wrote to Victor Hugo's play Le Roi s'Amuse. The Galliarde opens the suite and sets the tone for music from an early era reminiscent of English court music. The second solo followed. John Greenwood's The Acrobat is one of the best known and well loved trombone pieces in the brass band world, and here it had been specially arranged by conductor Liz Thomas for the orchestra. The soloist was John Smith, another local musician playing regularly and directing several musical groups. John's humerous interpretation of the piece brought great delight to the audience who showed their appreciation with rapturous applause.

Once the audience had settled back down the orchestra played Soirees Musicales, another suite of short pieces by Benjamin Britten based on music by Rossini. Offenbach's exciting music, the Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld, brought the evening to an end in foot-tapping, hand-clapping style as the audience enjoyed the delights of the can-can. Having enjoyed a full and varied evening of popular music the audience demanded an encore, and what better way to satisfy their demands than with a reprise of the lively can-can.