ON 8TH MAY, we give awarm welcome to JamieThompson from the

Royal Northern College of Musicfor a performance of one of thegreatest piano concertos in therepertoire: Beethoven’s‘Emperor’ Concerto No 5 in Eflat, Op 73.

Jamie began learning the pianoat the comparatively late age ofnearly 15. After four years ofplaying he was awarded theLicentiate of the Royal Schools ofMusic Performance Diploma(LRSM) and a major musicscholarship to The Oratory Schoolas well as the Olive Marsh Piano

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ALDERLEY EDGE ORCHESTRA ISSUE 11 MARCH 2010Ed i to r : Roge r Dow l i ng ( t e l : 01925 756390 ; roge r.dow l i ng@aeorches t r a .o rg .uk )

Scholarship to study at theRNCM. Jamie hopes to achievehis Fellowship Diploma (FRSM) inperformance this year togetherwith the outstanding teachingdiploma, CTABRSM. He iscurrently in his finalundergraduate year under thetutelage of Murray McLachlan andregularly performs as a soloist inconcerts and competitions in andaround Berkshire, Oxfordshire,Lancashire and London, mostrecently the finals of theEuropean Piano TeachersAssociation piano competition.Jamie has taken part inMasterclasses with such notableplayers as Paul Roberts, AnnaMarkland, Philip Martin, NorikoOgawa and performed a newlycommissioned work in a publicmasterclass with Rolf Hind. Jamieis hoping to stay at the RNCM forpostgraduate study, embarkingon a joint performance andcomposition masters degreecourse.

Jamie joins us for Beethoven’smighty ‘Emperor’ concerto

Put these dates in your diary NOW: 2010-11 concert schedule

WORKSHOP

SHOSTAKOVICHSymphony No 1 in F,

Op 10

Venue: Alderley Edge Methodist Church

BEETHOVENOverture: Prometheus, Op 43

DELIUSLa CalindaHAYDN

Concerto for two horns in E flat(soloists: John Middleton/Chris Pople)

BERLIOZHarold in Italy

(viola: Mary Anderson)Venue: Alderley Edge Festival Hall

Saturday, 9th October 2010 Saturday, 27th November 2010 Saturday, 5th March 2011

ROSSINIOverture: Semiramide

BUTTERWORTHThe Banks of Green Willow

REINECKEFlute Concerto in D major, Op. 283

(soloist: Russell Gillespie)BEETHOVEN

Symphony No 6 in F, Op 68(Pastoral)

Venue: Alderley Edge Methodist Church

Saturday, 7th May 2011

MOZARTOverture: The Magic Flute

BRAHMSPiano Concerto No 2 in B flat, Op 83

(soloist: Simon Conning)SCHUBERT

Symphony No 6 in C

Venue: Alderley Edge Methodist Church

Our 2010-2011 SeasonWe were inundated with

suggestions for next season’sconcerts and would like to thankyou all for your ideas. Inevitablywe cannot please you all, butwe’ve done our best and the fullschedule for 2010-11 is given onthe previous page.Note that we have brought

forward the date of the annualWorkshop, which will now takeplace on 9th October 2010.Also, make a special note that

the first concert of the season, on27th November 2010, will takeplace at the Festival Hall becauseof the unavailability of theMethodist Church. As manyplayers will know, the Festival Hall(once known as the AssemblyRooms) was once our regularvenue before we moved to theMethodist Church a few years

ago. Built in 1928 at a cost of£9,500 for the Alderley EdgeMusical Festival, the Festival Hallboasted a unique adjustable floorwhich could be flat for ballroomdancing and sloping for concertsand other entertainments. TheFestival Hall later ran into financialdifficulties and became the Regalcinema and dance hall in 1938.Our brief one-off return there

will once again enable us toimpress our friends and familieswith the news that ‘in Novemberwe’ll be playing in the FestivalHall’ and players are encouragedto make the most of this rareopportunity.Our 2010-2011 season contains

a numbers of works which wehaven’t played before.The Workshop on 9th October

will provide an opportunity toplay one of Shostakovich’s finest

works: his First Symphony.Composed in 1924 as hisgraduation piece at the LeningradConservatory, when Shostakovichwas 19 years of age, thesymphony was a tremendoussuccess for its brilliantcombination of wit and tragedy.The concert on 27th November

will present an opportunity tohear Haydn’s rarely heard DoubleHorn Concerto, played by JohnMiddleton and Chris Pople. In thesame concert, we will be lookingforward to Mary Anderson’sconcert performance of Berlioz’sHarold in Italy; this follows ahighly enjoyable Workshop studyof this work last year.George Butterworth’s Banks of

Green Willow in the March 2011concert is another work that maybe unfamiliar to some players.Butterworth (1885-1916) was aLondon-born composer who wasa close friend of VaughanWilliams. He sadly lost his life inthe Battle of the Somme, and hisbeautiful tone poem The Banks ofGreen Willow rightly lives on inhis memory.

Carl Reinecke (1824-1910),whose D major Flute Concertowill be heard in the same concert,was a German composer,conductor and pianist. Aprofessor at the CologneConservatory and Director of theGewandhaus Orchestra, he hassome 300 compositions to his

George Butterworth

name. As a point of interest, atthe age of 80 he recorded hispiano-playing on piano roll for theWelte-Mignon company, makinghim the earliest-born pianist tohave his playing preserved in anyformat.Russell Gillespie was born in

Southern Ireland. He studied flutewith Clare Southworth and laterwith Colin Chambers, formerprincipal flute of the RoyalLiverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.At the Royal Academy of Music

in London, he completed hisstudies under Richard Taylor andLisa Beznosiuk, with whom he

also studied the Baroque andClassical flute. Russell hasperformed for many of theworld’s leading exponents of theflute including Sir James Galway,Geoffrey Gilbert, Paula Robison,and William Bennett.Russell has combined a busy

freelance orchestral careerthroughout the United Kingdom,performing with many of theleading UK symphony orchestrasunder the direction of suchconductors and artists as LiborPesek, Owain Arwel Hughes,Melvyn Tan and Vernon Handley.He enjoys a very successful andversatile career performing as asoloist, recitalist and chambermusician for various worldwidemusical and cultural associations.Russell has released two criticallyacclaimed CDs, including worldpremiere recordings of works forflute and harp.In May we welcome back

Simon Conning to join theorchestra in a performance ofBrahms Piano Concerto No 2.Simon was a tremendous successin our concert a few weeks agoand we are delighted that he isable to return next year to playone of the biggest pianoconcertos in the repertoire. In

fact, it’s such a bigwork that we need tobuild up the strength ofthe strings NOW to dofull justice to it. Playerswho have links withother orchestras areasked to publicise thisopportunity to join us inwhat promises to be anoutstanding concert toround off the 2010-2011 season.

Nice commentsOur last two

concerts, at AlderleyEdge and Lymm, will beremembered inparticular for the fineplaying of SimonConning (piano) andOliver Janes (clarinet).

Simon has written with typicalmodesty:“I thoroughly enjoyed theoccasion and meeting you alland also seeing my family. Yes,the Choral Fantasy was asuccess and the audience lovedthe [Litolff] Scherzo though Ican play it much better. Still,they don't know that so noharm done!”We are very pleased that

Simon has accepted our invitationto return next year to play theBrahms Second Piano Concerto,one of his favourites.

* * * * *We have also received a nice

email from Oliver’s father Glenn,who is a former first violin in theBBC Philharmonic:

“Oliver really enjoyed himselfand it was a great experiencefor him so thank you for givinghim the opportunity to playwith your orchestra. Wethought he played superbly.But … didn't you do well!? Wewere all impressed with theorchestra and how theyaccompanied Oliver under theexcellent baton of Tim. TheBrahms St Anthony Variations isjolly difficult for the fiddles andthey did very well. We thoughtthe wind and brass were verygood too - again the opening

A big ‘thank you’ to everyone inthe orchestra who has done his orher bit during the past year toensure that our rehearsals andconcerts go off so smoothly.Particular thanks are due to

Joanne MacLachlan and NicoleBackus for keeping us in tea andbiscuits at rehearsals.Anne Jubb and Helen Hall have

kindly agreed to becomekeyholders and we should like tothank them for this.Our ongoing thanks too to our

President and Guest ConductorRichard Howarth, who has donemuch to encourage the orchestraand enhance its performances,and our regular conductor ofmany years’ standing Tim Kendalfor his enthusiastic support andendless patience and guidance.

Jan King

THANK YOU!

Russell Gillespie

Carl Reinecke

theme in the wind is verydifficult and again they copedadmirably. So well done to allconcerned (especially the oldguy playing on the front deskof the second fiddles!)*. Do saya big thank to your conductorTim who did a great job.”

*This may be a case of mistaken identityas the front desk of the Secondscontains no-one answering to thisdescription.

Lymm raises £1100Peter Webb passes on his

thanks, along with those ofArthritis Research Campaign, forhelping to raise some £1,100pounds at the annual concert atLymm on 13th March. “It was agreat effort,” said Peter. “I dohope that those taking part in thisconcert enjoyed the event andfound it a rewarding occasion.”

Welcome to SuziA very warm welcome to Suzi

Lewis, who has become aninvaluable member of our cellosection.Suzi was born in Winchester but

moved to Sutton, nearMacclesfield, some 20 years ago.She took up the cello about tenyears ago; Elgar’s Cello Concertois amongst her very favouritepieces of music. However, she isalso a fan of rock bands and is akeen follower of Apocalyptica,the Finnish symphonic metalband, which - with threeclassically-trained cellists - givesSuzi the best of both worlds.Suzi has just taken up a

position with the Rossendale

Trust, which provides care andsupport for people with learningdisabilities. She is also a volunteerat a local advisory drop-in centrefor young people.

More cellists in the newsThis is clearly becoming a

‘cellist-special’edition of ourNewsletter.First we must give our warmest

thanks to Tod Young, who hasjust relinquished his position asLibrarian after a stint of some tenyears. Being Librarian involvesmuch more than getting themusic out of the cupboard eachweek, as Tod has found the hardway. Sourcing the music in a cost-effective way is a vital part of thejob, as music hire charges areincreasing all the time. The partsthen have to be collected anddistributed to the music ‘pads’ atthe beginning of each session, a

process that then has to bereversed (occasionally involvingsearches for missing parts) whenthe parts have to go back to thelibrary.Our new Librarian is flautist

Louise Townsend, and we knowshe will bring her customaryenthusiasm to this demandingrole.Another cellist in the news is

Peter Kurer, who has been amember of the Committee for thepast five years. Peter has broughthis wisdom to bear at manymeetings over the past few yearsbut now feels the time is right tohand over the reins to a youingerplayer; we would like to thankhim for his major contribution tothe orchestra. His place will betaken, initially on a co-optedbasis, by yet another cellistRachel Chandler, who joined theorchestra last year. �

Tod Young Peter Kurer

Louise Townsend Rachel Chandler