To Whet the Appetite

Sat 8 October 2016 - 7.30pm

St Paul’s Church, Bedford

Our first concert gives an enticing foretaste of the splendid quality and variety of the music chosen for the season. Here is music stretching from France to Russia, classical 18th century music alongside 20th century works, music fromyoung and older composers, and two intriguing ballet scores from Stravinsky and Milhaud. We are delighted that the celebrated ex-Bedford oboist, Marios Argiros, has accepted our invitation to play Richard Strauss’ beautiful oboe concerto. This was written in response to a polite request from an American oboist for a ‘little piece’, but as the elderly Strauss worked on it, it ‘grew like Topsy’. Haydn’s Symphony No.100, the Military, revels in the vogue of the time for ‘Turkish’ music and instruments – with extra percussion used in two movements.

Soloist      Marios Argiros

Conductor Michael Rose

Bedford Sinfonia

Stravinsky Suite - Pulcinella

Richard Strauss Oboe Concerto

Mozart  Divertimento in B flat

Haydn  Symphony no.100

Adults                       £12

Children/Students        £5

Glorious Romantic Masterpieces

Sat 12 November 2016 - 7.30pm

Bedford Corn Exchange

Good news – Jaroslaw is back! This time he plays Elgar, whose breathtakingly lovely violin concerto was flung into the notice of the world by a 16 year-old Yehudi Menuhin who recorded it with Elgar conducting. Come and experience this concerto with all its different moods and beauty, summed up in a cadenza that shimmers over strummed strings. Then to Tchaikovsky. His 6th symphony starts with a dark low bassoon phrase leading into the intensity of the first movement, on to a gentle movement in 5/4 time trying to be a waltz, through a whirlwind of a march, and exhausts itself in a finale of raw emotion. Can you resist this concert?

Elgar Violin Concerto

Tchaikovsky Symphony no.6  (Pathétique)

Soloist

    Jaroslaw Nadrzycki

Conductor

     Michael Rose

Bedfordshire

Symphony Orchestra

Balcony / Tier            £15

Flat                           £12

Children/Students       £5

The Mozart Concert

Sat 19 November 2016 - 7.30pm

Bedford Corn Exchange

The opening choral concert of this season features one of Mozart’s greatest and much loved choral works. The Great C minor Mass clearly shows Mozart’s interest and love for the music of Baroque masters through much use of fugues and counterpoint. But there’s also the influence of Italian opera at which Mozart was so adept. Some of the solo arias could be taken right out of one of his operas. In many ways, the Mass in C minor is a summation of all the influences on Mozart. Come to this concert to hear Mozart at his best!

Conductor Michael Rose

Cello Soloist Neil Martin

Vocal Soloists:

Bethany Seymour,

Kitty Whately,

Joel Williams, Philip Tebb

Bedford Choral Society & Bedford Sinfonia

Mozart Regina Coeli K276

Kabalevsky Cello Concerto No.1

Mozart Kyrie in D minor K341

Mozart Mass in C minor K4272 us 60

Balcony / Tier           £15

Flat                           £12

Children/Students       £5

Inspired by Literature

Sat 28 January 2017 - 7.30pm

Bedford Corn Exchange

Just into 2017, we continue to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, and appropriately open this concert with Walton’s suite of instrumental music he wrote for a stage production of ‘As you like it’. Children’s stories feature, and Ravel’s suite ‘Ma Mere l’Oye’ - ‘Mother Goose’ - supplies imaginative pictures of Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb and The Fairy Garden. Mahler’s 4th Symphony, unlike his other works, seems bathed in warmth and joy - yet there are undertones of tension and even fear. We welcome Alison Langer as our vocal soloist in the final movement, where the apparent innocent playfulness may not be all it seems.

Soloists Alison Langer                    (soprano)

Conductor Michael Rose

Bedford Sinfonia

Walton   Suite - As you like it

Ravel     Suite - Ma mère l’oye

Mahler   Symphony no. 4

Balcony / Tier           £15

Flat                           £12

Children/Students       £5

Across Central Europe

Sat 25 February 2017 - 7.30pm

Bedford Corn Exchange

Everyone knows ‘William Tell’. Or do they? What about the luscious opening for 5 solo cellos (cellists resort to bribery to be amongst the 5), the violent storm, the peace restored by the cor anglais, assisted by the flute? Finally a fanfare announces the famous tune, and the music reaches its joyous conclusion. In our concert, the overture heralds Beethoven’s final and majestic piano concerto, the Emperor. Is it a concerto for piano with orchestral accompaniment or the reverse? We welcome the gifted young Russian pianist Ilya Kondratiev to Bedford for what will surely be a fine display of musicianship and panache. Dvorák composed his D minor symphony in response to his election as an Honorary Member of the Philharmonic Society of London. He determined to write something ‘capable of stirring the world’, and surely this symphony, wonderfully stark and austere, fits the bill perfectly.

Rossini        Overture - William Tell

Beethoven  Piano Concerto no.5

                                (Emperor)

Dvorak        Symphony no.7

Soloist     Ilya Kondratiev

Conductor Michael Rose

Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra

Balcony / Tier            £15

Flat                           £12

Children/Students       £5

String Hors d’Oeuvres

and Wind Main Course

Sat 25 March 2017 - 7.30pm

St Peter’s Church, Bedford

A veritable feast is served here. For the ‘Hors d’Oeuvres’ we offer four short works for strings written by famous composers. One of these is a String Symphony written with great skill and invention by the 13 year-old Mendelssohn, and another is a ‘gem of the Romantic era’ for cello and orchestra, composed by the accomplished 19 year-old Richard Strauss. Tonight this is played by the Sinfonia’s principal cellist James Jarvis. After the interval we approach the ‘meat’ of the menu, Mozart’s ‘Gran Partita’, written for 12 wind instruments plus a double bass. Its first performance was organised by Anton Stadler, Mozart’s clarinettist friend, and it was described as ‘A great wind music of a very special kind.’ Sit back and enjoy.

Soloist      James Jarvis

Conductor Michael Rose

Bedford Sinfonia

Mendelssohn String Symphony no.4

Sibelius   Romance

R Strauss Romance for Cello and Orchestra

Dvorák    Nocturne

Mozart     Gran Partita for Wind K361

Adults                       £12

Children/Students        £5

150th Anniversary Concert

Sunday 30 April 2017 - 7.30pm

Bedford Corn Exchange

On 30 April 1867 Bedford Choral Society (then Bedford Amateur Musical Society) gave its first public performance. The programme for 30 April 2017 reflects the history of the choir over 150 years, and the whole season is a celebration of English music. Starting with a masterpiece praising music by one of England’s greatest composers, the programme moves on to two commissions. Psalm 150 has been written especially for the occasion by our accompanist and assistant chorus master, Tim Grant-Jones. Paul Edwards’ Te Deum was commissioned by the Society and first performed to great acclaim in 2005. So why include Mendelssohn? Because this piece was performed in the very first concert of the Society in 1867 and therefore forms a clear link to the Society’s past history. Come and share this historic occasion celebrating what we believe to be the 2nd oldest choral society in the country!

Conductor Ian Smith

Bedford Choral Society & Bedford Sinfonia

Tim Grant-Jones Psalm 150

Paul Edwards Te Deum

Mendelssohn Lauda Sion

Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music

Balcony / Tier           £15

Flat                           £12

Children/Students       £5

Cross-Border Inspirations

Sat 20 May 2017 - 7.30pm

Bedford Corn Exchange

In 1873, aged 40 and still without a symphony to his name, Brahms wrote his masterly Variations on the St Antony Chorale. Several variations follow the statement of this theme, transforming it in a kaleidoscope of ideas, moods and colours, but always recognisable. Its first performance was an immense success, and this no doubt helped Brahms to put aside his symphonic inhibitions - we may well have St Antony to thank for four glorious symphonies! After Brahms comes Berlioz giving a French view of Romeo and Juliet’s love scene, and Dvorák in the short piece ‘Silent Woods’, painting a dreamy and lyrical picture. The soloist is Felicity Gibson, BSO’s principal cellist. Mendelssohn, already enamoured of the Scottish landscape, fills his symphony with his impressions of Scottish life and character.

Brahms Variations on a Theme of Haydn

Berlioz Scene d’Amour (Romeo and Juliet)

Dvorák Silent Woods for cello and orchestra

Mendelssohn Symphony no.3 (Scottish)

Soloist     Felicity Gibson

Conductor Michael Rose

Bedfordshire Symphony

Orchestra

Balcony / Tier         £15

Flat                        £12

Children/Students    £5

150th Anniversary Season

Sat 17 June 2017 - 7.30pm

Bedford Corn Exchange

Continuing the season’s theme of the celebration of English music this concert features a variety of works. The stunning Five Mystical Songs is a setting of poems by George Herbert. The chorus comes to the fore in the fifth song. The orchestral works in the programme contrast with each other from the serene music of Butterworth to the playful music of Holst. Michael Hurd’s work is a setting of poems by John Clare for Baritone, chorus and orchestra describing the seasons. It has been described as “the most accessible of all great English poems”. The music, written in 1975, compliments the poems in a tuneful and very accessible way. This is a delightfully varied concert for a summer evening. Do come!

Conductor Ian Smith

Bedford Choral Society & Bedford Sinfonia

Balcony / Tier           £15

Flat                           £12

Children/Students       £5

Vaughan Williams

        Five mystical songs

Butterworth On the banks

                of green willow

Arnold Sinfonietta No.2

Holst St Paul’s Suite

Michael Hurd Shepherd’s Calendar

Sinfonia 'Out and About'

Sunday 9th & 16th July - 3.00pm

Rural Churches

For over ten years, Sinfonia members have refused to put their instruments away at the traditional end of the season (June) and have taken music out into local rural communities and churches. These concerts have seen the Sinfonia playing a different repertoire, often focussing on the rich variety of early music from the baroque and renaissance periods, celebrating local soloists and collaborating with the county’s wonderful chamber choirs. And the good news is that the ‘Out and About’ concerts, organised so successfully by Jan Kaznowski over these past years, will feature again in 2017. The dates are Sundays 9th and 16th July, in rural churches in the local area.

The proposed programme for 2017 will feature Baroque Concerti, Concerti Grossi and a Bach Cantata (with the East Beds Chamber Choir directed by David Beer). Full details will follow on the BOS web site and in other publicity, but we trust that these details will whet the appetite enough to make sure that the dates are marked down in 2017 diaries the moment they are issued.