On Sunday 24th November, fans of the North Downs Community Orchestra (aka “The Fun Orchestra”) braved the aftermath of Storm Bert and packed Hazelwood School, Oxted for the orchestra’s “Sounds of the Season” Christmas concert.
The event marked the debut of new Musical Director, Anna Maria Tabor. Anna is an accomplished musician who was a student at the Guildhall School of Music and graduated with an MA in Performing Arts and a master’s in music from the University of Surrey. Anna started with the orchestra last September and successfully rehearsed the orchestra to be concert-ready in just three months.
The rousing refrain at the culmination of the first piece of the evening, Tchaikovsky’s Overture to Romeo and Juliet, gave me goosebumps. It is wonderful to see how much the orchestra has progressed since their first performance in 2016. There were only a dozen performers at that concert, and tonight I was witnessing a substantial orchestra of 68 musicians.
Following two more wonderful classical pieces, “Shepherd’s Hymn” from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral”, and Movement 1 from Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, the theme of the evening moved on to film, with Ennio Morricone’s “Gabriel’s Oboe”, the main theme from “The Mission”. The beautiful theme is a favourite of Anna’s who admitted that as an oboist herself she is somewhat biased! Oboist Graham Topliss received a special round of applause for his very moving solo performance.
The second half of the concert kicked off with selections from “The Polar Express”. The jingling of sleigh bells at the start of the piece heralded the concert’s Christmas theme. “A Christmas Festival” by Leroy Anderson was described by Anna as a romp through every Christmas tune you can think of! The piece gave every section of the orchestra a chance to shine, from the resounding “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!” onto the gentle melody of “Silent Night” followed swiftly by the lively “Jingle Bells”.
“Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson, was great fun, with the percussion section especially enjoying themselves. The concert ended with a “Christmas Singalong” drawing the evening to a peaceful close.
Afterwards, orchestra patron, Reiner Hersch, said: “I have enjoyed playing with the orchestra this evening, it is so nice to be involved. Anna is great and the orchestra are very lucky to have found her.”
Following her debut performance conducting the orchestra, Anna said: “It is a pleasure to come and lead the orchestra. The musicians are a lovely group of people and those who organised the concert worked very hard. There are a fantastic team of volunteers behind the scenes making sure the concert goes smoothly. We will now be looking forward to our summer concert in June that will feature music from the movies.”
For more information keep an eye on their website at www.thefunorchestra.co.uk
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