Playing to another packed audience for our summer concert in Wymondham Abbey, the players of Wymondham Symphony Orchestra have been blown away by the support of our local community this season. Our summer concert was a celebration of 20 years of Andrew Parnell as our Musical Director and of 10 years of Ceri Peterson as our leader. Sadly, this was Ceri's last concert with us and we are extremely grateful to her for the 10 years of dedication and enthusiasm she has put into her leadership. Work is underway to recruit a new orchestral leader - watch this space!
The celebration concert opened with Andrew Parnell's Living Stones, which he composed for the 900th anniversary of Wymondham Abbey in 2007. Juan Gonzalez joined us for the Brahms Violin Concerto and gave a fantastic performance, and his energy really brought out the best playing from the orchestra. The concert ended with a powerful performance of Dvo?ák's ever popular New World Symphony.
This autumn we will be preparing our programme on an avian theme, and the concert will be on Saturday 25th November in Wymondham Abbey, entitled Birds of Myth and Fable. The concert opens with Dvo?ák's The Wood Dove, one of a cycle of four orchestral poems which tells a tragic story of love and despair. This will be followed by Concerto for Birds and Orchestra by the Finnish composer Rautavaara, which includes recordings of bird song recorded near the Arctic Circle and on the bogs of Liminka in northern Finland. The final piece will be Stravinsky's Firebird Suite which was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company.
Tickets are available online at www.trybooking.com/uk/eventlist/wso. There will also be some availability on the door, but we encourage attendees to purchase tickets in advance to beat the queues. Prices are £15, Friends of the WSO £13 and Under 18s are free.
More details about the orchestra can be found at www.wymondhamsymphonyorchestra.org.uk or on our Facebook page.
