To commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I, returning Festival favourites Orpheus Sinfonia present a specially curated programme with leading Baritone Roderick Williams.
Taking us through from the beginning to the end of the war, the powerful, yet sensitive theme from War Horse and George Butterworth’s setting of A Shropshire Lad sets the scene of a world on the brink of collapse. Like Butterworth, W Denis Browne and Ernest Farrar lost their lives in battle, but here we have a special opportunity to hear the exquisite music they left behind.
A musical reflection both poignant and uplifting, the evening will draw to a close with Prokofiev’s ‘Classical Symphony’ premiered in 1918 and the positivity of the emerging Jazz era of Gershwin and his contemporaries.
| Performers: |
|
| Orpheus Sinfonia |
|
| Roderick Williams OBE |
Baritone |
| Thomas Carroll |
Conductor |
| Programme: |
|
| Williams |
Dartmoor, 1912 from War Horse |
| Butterworth |
Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad |
| Ravel |
Le tombeau de Couperin, M. 68a |
| Denis Browne |
To Gratiana Dancing and Singing |
| Farrar |
Silent Noon |
| Delius |
Brigg Fair, RT VI/16 ‘An English Rhapsody’ |
| Prokofiev |
Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 ‘Classical Symphony’ |
| Gershwin / Armstrong / Ellington |
Tunes from the Dance Hall
|
Duration: 2 hours
‘[Roderick] Williams has a gift for storytelling through song and his easy communication and ability to spin phrases earned him a warm ovation….’ Mark Pullinger