A Happy New Year to everyone. 

Havant Symphony Orchestra was 50 years old on 12 January and we shall celebrate this remarkable achievement on Saturday 11th and throughout 2012. 

The Chamber Orchestra’s first concert of the new year features Simon Wills and Richard Steggall – two local musicians who have gone on to great things nationally and internationally.  With our usual mixture of the unfamiliar and the familiar the programme includes Simon’s entertaining world premiere, a splendid horn concerto (it’s not every day you hear one of those!), Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ symphony and a little bonus treat.  This should certainly start the year off in style. 

Rosemary Jones has retired from her front of house position after many years in post.  Geoff Porter has agreed to take over these duties and this means that he has relinquished his post as Friends’ Secretary.  We now need to fill that position and I shall be writing to the Friends very soon to ask for someone to take this on – unless someone volunteers now!

The Society relies on a large body of volunteers who help with many aspects of our work but we still need more. 

Are there ways in which you could help us? Some tasks require time but not much prior knowledge or experience, others require particular skills but not a great time commitment. Examples include: completing grant application forms (I’m sure many of you do this sort of thing at work or with other charities); help with publicity and newsletter distribution; organising the pre-concert music; contacting prospective sponsors; helping with front of house; hosting a social occasion.  Please get in touch if you can help with any of these or in any other way.

This is the Final Bulletin on my 1,000 mile walk to raise funds last year. … I still have to catch up with a few people in the Chamber Orchestra (or they can catch up with me!) but the final sum is over £1,000 plus Giftaid.  Thank you everyone for your support.  If you have any ideas for fundraising, from selling home-made jam and cakes to running a marathon, then we can boost our ‘Gold Fund’ even further to help make this an even more memorable year. 

I look forward to seeing you all at this splendid concert and would love to hear your opinions afterwards. 

Tony Gutteridge
(023 9247 4681 or acg@waitrose.com)

It is now some years since HCO had the privilege of giving the premiere of a new composition.  There was a time when grantgiving bodies and industry encouraged enterprising commissions and we took advantage of this between 1969 and 1985.  During this era works by James Brown, John McCabe, Michael Hurd, Gordon Jacob, Philip Martin and Christopher Headington were all given the kiss-of-life by HCO.  Sadly those funds have been severely curtailed or dried up completely, or had such strict conditions imposed that complying was well-nigh impossible.  It is therefore with great relish and extraordinary gratitude that we have a new piece to perform on Saturday by a burgeoning continental composer who used to play in HSO in the Oaklands School days.  It is his gift for the Symphony Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary Season and appropriate that HCO will perform this tribute to its sister organisation. 

The genesis of the new work is quite interesting.  Having recently made contact again with ex-HSO trombonist Simon Wills, I was astonished to learn from his website that he was a high profile composer in Germany and Switzerland having had important commissions for symphonies and operas.  I enquired whether he had something suitably scored for our chamber orchestra forces that we might perform during the festive year.  Simon thought he might modify an existing work, but after toying with this for a while suddenly decided that it wouldn’t work and he would compose something new for us.  Truffaldino was thus born.  It’s a balletic neo-classical piece that had its germ cells emanating from half-remembered keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti framed by boisterous opening and closing sections based on (believe it) ‘an obscene Ferrarase mocking song as sung to newly qualified doctors’!

Thank you, Simon for giving us such a colourful, challenging piece. 

Not only do we have a new composition to play but we also have a new soloist who was initially taught by Bridget Bartholomew, our 2nd Horn, and who hails from Petersfield.  Strauss’s heroic 1st Horn Concerto will offer him ample opportunities to display his wonderful skills.  A truly warm welcome to Richard Steggall making his debut with us on Saturday. 

‘Eroica’ of a different kind permeate the epic third symphony of Beethoven, and in order to match the scale of this work I have increased the size of the string section for added strength and power.  Thus we have two extra 2nd violins, violas and cellos, plus a third double bass – so important for harmonic foundation.  Since space is rapidly running out, I offer a very sincere blanket thanks to all those instrumentalists who have joined us specially for this concert.  I will however, give a word of welcome to the new trumpet players for this season, and, continuing on brass lines, those of you who are aware that Beethoven demands an extra (3rd) horn in the Symphony may have a little surprise. 

It won’t be the only one in the concert!

If you live in or near …

… Stubbington, Lee-on-the-Solent or Eastleigh, please give the Orchestras a little of your valuable time. 

We have recently reviewed the locations where information about our concerts is needed and these are the areas that were identified.  The main reason is that longstanding poster deliverers have ‘resigned’ and we have not found replacements yet.  (There are also places that have never been included on our display list.)

If you live in an ‘un-postered’ area you would be giving even more potential listeners the chance to enjoy the concerts.  Sandra will be happy to give you more information and advice, so please call her on 023 9248 3228 or e-mail her at: sandra.craddock@ntlworld.com.

CDs for this concert

Sourced by GE

Strauss  Horn Concerto No 1
Lars-Michael Stansky / Vienna PO / Previn
c/w Horn Cto No 2, Oboe Cto, and Duet Concertino for Clarinet & Bassoon
Deutsche Grammophon DG E4534832 Full Price

Beethoven  Symphony No 3, Eroica
LSO / Haitink
c/w Overture Leonore No 2
LSO Live LSO 0080 Mid Price

Simon Wills  Truffaldino
No recording as yet!

It has been a busy start to the New Year including:

• contact with several existing candidates;
• considering recommendations for two more possible candidates;
• planning two trial rehearsals in March and April;
• and the first trial rehearsal with Andrew Morley last month.

Andrew conducted us in Elgar’s ‘Cockaigne’ Overture and Brahms’ St. Anthony Variations.  He works at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich where, amongst other things, he conducts the Junior Orchestra. 

We all enjoyed the rehearsal and appreciated the time and effort Andy put into it and he remains on our list of candidates. 

Further updates on the quest to find Peter’s successor will appear in future Newsletters.

Steve Bartholomew
for the Succession Sub-committee

Monday 13 February, 7.45pm
(Not 6.00pm as incorrectly given in printed newsletter)
Cordelia Williams – piano
Couperin: Pièces de clavecin, Ordre No.8
Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit
Chopin: 2 Nocturnes, Op.62
Schubert: Piano Sonata in C minor, D.958

Cordelia would have played with HSO in January 2011 but the change of date meant she was out of the country – we hope to invite her to play again soon. 

Thursday 16 February, 6:00pm
Benjamin Baker – violin
Kan Tomita – piano
Beethoven: Violin Sonata in A, Op.12 No.2
Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat, Op.18

Ben played the Kabalevsky Concerto with HSO in November 2009 at very short notice and hopes to be invited again!