Great rehearsals with our new conductor, Lawrence Tatnall. Only 4 weeks to go before the Concert on Saturday 22 June.
Download the flyer or watch our video about the concert at https://www.hcoweb.co.uk
Havering Arts Festival 2019
The Havering Arts Council have announced this years festival and we are delighted they have included our Orchestra in their Brochure.
We support all the arts in Havering.
See the their website here: http://www.haveringartscouncil.org.uk/festivals.html
Start of rehearsals today with our new Conductor. So exciting! Details of our concert can be found on our website www.hcoweb.co.uk. Or watch our new video: https://youtu.be/EGbr2ZqpcRc
We are pleased to announce the appointment of our new Conductor – Lawrence Tatnall
We are pleased to announce the appointment of our new Conductor – Lawrence Tatnall PG Dip BMus.
We started the recruitment process for a new conductor nearly a year ago, with 22 applications, 8 interview candidates, a final shortlist of 3 and then 2 conductors covering alternating rehearsal weeks this last term and sharing the baton at the last concert. Congratulations have to go to Angelo Tsocos, who made the final two in this process who acquitted himself admirably – but we could only have one conductor!
We’re very excited to be working with Lawrence and planning out some exciting programmes for the next concert season. In the meantime, tickets are already on sale for our summer concert “THIEVES, LOVERS & PRINCESSES” which takes place on Saturday 22nd June at Frances Bardsley Academy, Romford. See Lawrence’s biography at Lawrence’ Biography.
HCO Announce their Spring Concert
Our journey starts by taking us to Rome. The date is 1532, and it’s carnival time. Benvenuto Cellini is about to cast the famous statue of Perseus commissioned by the Pope, but nothing is easy.
Then we travel to Vienna in 1816 where the 19-year old Franz Schubert has just finished his lively, youthful and sweet 5th Symphony.
We continue our journey to the ‘Paradise Garden’ of Frederick Delius but, in this case, it is an inn where two star-crossed lovers meet before they take their own lives.
The end of our journey is in a garden full of stone statues. It’s where the magical realm of Kostcheï the Immortal rules, transforming people into stone. Our hero, Prince Ivan, captures the fantastical Firebird, a powerful female spirit bird with magical feathers that provide beauty and protection. After granting her freedom, she gives him one of her magic feathers. This feather offers our hero the lifeline he needs to rescue the Princesses from the evil Kostcheï and to recall the Firebird to return the statues to life. Of course, Ivan marries one of the Princesses.
For this concert, we will have two conductors, as it is the final part of our recruitment process looking to appoint a long-term conductor.
Our journey starts by taking us to Rome. The date is 1532, and it’s carnival time. Benvenuto Cellini is about to cast the famous statue of Perseus commissioned by the Pope, but nothing is easy.
Then we travel to Vienna in 1816 where the 19-year old Franz Schubert has just finished his lively, youthful and sweet 5th Symphony.
We continue our journey to the ‘Paradise Garden’ of Frederick Delius but, in this case, it is an inn where two star-crossed lovers meet before they take their own lives.
The end of our journey is in a garden full of stone statues. It’s where the magical realm of Kostcheï the Immortal rules, transforming people into stone. Our hero, Prince Ivan, captures the fantastical Firebird, a powerful female spirit bird with magical feathers that provide beauty and protection. After granting her freedom, she gives him one of her magic feathers. This feather offers our hero the lifeline he needs to rescue the Princesses from the evil Kostcheï and to recall the Firebird to return the statues to life. Of course, Ivan marries one of the Princesses.
For this concert, we will have two conductors, as it is the final part of our recruitment process looking to appoint a long-term conductor.
Happy Christmas and a happy new year to all from the HCO.
Please keep following us – lots to tell you in the New Year. New website, the next concert and more.
Hope you all enjoyed Saturday’s Concert
Hope you all enjoyed Saturday’s Concert as much as we did. Here’s The Man – conductor Bill Brooks.
Please like, share and follow us. More on the Concert to follow.
There will be Tears Tonight!
Tonight, the 24 November at The Francis Bardsley Academy Havering Concert Orchestra’s will perform the last concert under the baton of Bill Brooks, who is retiring after a lifetime of service to music in Havering.
How do you do justice to a man who has devoted his life to music in Havering.
Bill’s first conducting role was to conduct the School Percussion Band at the Hornchurch Infant Schools Music Festival. He was 7. At 69 he is conducting the HCO for the last time. He has been our conductor for the last 13 years and before that was a cellist with the Orchestra.
You will find more details in our Programme available this evening.
Bill is a conductor, a cellist, a teacher, a mentor, a ‘Barber Shop’ singer and a wonderful person.
He has devoted huge amounts of time to the Royal School of Church Music (Essex and East London Area) and to the Bishops’ Chorister Award, and to music at Hornchurch’s St Andrews Church.
In the orchestra today there are three cellists who were taught by Bill, one was eight when her lessons started. Several where taught their orchestral skills in the Hornchurch Youth Training Orchestra when Bill conducted (1981 to 1992). One of these, travels 70 miles each week to attend rehearsals and says – “As I write this with a lump in my throat, I cannot imagine rehearsals without his encouragement, warm sense of humour and laughter”.
You will forgive me if I drop into the first person on this very special posting. I took up the cello aged 56 with no musical background. I had bought a cello – but how to play it. I asked a local music shop for anyone who could teach me. “Well there’s Bill Brooks but I think he is retired”. I phoned and well Bill gave up his Tuesday evenings and that was over 12 years ago!
Each of us has a story like that.
So come and join us on this very special occasion.
William Brooks’ Last Symphony.
At 7:30 pm on Saturday 24 November, for our third piece, we will be performing no not Brooks’ but Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5. But it will be the last symphony we will be playing under Bill’s baton.
We have played this work before, in the spring of 2016, but our conductor wanted us to play this work for his last concert – and we are only too happy to do just that.
This symphony is very popular with orchestras, there are billions of versions (we only exaggerate slightly) to listen too. The recurring main theme is used as a device to unify all four movements of the symphony. This motto theme, sometimes dubbed “Fate theme”, has a funereal character in the first movement, but gradually transforms into a triumphant march, which dominates the final movement.
There is a lot more about the Symphony and the other pieces in our excellent Programme, available on the night. But if you can’t wait, there is an excellent article on the symphony complete with the audio of these main themes. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._5_(Tchaikovsky).
We hope you will come and join us at 7.30 pm Saturday 24 November at the Frances Bardsley Academy to give Bill Brooks a fabulous send-off.
First rehearsal with our virtuoso soloist, Florian Mitrea.
Yesterday evening we had our first rehearsal with our virtuoso soloist, Florian Mitrea who will be performing the Grieg Piano Concerto at our forthcoming concert. All I would say is that if the rehearsal is an indication of the concert performance, our audience are in for an absolute treat. Not only did it feel as if the orchestra, conductor and soloist had performed together forever, a more musical and charming soloist you could not wish to meet. Our snap shows our Chairman Paul Kelly making some announcements whilst Bill Brooks, is looking forward to his tea break, whilst our treasurer is in deep conversation with Florian…!
