World-class playing in Suffolk
It may have started grey and rainy but Sunday 26 March took a turn for the better at 4.00pm with the launch of the first concert in the Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra's Celebration Sunday concert series at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds.
An hour before the concert the two soloists - Matt Glendening and Christian Barraclough - spoke to some of the SPO Friends about their lives as performers, about the instruments they play and some of the challenges and excitements of being a professional musician. Christian, who played the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, later explained to the whole audience how the trumpet had evolved and how the piece he was about to perform was dramatically different to anything that had been written for the trumpet before, giving a fascinating insight and adding to the audience's enjoyment and appreciation of his masterful playing. Christian is Principal Trumpet with the SPO and has played on film scores as well as with many of the UK's top orchestras.
Matt, who is Principal Clarinet at the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, gave a stunning rendition of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, bringing his own nuance and beautiful tonal quality to this well-known piece of music. The audience was spell-bound.
The orchestra got the concert off to a tremendous start with a far less familiar but equally lovely work - The Fair Melusine by Mendlessohn - and concluded the afternoon with Mozart's Symphony No. 38, known as the Prague Symphony. The Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra, which is entirely made up of professional players, brings world-class music to Suffolk, the like of which would be hard to match in any concert hall throughout the country.
Sunday 28 May is the date for the next SPO Celebration Sunday concert at The Apex. The talented young Japanese violinist, Yume Fujise, will be performing Beethoven's Violin Concerto in this all-Beethoven programme. Tickets are on sale now.