Brilliant new orchestra in Harrogate who are making the ‘ultimate musical gamble’ pay off
It’s easy to assume in an era of funding cuts and high costs in the arts that to launch a world-class professional chamber orchestra in the heart of Yorkshire is, perhaps, the ultimate gamble.
Afterall, it’s not something that happens every day.
But the remarkable progress already made by the Cuore Chamber Orchestra since it was launched earlier this year in the glitter and pomp of Harrogate’s Royal Hall suggests the naysayers may have got it wrong this time.
After receiving swift official recognition as a charity by the Charities Commission with a board of four trustees, the ambitious new orchestra is now in the midst of the excitement of preparing for the opening concert of its debut season later this month.
Taking place at the orchestra’s spiritual home of the Royal Hall on Saturday, September 27, its dynamic conductor William Dutton is determined the new venture will be world-class or it will be nothing.
As the founder of Cuore Chamber Orchestra, as well as its Artistic Director, this brilliant young man full of vigour and vision has more in his hands than the baton.
But Dutton is confident the new orchestra will do credit to Harrogate and Yorkshire at the very least.
"Yorkshire has a rich and diverse musical output but none of the major cities have a professional chamber orchestra.
"I am very hopeful that Cuore will fill that space with fresh and dynamic concert experiences.”
The multi-talented Dutton was born in Leeds but brought up in Harrogate where he began learning to play the violin at the age of four.
He has long since become accustomed to being under pressure in the spotlight at the highest level.
In 2006, he won BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year.
Two years later, he performed for King Charles in Harrogate during the monarch’s visit to the town.
The year of 2008 also saw him gain a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School where he studied with Lutsia Ibragimova and Simon Fische.
In 2014, he won the Strings Final of BBC Young Musician of the Year.
William Dutton’s career growth and musical development has been fast and wide-ranging since then.
And all that experience appears to be bearing fruit in the form of the Cuore Chamber Orchestra.
If May’s launch event is anything to go by, the forthcoming season’s opener with its programme of Beethoven, Grieg and Mendelssohn will be a treat for true music fans everywhere.
But, in a world where quality costs and the hurdles to creating a new orchestra to challenge at a national level are formidable, it isn’t just the music which will matter in the future of the Cuore.
If an orchestra is more than its score, that is something its ultra positive founder William Dutton is aware of and in the process of addressing.
Committed to delivering educational outreach programmes to enhance the musical awareness and participation of schoolchildren in Yorkshire, the new orchestra is about to launch Cuore Young Professionals in Leeds to spearhead the nurturing of classical music amongst the younger generations.
And it’s also making inroads into winning major sponsorship, as a matter of necessity.
It’s already been boosted by news that Yamaha are loaning a brand new grand piano from London for the forthcoming concert at the Royal Hall.
As the first British conductor ever admitted to the Italian Conducting Academy in Milan where he studied with Gilberto Serembe, William Dutton is full of energy and full of ambition.
But it’s an ambition built on love of music more than anything else.
“I am delighted to be returning to the Royal Hall, where I sang as a soloist in front of the then Prince of Wales at its grand re-opening in 2008,” said William Dutton.
"We aim to enrich the music life of all ages throughout this wonderful region.”