Crowd pleasing programme for Harrogate Symphony Orchestra’s forthcoming summer concert
The musical director of Harrogate’s biggest amateur orchestra has talked about the significance of a forthcoming collaboration with Harrogate Music Centre.
Bryan Western said Harrogate Symphony Orchestra’s concert on Saturday, June 20 at the Royal Hall would be a “wonderful opportunity” to showcase talented young musicians.
“HSO have always considered working with youngsters as one of our prime focusses, so what a wonderful opportunity it is to work alongside these talented and enthusiastic musicians,” said Mr Western.
"I think our audience will be very surprised at the standard of music making coming up, it will be a real ear opener.”
Members of the HSO have been sitting in at Music Centre rehearsals on a Saturday morning, working on pieces specially arranged to accommodate players with a range of abilities.
Pieces by Purcell, Grieg, Price and Copland, alongside a vocal work by John Rutter, will lead to a spectacular finale in the form of Stravinsky’s The Firebird.
In addition, the HSO will present a handful of popular classics, including William Walton’s Spitfire Prelude and Fugue from the wartime film First of the Few, marking 90 years since the flight of the prototype.
Rossini’s William Tell Overture will have the audience’s feet tapping and the strings working overtime, while Malcolm Arnold’s evocative Cornish Dances are so typically Malcom Arnold that they are almost a self-made pastiche of his other works.
The Harrogate Symphony Orchestra can trace its musical roots back to 1931 when it began as the Harrogate String Orchestra.