TV star to compere launch night of new orchestra at Harrogate's Royal Hall

Under the initiative of Yorkshire-born William Dutton, the Cuore Chamber Orchestra aims to be a dynamic musical force for Yorkshire.

The orchestra’s opening concert will take place in Harrogate’s magnificent Royal Hall on Thursday, May 8 at 7.15 pm with a beautiful programme including Holst, Berkeley, Elgar and Tchaikovsky.

The compere for the night will be talented film and TV actor Freddie Fox, whose Harrogate links include being great great grandson of the town’s19th century mayor Samson Fox.

Cuore, which means “soul core heart” in Italian, is committed to showcasing classical music at the highest level in Harrogate’s magnificent Royal Hall with the very best young professional musicians.

Its founder and Artistic Director, William Dutton, was born in Leeds and brought up in Harrogate.

He started his musical career as a singer, winning BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the year in 2006.

William went on to make his BBC Proms debut in 2007 as a member of the classical group The Choirboys and starred in Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation of The Magic Flute.

Following his early violin studies with the Kazakh virtuoso violinist Marat Bisengaliev, he went on to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School and in 2014 won the strings category of BBC Young Musician of the Year.

In 2020, William was the first British pupil to be invited to study conducting at the Italian Conducting Academy in Milan, and made his UK conducting debut two years later.

The programme for the launch event will include::

Gustav Holst – St Paul’s Suite.

Lennox Berkeley – Serenade for Strings.

Edward Elgar – Introduction and Allegro (with the Elmore Quartet).

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings.

Freddie Fox’s most prominent screen performances include as singer Marilyn in the BBC's Boy George biopic Worried About the Boy, Jeremy Bamber in White House Farm and Spider Webb in Slow Horses.

For tickets, visit Harrogate Theatre box office, call 01423 502116 or visit: https://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/