THE LAVENHAM SINFONIA gives vibrant, energetic concerts, with brilliant soloists, of great masterworks from our musical heritage. This year, there are FOUR fantastic concerts taking place in Lavenham Church.
For the first concert in our 2017 season, on April 23rd, we welcome back violin soloist Caroline Mitchell to play two delightful Dvořák concert pieces which, in their contrasting ways, show off the violin’s suitability as a solo instrument.
Berlioz’s overture for his comic opera Béatrice et Bénédict, based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, opens the concert; it ends with Edward Elgar’s great Enigma Variations, in keeping with the English theme for St George’s Day.
The second concert on May 14th, the Lavenham Sinfonia Ensemble will be joined by soprano Emma Bishton, who will sing a selection of ravishing and joyful baroque arias. The Ensemble consists of violinist Jessie Ridley, oboist Timothy Eaton, Jeremy Hughes on cello and harpsichordist Christine Whiffen.
This is a rare chance to hear some of Handel’s German Arias, written for devotional use in a private chapel in the 1720s. Interspersed with the arias, the Ensemble will play chamber music by the two great composers of the German Baroque, including Bach’s Suite No.3 for solo cello.
The third concert takes place on July 2nd, Richard Strauss’s youthful and charming Horn Concerto Op.11 dates from 1883. We are delighted to welcome back Kay Dawson to perform it.
Haydn’s well-loved ‘Drumroll’ Symphony is a late work, from the group of symphonies written for his last trip to London in 1795. Schubert wrote his first C major Symphony, No. 6, at the age of 20; though a scant two decades after Haydn’s last symphonies, it opens a door to the new sound-world of the Romantic period.
GALA CONCERT in association with the Pimlott FoundationThe final concert of our 2017 season is on September 10th, an all-Beethoven concert with a rare opportunity to hear a live performance of Beethoven’s Choral Symphony; it is also the final concert of Jessie Ridley as leader of the Lavenham Sinfonia. To mark this occasion, she will play the Op. 50 Romance for violin and orchestra. Beethoven’s Opferlied (A Song of Offering), for soprano, chorus and orchestra, is a rarelyheard ceremonial work dating from the same years as the Ninth Symphony. This concert is a joint venture with the Pimlott Foundation, bringing together choir, orchestra and soloists in Beethoven’s grand paean to the joy of the human spirit.