Friday 30 November 2012

Return of Exeter University Footlights - 'Copacabana' Exeter Northcott Theatre Wednesday 23 January 2013

Exeter University Footlights Society
(back in June 2012)

One outstanding feature of the week of music and theatre at the end of the 2012 university summer term  was a fabulous performance by Exeter University Footlights of Steven Sondheim's 1973 Broadway musical 'A Little Night Music'.



A Little Night Music

Rosie Frecker & Charlotte Monk-Chipman
Director and Producer
Stephen Sondheim's 'A Little Night Music'

During the final weeks of the 2012 summer term, a theatrical spectacular was reaching completion at the Students' Guild. Footlights Musical Theatre Society Producer Charlotte Monk-Chipman obtained funding from the 'University of Exeter Annual Fund' to stage a gorgeous production - in a gorgeous location.

Reed Hall, which was once a student hall of residence (lucky students!) is now a plush wedding and reception venue. With the help of the Annual Fund, and a concessionary student rate, the Guild were able to hire the hall for four nights (4-7 June). The setting was perfect for their musical - Stephen Sondheim's 'A Little Night Music'.

Director, Rosie Frecker, really made the most of the performance area. With the audience on both sides of the reception hall, the actors gave a 'traverse' performance - a very intimate experience, where the observer is drawn into the action, which was disconcertingly natural and realistic - even when the students broke into song! There are many memorable numbers in Sondheim's musical, but the first half closer really took the prize - 'A Weekend in the Country'!

The musical accompaniment was top quality, of course. Instrumentalists from the Exeter University Symphony Orchestra played from a perfect position in the extension of the room behind the audience. Discreet but very effective. The orchestra included Phil de Iongh's double bass and Oli Ritchie's harp - perfect! 

Two experienced musical actors
Stephanie Lysé and Jonathan Wood
Stephanie was Mae Coleman
in 'Reefer Madness'
(Student Guild Shotgun Theatre Company)
Jonathan was Bunthorne in 'Patience'
(Gilbert & Sullivan Society)
The main protagonists:
Ed Johnson and Antonia Vickers are
Frederik Egerman and Desiree Armfeldt
Their farcical romance won the hearts
of the entire audience






Another touching romance
Egerman's son Henrik (Dave Wall)
is a confused curate, in love with
Egerman senior's second wife Anne
(Katie Thomas)



Three generations of Armfeldts
Desiree and daughter Frederika
(Phoebe Mulcahy) under the
watchful eye of grandmother
Madam Armfeldt (Rosamund Frost)
- imperiously clicking her fingers
at her attendant Fred (Will Kellerher)

























The count considers his wife 'irrelevant'
(when she's not around)
and resents Egerman's affection for
'his' mistress, Desiree.
Egerman can't see what
all the fuss is about


Unintentionally comic,
the incredibly pompous
Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm
(Nick Kenchington)
is easily cut down to size
by the withering wit of
Countess Charlotte (Rosie Archer)


























At Supper, Countess Charlotte
completes Carl-Magnus' humiliation.
However, Madam Armfeldt's
very special Belgian wine
is about to have devastating effects.
Now read on . . .



Now read on . . . 2013



Since the return of the students in September, Footlights have managed to prepare another amazing musical for us - Barry Manilow's 'Copacabana'. Following his hit song of the same name - based on Alfred Green's 1947 movie starring Groucho Marx and Carmen Miranda - Manilow was persuaded by Dick Clark Productions to collaborate with Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman on the 1985 CBS television remake starring Barry Manilow and Annette O'Toole as the newly invented characters, Tony Starr and Lola La Mar. RCA brought out the movie soundtrack as an album the same year.

The stage version, which opened at 'Caesar's Circus Maximus' in Atlantic City in 1990, included the original 'Copacabana' theme, some extra songs which had been included in the 1988 CBS special, and some brand new songs like Lola's 'Just Arrived'. In 1994 it was extended into a full-length musical which was first performed at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth (Devon!) and played in the West End two months later - followed by another album of songs performed by the London cast. An American version of the musical ('Barry Manilow's Copacabana, A New Musical') was put on by the Civic Light Opera in Pittsburgh PA in 2000, and a Swedish version, with the songs translated by Swedish lead, John Martin Bengtsson, at  the Växjö Konserthuset, Småland, in 2005. In 2006 licences were made available for schools and colleges to perform the musical.

The version Footlights will perform ('A New Musical' 2000) will, thankfully, be in English. It will include additional characters Stephen and Samantha who live in 1985 Manhattan. Stephen is trying to write a screen play, and his imagination takes him back to 1947 and the story of Tony Starr and Lola La Mar in the Copacabana Club (played by the same two characters). By clever manipulation of sets and costumes, Simon is then able to narrate the story of  Tony and Lola. Although the Copacabana club is in New York, the action moves to another nightclub in Havana, Cuba - the Tropicana, run by Rico Castelli.

Castelli is possibly a play on the name of  Raúl López del Castillo who became prime minister of Cuba in 1947 - which was only six years before Fidel Castro's attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago which led to the Cuban Revolution. Back in 1947, when László Vadnay wrote the original screenplay, he knew nothing of Fidel Castro. Manilow, writing in 1985, would have had the whole history of the revolution in mind - including the 1980 refugee crisis, when 125,000 'Marielitos' escaped the Castro regime, at great personal cost, to live in the United States. In the circumstances, it seems strangely insensitive of Manilow to create a criminal character with a name so similar to the pre-Castro prime minister of the time. On the other hand, Manilow, perhaps wisely, left out any reference to The De Castro Sisters (Babette, Cherie and Peggy) who featured in the original film.

Kath Darke is the producer and Ed Johnson is the director for this year's Footlight's production. Cam Jones is Tony. Jess Philips is Lola. You can see them at work at Kay House in tunathegreat's video.

To launch the show, and raise funds the cast and crew were at '44 Below' in Queen Street, Exeter, on Sunday 28th October for 'Copa Cocktail Night'. The staff invented the 'Copa Cocktail' which will be on sale until the show starts on Wednesday 23 January. (Sorry, free cocktails were only available at the party!)



This production is moving from the luxurious and intimate venue of Reed Hall to the big stage of Exeter Northcott Theatre - also on the University Campus. The show will run from 23rd-27th January 2013 (Wednesday - Saturday). Tickets are already available form the Northcott Box Office - telephone 01392 493493. Find out more and check up on the progress of production at the Footlights Facebook Page.




Exeter University Footlights
present 'Copacabana'
Exeter University Footlights Society
Exeter Northcott Theatre
Wed-Sat 23-26 January 7.30pm
COPACABANA
producer: Kath Darke
director: Ed Johnson
Tony Starr: Cam Jones
Lola La Mar: Jess Philips
Tickets: £10-16
Northcott Box Office: 01392 493493
(Footlights facebook page)

Monday 19 November 2012

UNSilent Movies with the Seat of the Pants Orchestra - Four Silent Films with Improvised Accompaniment - Exeter Phoenix Theatre Monday 26 November 2012 "NO PLACE LIKE HOME"

newly married and building a happy home
Buster Keaton & Sybil Seely
set to work in 'One Week' (1920)


UNSILENT MOVIES

Starting at Dartington Hall in July, the 'Seat of the Pants' orchestra has been touring Devon with its live accompaniment to the Antony Asquith's 1929 silent film 'Escape from Dartmoor'.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

After five appearances they will turn their attention from thriller to comedy.

At Exeter Phoenix on Monday 26th November, they will provide live, improvised, musical accompaniment for Buster Keaton's 1920 collaboration with Edward Cline, 'One Week'.

This was Keaton's first film as director with Joseph Schenck's 'Comique Film Company' after Roscoe Arbuckle left to join Paramount. Building on their pre-war success, Keaton introduces more expensive and complicated props, for more exciting stunts. There is an early cameo appearance by Joe Roberts, who would later work with Keaton on several movies - filling the place of the supremely popular 'Fatty' Arbuckle.

The title 'One Week' sounds like it was simply a play on Sidney Franklin's 'Two Weeks', made earlier in the same year. (In 1921 Keaton responded to Charlie Chaplin's shift to melodrama with 'The Kid', by giving his new action comedy the irrelevant, and irreverent, title 'The Goat'.) Where 'Two Weeks' had starred Constance Talmadge, younger sister of the stunning star Norma Talmadge, Keaton cast a new leading lady in 'One Week' - the delightful Sybil Seely.

The combination of romance and slapstick as Keaton tried to build a house for his new bride is everything you would expect - and a perfect opportunity for orchestral experimentation. Shifting seamlessly from tenderness to catastrophic pratfall, 'One Week' almost writes its own score - perfect for a quick witted orchestra of classically trained musicians.

New to the team this time is Exeter Symphony Orchestra flautist, and 'Nonclassical' star, Ruth Molins. In her own words, Ruth likes to sing - with her flute. a very sweet supplement to the 'Seat of the Pants' sound.

Keaton's two-reeler lasts just twenty five minutes, leaving time for another film made almost a century later. 'Block' is a ten minute documentary made by Emily Richardson over ten months in 2005. This movie has not been on public release - so a double first, the first screening, and the first performance of the new score.

(Echoes of 'Pruitt-Igoe' from Philip Glass's score to Godfrey Reggio's 1982 silent documentary 'Koyaanisqatsi' perhaps? Pruitt-Igoe was Minoru Yamasaki's St Louis housing project, completed in 1955 but completely destroyed as uninhabitable in 1972 - ironically the year that Kamasaki's other great project was realised - the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan.)

Starting and ending the set will be shorts spanning the twentieth century. The evening will open with pioneering documentary footage shot by Mitchell and Kenyon in 1901 (and rediscovered in 1994), and end with home movies made by current Exeter residents - all with improvised accompaniment by the orchestra.

The full membership of the orchestra is extensive (see full listing on previous post). From that wealth of talent (according to the very reliable Ruth Molins) the line-up next Monday will be:

viola: Andrew Gillett
double bass: Marcus Vergette
violin & double bass: Emma Welton
clarinets: Anita Munson
flutes: Ruth Molins
keyboards, shakuhachi flute: Mike McInerney
vocals, sound manipulation: Sarah Owen
vocals, bagpipes, bouzouki: Paul Whittall
vocals, 'cello, saw, electric guitar: Matthew Shepherd
vocals, alto saxophone, banjo, bowed psaltery, Indian 'shruti petti': Philip Robinson

Enjoy!





Saturday 17 November 2012

Concerts 20 November - 4 December 2012

Wensleigh &
Jacqueline Palmer
Lunchtime Concert Series
Glenorchy Church Exmouth
Wednesday 21 November 12.30pm
SOPRANO, PIANO & ORGAN
Wensleigh & Jacqueline Palmer
(Wensleigh is organist at Sidwell Street
Methodist Church. He will accompany
professional soprano Jacqueline Palmer
and play solo organ pieces)
Admission FREE  retiring collection








piano: Rebecca Willson
Rebecca Willson
Knightley Seminar Room, Exeter University
Wednesday 21 November 3.30pm
A SELECTION OF TWENTIETH
CENTURY PIANO WORKS
Rolf Hind: "Solgata"
Paul McGuire: "Scatter/Gather"
George Crumb: "Five Pieces for Piano"
Jonathan Harvey: "Tombeau de Messiaen"
Admission FREE - and there's tea and cake!







Benjamin Grosvenor
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Exeter University Great Hall
Friday 23 November 7.30pm
FIRE AND ICE
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No 4
Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto
soloist: Benjamin Grosvenor
Pyotr Tchaikovsky: 'Francesca da Rimini'
conductor: James Gaffigan

Tickets: gallery front £36
James Gaffigan
             gallery rear £29.50
              gallery box £21.50
               ground £21.50 / £18 / £12
Exeter Phoenix Box Office: 01392 667080
book online








Charlotte Maclet
Sherborne Latin American Music Festival
(14, 18  23 November)
Cheap Street Church, Sherborne, Dorset
Friday 23 November 7pm
STRING QUARTET
violins : Charlotte Maclet & Alejandro Serna
viola: Danuta Adamska
'cello: Arturo Serna
Alberto Ginastera: "Quartet No 1 Op 20"
Teresa Carreño: "Quartet in B minor"
Heitor Villa-Lobos: "Quartet No 1"
Tickets: £12 (U12 FREE)




TangoMotion
NEARLY SOLD OUT!
TangoMotion
Exeter Northcott Theatre
Friday 23 November
Astor Piazzolla
Buenos Aires 1930
Dance and Song
Tickets: £10.50-£18.50
student standby £8
Box Office: 01392 493493
or book online





Conductor
Marion Wood
Exeter Music Group Symphony Orchestra
St Peter's School Exeter
Saturday 24 November 7.30pm
EMG CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Pyotr Tchaikovsky: 'Valse des Fleurs'
Peter Warlock: 'Capriol Suite'
Edvard Grieg: 'Holberg Suite'
Dmitri Shostakovich: 'Tahiti Trot'
Leroy Anderson: Christmas FEstival
Sergei Prokofiev: Troika
Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride
conductor: Marion Wood
leader: Clare Smith


Tickets: £7 (student/U16 £5)
one U16 flies free with each paying adult!
Box Office: Exeter Tourist Information, Dix's Field
(open 9.30am-4.30pm Mon-Sat 01392 665885)
tickets also on sale at Exeter Strings Workshop
(Bartholomew Street West, Fore Street end)
open 10am-6pm Wed-Sat. cash/cheques only
Full details: EMG website




Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber
Exeter Northcott Theatre
Sunday 25 November 7.30pm
Johann Sebastian Bach: Adagio in G
Benjamin Britten: Scherzo Pizzicato
Gabriel Fauré: Elegie
Camille Saint-Saëns: The Swan
Frederick Delius: Sonata (1915)
William Lloyd Webber: Nocturne
Sergei Rachmaninov: Sonata in G minor
Tickets: £18 (student standby £8)
Box Office: 01392 493493
book online




"One Week"
The bride & groom
Sybil Seely & Buster Keaton
get taken for a ride
by her former suitor
Handy Hank
"Two Short NightsFilm Festival
Exeter Phoenix
Monday 26 November  7.30pm
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
silent movies:
Sagar Mitchell & James Kenyon:
"People & Places" (1901)
Edward Cline & Buster Keaton:
"One Week" (1920)
Emily Richardson: "Block" (2005)
Exeter Home Movies
with improvised orchestral soundtracks by:
The "Seat of  the Pants" Orchestra
ü = playing on Monday * = new members
violin: Ali Jones
viola: Andrew Gillettü
'cello: Jane Pirie
double bass: Marcus Vergetteü
violin & double bass: Emma Weltonü
harps: Ruth Wall
clarinets & saxophones: Chris Caldwell
*clarinets: Anita Munsonü
flutes: Susie Hodder-Williams
*flutes: Ruth Molinsü
keyboards, shakuhachi flute: Mike McInerneyü
vocals, sound manipulation: Sarah Owenü
vocals, vocal percussion: Alex Norgate
vocals, bagpipes, bouzouki: Paul Whittallü
vocals, 'cello, saw, electric guitar: Matthew Shepherdü
vocals, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, & Vietnamese đàn bầu: Vaughan Gallavan
vocals, alto saxophone, banjo, bowed psaltery, Indian 'shruti petti': Philip Robinsonü
Tickets: £11 (student/child £5)
Box Office: 01392 667080
(The 'Seat of the Pants' orchestra will be at Lympstone on Friday 30 November
to provide live accompaniment to Antony Asquith's 1929 silent thriller
'A Cottage on Dartoor' - see November concerts for details




Beacon Piano Trio
Anna Cockroft, Joyce Clarke, Ruth Lass
Lunchtime Concert Series
Glenorchy Church Exmouth
Wednesday 28 November 12.30pm
BEACON PIANO TRIO
piano:  Joyce Clarke
violin: Anna Cockroft
'cello: Ruth Lass
Admission FREE  retiring collection






Michael Trainor & Linn Carter
Honiton Festival
St Paul's Church Honiton
Friday 30 November 1pm
(lunch from 12 noon)
VIOLIN & PIANO RECITAL:
Michael Trainor & Linn Carter
Schubert: Duo for violin and Piano in A
Beethoven: Soanta for Violin and Piano "Kreutzer"
Tickets: £9




Uno Henning is Joe
a barber's assistant
sent to Princetown gaol
for threatening a client
Lympstone Entertainments
Lympstone Village Hall
Friday 30 November 7.30pm
A COTTAGE ON DARTMOOR
Antony Asquith's harrowing 1929 thriller
with live soundtrack improvised by:
The 'Seat of the Pants' Orchestra
(see above)
Tickets: £8
Box Office: 01395 271915
Lympstone Entertainments website







conductor:
Marion Wood
Exeter University Choral Society
Kay House, Duryard, Exeter University
Friday 30 November 11pm
MIDNIGHT CONCERT
Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor
admission FREE
please give generously in support of
The Eddystone Trust for HIV and
Sexual Health Services in the South West
for World AIDS Day (1 December)
The B minor Mass will be repeated on
Wednesday 5 December
in the University Great Hall




Tina Guthrie
Torbay Singers
Torbay Singers
St Matthias Church Torquay
Saturday 1 December 7.30pm
HANDEL'S MESSIAH
Torbay Singers Chamber Orchestra
soprano: Jenny Stafford
alto: Rachel Kelly
tenor: Rupert Charlesworth
bass: Alistair Ollerenshaw
conductor: Tina Guthrie
Tickets: £12 (U16 accompanied, FREE)
Box Office: 01626 777556
book online






log fire in the music room
Killerton House, Broadclyst
Carols in the Killerton Music Room
Killerton House Broadclyst
Sunday 2 December 2-4pm
EXETER BACH SOCIETY
drop in any time
usual charges for admission
adult £9.30, child £4.70
National Trust members FREE

(repeated every Sunday in December)





Music on the Edge
at Topsham Art Room
flute: Susie Hodder Williams
violin: Emma Welton
baritone sax: Chris Caldwell
Music on the Edge
Topsham Art Room
Sunday 2 December 6.30pm
A MUSICAL OFFERING
Bach Trio Sonatas BWV 1079 & 1039
and improvisations on the paintings of
Benedict Rubbra
flute: Susie Hodder Williams
violin: Emma Welton
baritone saxophone: Chris Caldwell
Tickets: £10 on the door
but book seats in advance
Deborah Wood: theartroom@eclipse.co.uk






Exeter University A Cappella Society
St David's Church Exeter
Sunday 2 December 7.30pm
CHRISTMAS SHOWCASE
The EU a cappella society has
seven sub-groups:
novice: Take Note
men: Semi-Toned
women: Sweet Nothings
new group: Illuminations
new classical undectet: Harmonics
four part classical: Hoi Rhapsodoi
four part Elizabethan: The Madrigal Group
(see all events: a cappella website)
Hear them all at St David's Church
Tickets: £4
visit the facebook page




Rob Newby
The Right Worshipful
The Lord Mayor
Lord Mayor's Carol Service
Exeter Cathedral
Monday 3 December 2pm
City of Exeter Railway Band
Exeter Police and Community Choir
Maynard Middle School Choir
Tickets: £2.50 (includes programme)
Proceeds to the Lord Mayor's Charity
SOCOPS (Social Opportunities) for
children 8-16 with high functioning
autistic spectrum condition & families
information & booking:
The Lord Mayor's Office  265524
Exeter Guildhall  665500
Exeter Visitor Information  665885





Exeter University
Chamber Orchestra

Exeter University Chamber Orchestra
St Stephen's Church Exeter
Monday 3 December 6.30pm
FREE CHRISTMAS CONCERT
conductor: Paul McClure
Arcangelo Corelli: Christmas Concerto Grosso
Josef Haydn: Symphony No 44
John Ireland: Concertino Pastorale
Leoš Janáček: Suite for Strings
Admission FREE
(collection for Soundwaves Music Project)





Andrew Daldorph
Exeter Chamber Choir
Buckfast Abbey
Tuesday 4 December 7.15pm
ADVENT CAROL SERVICE
director of music: Andrew Daldorph
Admission FREE
retiring collection in aid of
AgeUK Exeter

Wednesday 14 November 2012

The EMG Symphony Orchestra Christmas Concert - Saint Peter's School Thursday 14th November 2012: Press Release from Ellen Stratton

EMG first violin: Ellen Stratton
(photo: Nigel Cheffers-Heard)



EMG Symphony Orchestra Concert

Saturday 24 November 7.30pm

St Peter's High School, Quarry Lane, Exeter



At 7.30pm on Saturday 24 November in St Peter's High School, Exeter,
EMG Symphony Orchestra will be presenting their Christmas Concert
filled with seasonal classics, including:
  
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite"Dances Caractéristiques" and "Valse des Fleurs"
Sergei Prokofiev: Troika
Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride

as well as perennial favourites including

Dmitri Shostakovitch: Tahiti Trot (orchestral arrangement of 'tea for two' )
Henry WarlockCapriol Suite
Edvard Grieg: Holberg Suite.

With additional wind and brass players joining EMG for band numbers including Leroy Anderson's Christmas Festival, this promises to be a fabulous evening - don't miss out!

Tickets cost £7 (£5 for students and under-16s, one child free with a full paying adult)

On sale now from: Exeter Tourist Information Office, Dix’s Field, Exeter
Tel: 01392 665885 - Open 9.30-4.30 Monday to Saturday
Payment can be by debit card (no fee) or credit card (£1.50 fee on the total transaction))

Or Devon Strings Workshop, 1 Bartholomew Street West, Exeter. EX4 3AJ
(open 10 – 6 Wednesday to Saturday - cash or cheque only).

Please advise when purchasing tickets if you have any specific requirements for disabled access or any other needs.

For further information about EMG Symphony Orchestra please visit:



Conductor
Marion Wood
Exeter Music Group Symphony Orchestra
St Peter's School Exeter
Saturday 24 November 7.30pm
EMG CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Pyotr Tchaikovsky: 'Valse des Fleurs'
Peter Warlock: 'Capriol Suite'
Edvard Grieg: 'Holberg Suite'
Dmitri Shostakovich: 'Tahiti Trot'
Leroy Anderson: Christmas FEstival
Sergei Prokofiev: Troika
Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride
conductor: Marion Wood
leader: Clare Smith


Tickets: £7 (student/U16 £5)
one U16 flies free with each paying adult!
Box Office: Exeter Tourist Information, Dix's Field
(open 9.30am-4.30pm Mon-Sat 01392 665885)
tickets also on sale at Exeter Strings Workshop
(Bartholomew Street West, Fore Street end)
open 10am-6pm Wed-Sat. cash/cheques only
Full details: EMG website


Monday 12 November 2012

Yet more fun at Marion Wood's EMG Open Rehearsal for 'Christmas Concert' Thursday 7 November 2012

moonlighting again!
conductor Marion Wood

and the Exeter Music Group Symphony Orchestra
keep the energy going late into the evening

If the picture above looks familiar, it's because it's that time again!

Marion Wood is seen here preparing the Exeter Music Group Symphony Orchestra for another evening of classical delights, by holding an 'open rehearsal' at St Peter's School in Exeter. Anyone can come along and see what goes on behind the scenes. Anyone with Grade VI or above in their instrument can join in! Children are welcome, and can meet the musicians and find out more about anything from woodwind to percussion.

Marion explains everything she is doing, and explains the music the orchestra is playing. This is music made accessible - and fun! (Still intrigued by the photo above? Look back to 1st March this year to see Marion in action at another 'open rehearsal' of Holst's 'Planets' and Elgar's 'Enigma Variations')

Last Thursday, the orchestra were preparing for their Christmas Concert, which will be on Saturday 24th November. They were preparing a feast of classical gems, some familiar - Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker Suite', Prokofiev's 'Troika', some not so familiar - Peter Warlock's 'Capriol Suite' and Leroy Anderson's 'Christmas Festival' and 'Sleigh Ride'.

Everything was explained with great enthusiasm by Marion, to a captivated audience. Every instrument's rôle was demonstrated by the willing members of the orchestra. No solo went unremarked, no effect was allowed to slip past without comment.

The explanations were fascinating and hugely entertaining for everyone - Ernest La Prade's 'Alice in Orchestralia' meets Benjamin Britten's 'Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' and 'The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra' - guaranteed to enthrall, and enlist, another generation of keen orchestral players.

Take a look for yourself!


Leader Clare Smith calls the orchestra to order
and introduces the conductor - Marion Wood
Before joining Jackie Baldwin at the 'first desk'
Marion explains everything to an enthusiastic audience of children
in fascinating detail
Marion summons up each section of the orchestra
percussion!
tambourine: John McAvoy
tympani: Sarah Hodson 
Sergei Prokofiev's 'Troika'
now that is a tambourine!
student Jerome Blackburn observes the precise technique
and Sarah Hodson's impressive drum roll
children can observe the players close-up
bassoon: Prue Tasman
and ask questions
tuba: Robert O'Byrne
students at Grade VI or above are welcome . . .
Leonie Jones (Grade VIII) with mum Ann
(Leonie recently completed a placement with the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra!)
. . . to join in!
Leonie Jones in the flute section
for 'The Dance of the Reed Pipes'
The smallest - and loudest - instrument
piccolo: Robert Stevenson
something different
tenor saxophone: Richard de la Rue
principal French horn
Sally Maya
oboes!
(cor anglais: Kate Osbourne!)
big bass sound - double basses
front row: Melanie Lester
more bass sound - brass!
tuba: Robert O'Byrne
bass trombone: Charles Dowell
Melanie Lester shares a joke
with violist Rebecca Willson
and shares her experience with a young student
bass clarinettist John Welton
demonstrates the all important 'embouchure'
in a highly entertaining solo performance
'cellos!
led once again by Yvonne Ashby
for Leroy Anderson's 'Christmas Festival'
more tenor saxophones.
in the centre,
Exeter University Symphony Orchestra
& Chamber Orchestra leader: Jenny Rogers
warming up on glockenspiel: Jerome Blackburn
for Leroy Anderson's 'Sleigh Ride'
with 'slapsticks' (the whip): John McAvoy
and sleigh-bells: Sarah Hodson
the bassoons and double basses fall silent
as the trumpet has the last word
- the horse's whinny: Tony Hindley!


Finally, proper photos! - by EMG website designer Nigel Cheffers-Heard:


first violins: Ellen Stratton, Anna Davis
far right: Ray Fane
(photo: Nigel Cheffers-Heard)
first desk: Clare Smith, Jackie Baldwin
(photo: Nigel Cheffers-Heard)
memories of Gerard Hoffnung,
local artist Michael Buckland
records the orchestra at work

(photo: Nigel Cheffers-Heard)
"Russian Percussion"
for Leroy Anderson's 'Sleigh Ride'
- just add musicians!

(photo: Nigel Cheffers-Heard)
tympanist: Sarah Hodson
(photo: Nigel Cheffers-Heard)
Marion Wood conducts
Leonie Jones joins the flute section

(photo: Nigel Cheffers-Heard)
another young student joins the violins
('your name here')

(photo: Nigel Cheffers-Heard)

Conductor
Marion Wood
Exeter Music Group Symphony Orchestra
St Peter's School Exeter
Saturday 24 November 7.30pm
EMG CHRISTMAS CONCERT
Pyotr Tchaikovsky: 'Valse des Fleurs'
Peter Warlock: 'Capriol Suite'
Edvard Grieg: 'Holberg Suite'
Dmitri Shostakovich: 'Tahiti Trot'
Leroy Anderson: Christmas FEstival
Sergei Prokofiev: Troika
Leroy Anderson: Sleigh Ride
conductor: Marion Wood
leader: Clare Smith


Tickets: £7 (student/U16 £5)
one U16 flies free with each paying adult!
Box Office: Exeter Tourist Information, Dix's Field
(open 9.30am-4.30pm Mon-Sat 01392 665885)
tickets also on sale at Exeter Strings Workshop
(Bartholomew Street West, Fore Street end)
open 10am-6pm Wed-Sat. cash/cheques only
Full details: EMG website