Well, my experimental trick of adding famous names to blog titles clearly doesn’t work. Or maybe only if it inlcudes Ben Barnes. Sorry, Rob, you just didn’t cut the mustard.
I have also discovered, to my detriment for this post, that as with most things in life, you should never put things off; i.e. I should have written up the post after the event and not five days later.
You need to get it down on paper whilst the thrill of the event is still with you or if you are in the flow of writing. Some days, writing anything seems like trying to assemble a puzzle that just won’t fit, no matter how hard you try to hammer the pieces together.
As a result, I can only offer a badly hammered, welded, glued and stomped on recap of an event of the 40th Anniversary Year Season of Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) last Friday.
It really was buzzing with that special excited atmosphere before a show; all the parents, friends and family waiting to see their relative or friend perform. I remember the feeling of being quite ill with excitement before I had public piano recitals as a teenager, so I can just imagine how they all felt waiting to come on stage. Except that the level they play at and the skill they have is far greater than mine ever was, so maybe they were more confident about it all.
Either way, it was fantastic – for a number of reasons. The programme was:
- Prokofiev – Violin Concerto No 1 in D
- Mahler – Rückert Lieder
- Holst – The Planets Suite
Jian Ren, played the violin for Prokofiev, he is only 16 and was absolutely incredible! Louise Winter, mezzo soprano, gave a wonderful rendition of the Rückert Lieder. She has a beautiful voice and I’m very much looking forward to seeing her perform Verdi’s ‘Requiem’ at Chester Cathedral next year. The Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra were fantastic, along with their conductor, Paul McCreesh.
I wanted to write a whole bit on class, status and praise for Chetham’s etc. and do you know what, I will not bother, as all that matters is to say how fantastic it is to see young people so skilled, so clearly passionate and focused and to see their families and friends gathered around supporting them. (For more information on ‘Chet’s’, as it’s affectionately called, excellent work go to http://www.chethams.com).
Doesn’t that show my age that I’m going ‘Oh, aren’t these youngsters doing a great job’ in a croaky voice. Using the word ‘youngster’ shows my age too… (For those who don’t know me, I am but a mere 18 myself…really, honest… fingers crossed behind my back…)
