Hundreds of train passengers and others enjoyed a transport of delight as an orchestra played fabulous music, poised above the tracks at Reading railway station.
The Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra’s Beethoven on the Bridge event on Saturday was just the ticket for everyone.
Even the most nervous or sceptical potential concertgoer couldn’t help being swept up by the fun of it all.
Fifty musicians played well-known pieces including Coates’s Dambusters March and ‘the world’s most famous symphony’ – Beethoven’s Fifth, the one where the rhythm starts with de de de dah, de de de dah.
The APO’s musical director Andrew Taylor and assistant MD Mel Le Breuilly gave audience members, the youngest aged about three, the chance to conduct the musicians.
About 30 people took up the conducting stick (baton) in an amazing, fast-paced relay, passing it on to the next person. The huge grins of everyone, the volunteer conductors, the audience and the musicians said everything.
Service delivery assistant at the station Steven Shinde said his conducting session was “lots of fun”.
Yosif Spasov, 12, said: “It was a little scary, but also exciting.”
The highly informal, free, concert was on the station’s transfer deck, the high-level walkway linking the station’s platforms. The large window, with views over wooded Caversham, made a great setting.
Three of Reading’s Urban Sketchers Liz Kerry, Lesley Redmond and Clare Buchta drew and painted the performance.
Afterwards. Mr Taylor said: “Sometimes people are a bit scared of the ‘formality’ of the concert hall. They feel they have to dress posh. The transfer deck is a great space to get the music out to people who don’t normally hear it.”
Station noises including announcements and a squeaky escalator added to the atmosphere, lessened the formality and made the music feel more special.
He added: “The musicians were absolute heroes, playing for so long, and earlier for the rehearsal.”
Andrew, who works for the railway, added: “I couldn’t have asked more of my wonderful colleagues at Network Rail and Great Western Railway for their permission and goodwill.”
The orchestra’s next concert will be from 7.30pm on Saturday, October 2. It will take place at the Great Hall, Reading University (the London Road campus), and the programme includes: Florence Price’s, Colonial Dance; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s The Bamboula, Rhapsodic Dance for Orchestra; Malcolm Arnold’s Cornish Dances and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade.
The APO’s Concert Virgin scheme means people who have never been to an orchestral concert before can request a free ticket.
For more details, log on to: https://www.aldworthphilharmonic.org.uk
