PIECES by black composers will help a Reading-based orchestra mark Black History Month – and two significant birthdays.
The Aldworth Philharmonic will be returning to the University of Reading’s Great Hall with a programme packed with music inspired by dancing and storytelling.
Florence Price’s Colonial Dance and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s The Bamboula: Rhapsodic Dance for Orchestra, based on a Caribbean folk melody, provide high-energy dance melodies and imaginative variation.
Malcolm Arnold’s Cornish Dances has been chosen as a nod to two long-standing members of the orchestra who hail from the West Country.
Tom and Caroline Brett are both celebrating a significant birthday this year, and have sponsored the concert. Their choice to complete the programme is Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral showpiece, Scheherezade, named after the storyteller in the Arabian folk tales better known as One Thousand and One Nights.
The orchestra seeks to improve access to classical music through presenting accessible concerts and engaging in innovative educational initiatives, as well as providing local musicians with a chance to play orchestral music to a high standard without having to commit to weekly rehearsals – instead there are two weekends of intensive rehearsals ahead of each performance.
Michael Rowley, APO’s chair, said: “We’re delighted to be putting on this programme with pieces chosen by Tom and Caroline, who’ve been part of the APO family for so long.
“It’s lovely that we can come together and celebrate their special contribution over many years with such brilliant masterworks. It’s also a key part of our ethos to programme new music and that of underappreciated composers, so it’s fantastic to be presenting works by Florence Price and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
“All the music is really accessible and engaging – great for anyone who’s never heard a live orchestra before and wants to take advantage of our Concert Virgin scheme.”
This scheme allows people who have never attended a concert before to enjoy two complimentary tickets. These need to be booked in advance.
The concert takes place from 7.30pm on Saturday, October 21, and tickets are £15, £10 under 18s, and £7 for ages five to 15 and members of APO Young, its free fan club.
For more details, log on to: www.aldworthphilharmonic.org.uk
