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Saturday 9 July 2011 Ely Cathedral
Cambridge
Philharmonic
Society
Strauss & Walton
Timothy Redmond
Conductor
Steve Bingham
Leader
Stephen Richardson
Bass
www.cam-phil.org.uk
Image (c) Andrew Dunn
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Corporate Patrons and Friends. This season we are delighted to receive the
support of:
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The Right Worshipful Mayor of Cambridge
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Sebastian and Penny Carter
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Terry Scotcher
Elizabeth Hall
Rob and Janet Hook
Bill and Barbara Parker
Jon Short and Debbie Lowther
Cambridge Philharmonic Society is a member of Chesterton Community College Association.
Registered Charity 243290
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Programme
IVES
BRUCKNER
STRAUSS
The Unanswered Question
Ave Maria
Pange Lingua
Christus factus est
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Interval
WALTON
Belshazzar‟s Feast
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Chairman‟s Greeting
Robert Hook
Chairman
Cambridge Philharmonic
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The Unanswered Question
Charles Ives
(1813-1901)
As a man who made a considerable fortune in the insurance business and whose
compositions received few professional performances until the very end of his life,
Charles Ives is sometimes perceived as a dilettante primitive, anticipating the processes
of the twentieth-century avant-garde almost by idiosyncratic accident. On the contrary,
he was a thoroughly trained musician, academic studies at Yale complementing the
tuition of his bandmaster father and signally failing to stifle the radical experimentalism
which came from the same source (George Ives arranged the convergence of marching
bands in the town square of Danbury, Connecticut, and invented quarter-tone
instruments). His music was underpinned by very serious philosophical and aesthetic
principles, even if his pronouncements tended to take on a gnarled folksiness of
expression (“Stop being such a God damned sissy,” he berated a heckler at a concert of
difficult music, “Stand up and use your ears like a man!”).
All these qualities can be found in the short piece for small orchestra The Unanswered
Question, composed in 1906 as the first of a pair of pieces characteristically entitled: I. “A
Contemplation of a Serious Matter” or “The Unanswered Perennial Question”; II. “A
Contemplation of Nothing Serious” or “Central Park in the Dark in „The Good Old Summer
Time‟”. There seems to be a link to the poem The Sphinx by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in
whose Transcendentalist philosophy Ives was immersed. This includes the phrase „the
unanswered question‟ in its depiction of a debate between the Sphinx who finds no
solution to life‟s riddles and a poet who attempts to perceive design in chaos. With
great economy of means, Ives superimposes three instrumental groups, separated
physically and differing in tempo and rhythm. Over slow moving pianissimo strings, a
trumpet call is repeated seven times and woodwind respond with increasing volume,
tempo and dissonance. The score was revised in the 1930‟s and Ives then provided an
explicit programme for the piece. It is perhaps excusable to find its talk of “Druids, who
Know, See and Hear Nothing”, “The Invisible Answer” and “The Fighting Answerers”
less enlightening than a simple open-eared attention to the music itself.
Stephen Hills
Three Motets
Anton Bruckner
(1824-1896)
Ave Verum
Pange Lingua
Christus Factus Est
Bruckner has often been portrayed as an innocent rustic of eccentric habits and
unsophisticated ideas. His choral Motets, however, tell otherwise. Here is music that
intertwines the artistic and devotional, historic and modern, studious and experimental,
rigorous and Romantic. Bruckner was a sincerely religious man, holding dear his Roman
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Catholic faith and ritual. Music and prayer were inseparable elements of his life‟s
purpose, and the church was his home, his community and his place of worship.
Bruckner was the eldest of eleven children, born in the small Austrian village of
Ansfelden, not far from the town of Linz. His father, village teacher and organist, died
when Anton was only 13 years old. Anton was then sent to live and study within the
Augustinian order at St Florian. His youth was marked by relative poverty, musical
service at the rural churches that fed and housed him, and dogged determination to pass
as many examinations in music theory as possible. He was appointed organist at the
Cathedral in Linz, but composed little, apparently plagued by doubt as to his worthiness
in comparison to his peers.
Although he appeared destined to follow the family traditions in both domestic and
professional life, he never married (being rather famous for making awkward advances to
younger females), and pursued his ambition to leave the countryside for cosmopolitan
Vienna, at that time embroiled in the musical factionalism of Brahms and Wagner.
After further years of study and yet more examinations, he eventually gained recognition
as Professor of Counterpoint at the Vienna Conservatory. His bashfulness gave way to
Wagnerian inspiration, and he completed his first symphony at the age of 42, a work of
great complexity which pushed the skills of the Linz instrumentalists to the limit, and was
met with respect rather than joy. His a capella sacred compositions thus provided
respite, for the composer, his musicians and his audience.
The Ave Maria was the first work completed by Bruckner after five years of arduous
study with the famed musical grammarian Simon Sechter. The Frohsinn choral society
had appointed Bruckner as their director in 1860, and it was with this ensemble and this
composition that he made his first concert appearance as composer in 1861. The Ave
Maria supplication was intrinsic to Bruckner‟s daily meditations – he allegedly kept a diary
in which he recorded how many times he repeated the prayer each day, using a private
symbolic code. Composed for seven voices, the first section of this modal setting
contrasts the three-part women's choir and the four-part men's choir, which unite in the
proclamation of the name of Jesus. The second section is for all seven parts, with a
marked diminuendo as the choir asks for intervention for all sinners.
For the Pange Lingua of 1868 Bruckner combined a text that had inspired him as a
young teenager, with a newfound confidence and experimentalism that allowed him to
challenge musical orthodoxies. It is simple and hymn-like, with little rhythmic
counterpoint, but awakens the listener with unexpected dissonances. The musical
publisher Witt took it upon himself to „correct‟ the music extensively prior to printing
the piece, to Bruckner‟s extreme displeasure. Needless to say, it is the original version
that will be performed in Ely.
The Graduale, Christus Factus Est, composed for Maundy Thursday in 1884,
originates in Gregorian plainchant, makes clear reference to the Italian Renaissance
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composer Palestrina (whose work Bruckner greatly admired on both technical and
spiritual grounds), but is not without operatic dynamics. The four-part setting opens
homophonically, with an immediate contrapuntal contrast. The music rapidly builds to a
dramatic climax followed by an equally emotional whispered conclusion.
Kate Baker
Ave Maria
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
Sancta Maria, mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you,
you are blessed among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and in the hour of our death. Amen.
Pange Lingua
Pange lingua gloriosi
Corporis mysterium
Sanguinisque pretiosi
Quem in mundi pretium
Fructus ventris generosi
Rex effudit gentium.
Now my tongue the mystery telling,
of the glorious body sing;
and the blood, all price excelling
which the world‟s eternal king,
in noble womb once dwelling,
shed for this world ransoming.
Tantum ergo sacramentum
Veneremur cernui,
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.
Therefore we, before him bending,
this great sacrament revere;
types and shadows have their ending,
for the newer rite is here.
Faith, our outward sense befriending,
makes the inward vision clear.
Genitori genitoque
Laus et iubilatio.
Salus honor virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio,
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Amen.
Glory let us give, and blessing
to the Father and the Son;
honour, might and praise addressing,
while eternal ages run:
ever too his love confessing,
who, from both, with both is one.
Amen.
Christus factus est
Christus factus est pro nobis obediens
usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis.
Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum
et dedit illi nomen,
quod est super omne nomen.
Christ became obedient for us,
even unto death, death upon the cross.
Because of this, God raised him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above all names.
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Also Sprach Zarathustra
Richard Strauss
(1865-1849)
Richard Strauss composed this tone poem during 1896, based on the philosophical
treatise by Nietzsche on the same subject. Strauss conducted its first performance on
27 November 1896 in Frankfurt. In 1944, at the age of 80, Strauss conducted the Vienna
Philharmonic in an experimental high-fidelity recording of the piece. The work has been
part of the classical repertoire since it was first performed. The magnificent
introductory fanfare, entitled "Sunrise" in the composer's program notes, has become
particularly well known to the general public due to its use in Stanley Kubrick‟s film
2001: A Space Odyssey. The piece is divided into nine sections played with only three
definite pauses. Strauss named the sections after selected chapters of the book:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Einleitung (Introduction)
Von den Hinterweltlern (Of the Hereaftergo'ers)
Von der großen Sehnsucht (Of the Great Longing)
Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften (Of the Joys and Passions)
Das Grablied (The Grave-Song)
Von der Wissenschaft (Of Science)
Der Genesende (The Convalescent)
Das Tanzlied (The Dance Song)
Nachtwandlerlied (Song of the Night Wanderer)
The piece starts with a sustained double low C on the double basses, contrabassoon and
organ. This transforms into the brass fanfare of the Introduction and introduces the
"dawn" theme that is common throughout the work.
One of the major compositional themes of the piece is the contrast between the keys of
B major, representing humanity, and C major, representing the universe. Because B and
C are adjacent notes, these keys are dissimilar tonally: B major uses five sharps, while C
major has none.
Richard Strauss was born in Munich in 1864, and died aged 85 in 1949. He was inspired
by a musical family, his father being the first horn player in the court orchestra in Munich.
His earliest work was a symphony composed at the age of 17. Having developed early,
he put aside parental influence and modified his conservative tendencies to far more
expressive and emotional idioms such as we shall hear tonight in Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Richard Strauss became a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early
modern eras. He is known for his operas which include Der Rosenkavalier, his Four Last
Songs, and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till
Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, An Alpine Symphony, and Metamorphosen. Strauss was also a
prominent conductor throughout Germany and Austria, and along with Gustav Mahler
he represents the late flowering of German Romanticism in which pioneering subtleties
of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style.
Binnie Macellari
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Belshazzar’s Feast
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
William Walton
(1902-1983)
Thus spake Isaiah
If I forget thee O Jerusalem
Babylon was a great city
In Babylon, Belshazzar the King made a great feast
Praise ye
Thus in Babylon, the mighty city
And in that same hour
Then sing aloud to God our strength
The trumpeters and pipers were silent
Then sing aloud to God our strength
William Walton was born and raised in Oldham, Lancashire, where his father was a
church organist, choirmaster and singing teacher and his mother a gifted amateur singer.
The young William joined his father‟s choir and apart from this liturgical duties took part
in regular performances of Messiah, The Creation and Elijah. He was also familiar with the
local brass band tradition.
At the age of 10, William went to Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford as a chorister. As
part of their daily routines the boys were encouraged to compose their own music.
Reams of manuscript paper were covered with his compositions – mostly motets for
double choir. William was shown every encouragement in his writing. He remained at
Oxford to read music (as one of the youngest undergraduates ever to have entered the
university) but failed the matriculation examinations and was sent down. This did not
seem to deter the young composer – far from it – he did not relish the academic
vocation which was being mapped out for him.
While as Oxford Walton met the Sitwells. Sacherverell Sitwell found Oxford rather dull
and disappointing but described Walton as “the sole redeeming point of Oxford”. This
eccentric, artistic and aristocratic family were to have a profound effect on Walton‟s life
and career. After he left Oxford, he lived at their Chelsea house and was introduced to
everybody and anybody in the international artistic world. He collaborated with Edith
Sitwell on Façade, which was first performed in the Sitwell‟s living room with the active
involvement of both brothers as well as Edith herself. By this stage, Walton‟s Piano
Quartet (1918) had been published and in 1932 he secured international recognition at
the Salzberg meeting of the International Society of Contemporary Music.
In 1929, shortly before the premiere of the Viola Concert, the BBC made the first
commission offered to a composer for a piece specifically for broadcasting. The
commission specified that the piece was to be for two soloists, small chorus and small
orchestra. In the early stages of composition the piece was titled “Nebuchadnezzar or
the Writing on the Wall”. The text was drawn together by Osbert Sitwell from texts
from the Book of Daniel, Psalms 137 and 81 and the book of Revelations. Isaiah‟s
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prophecy „The day of the Lord is at hand‟ was used to open the work. The composer‟s
creative ambitions overtook the scale of the original commission and by the time of the
first performance it was scored for baritone solo, double chorus, semi-chorus, a large
orchestra, organ and two groups of brass. (Fellow Lancastrian, Sir Thomas Beecham,
gave Walton encouragement, suggesting "As you‟ll never hear the thing again, my boy,
why not throw in a couple of brass bands?")
While Walton‟s knowledge of the British choral tradition is drawn on extensively in the
piece, it is nonetheless full of innovation. The orchestration is extremely colourful in
places and draws remarkable and contrasting effects. The rhythms are often syncopated
and distinctly jazzy (Walton was a great admirer of George Gershwin and presented hi
with a copy of the score of his Piano Quartet when the two met in 1925). Great
demands are made on the chorus and in its early days the piece was only performed by
crack choirs and virtuoso conductors. Today is may seem surprising that this was
considered a piece which the artistic establishment of the day shunned. The premiere
performance had been scheduled to take place at Worcester in 1932 as part of the
Three Choirs Festival. However, the Festival‟s authorities were very quick to dissociate
themselves from such an “unsuitable” work, so far as performance in a cathedral was
concerned; Belshazzar‟s Feast was not performed in churches or cathedrals until it was
given at the Three Choirs Festival in 1957.
Today, we can be grateful that this moving and invigorating work has been accepted into
the mainstay of the British choral repertoire and that neither Sir Thomas Beecham‟s
pessimism nor the initial suspicion of this masterpiece have prevailed.
Walton did not take his work with the greatest seriousness. At a Hoffnung festival
concert, he conducted a large choir and orchestra in "an excerpt from Belshazzar's
Feast": Walton raised his baton, and the chorus bellowed the single word "slain" (from
#7). He then put down his baton, shook hands with the baritone soloist, who had not
sung a note, and they both bowed and left the platform to gales of applause.
Bruce Tate
www.cam-phil.org.uk
Belshazzar’s Feast
Selected and arranged from Psalms 81 and 137, and the Book of Daniel, by Sir Osbert Sitwell
(1892–1969).
Thus spake Isaiah:
All manner vessels of most precious
Thy sons that thou shalt beget
wood,
They shall be taken away,
Of brass, iron and marble,
And be eunuchs
Cinnamon, odours and ointments,
In the palace of the King of Babylon
Of frankincense, wine and oil,
Howl ye, howl ye, therefore:
Fine flour, wheat and beasts,
For the day of the Lord is at hand!
Sheep, horses, chariots, slaves
And the souls of men.
By the waters of Babylon,
By the waters of Babylon
In Babylon
There we sat down: yea, we wept
Belshazzar the King
And hanged our harps upon the willows.
Made a great feast,
Made a feast to a thousand of his lords,
For they that wasted us
And drank wine before the thousand.
Required of us mirth;
They that carried us away captive
Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine,
Required of us a song.
Commanded us to bring the gold and
Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
silver vessels:
Yea! the golden vessels, which his father,
How shall we sing the Lord's song
Nebuchadnezzar,
In a strange land?
Had taken out of the temple that was in
Jerusalem.
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget her cunning.
He commanded us to bring the golden
If I do not remember thee,
vessels
Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my
Of the temple of the house of God,
mouth.
That the King, his Princes, his wives
Yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my
And his concubines might drink therein.
chief joy.
Then the King commanded us:
By the waters of Babylon
Bring ye the cornet, flute, sackbut, psaltery
There we sat down: yea, we wept.
And all kinds of music: they drank wine
again,
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be
Yea, drank from the sacred vessels,
destroyed,
And then spake the King:
Happy shall he be that taketh thy children
And dasheth them against a stone,
Praise ye The God of Gold
For with violence shall that great city
Praise ye The God of Silver
Babylon be thrown down
Praise ye The God of Iron
And shall be found no more at all.
Praise ye The God of Wood
Praise ye The God of Stone
Babylon was a great city,
Praise ye The God of Brass
Her merchandise was of gold and silver,
Praise ye the Gods!
Of precious stones, of pearls, of fine linen,
Of purple, silk and scarlet,
All manner vessels of ivory,
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Thus in Babylon, the mighty city,
Belshazzar the King made a great feast,
Made a feast to a thousand of his lords
And drank wine before the thousand.
Belshazzar whiles he tasted the wine
Commanded us to bring the gold and
silver vessels
That his Princes, his wives and his
concubines
Might rejoice and drink therein.
After they had praised their strange gods,
The idols and the devils,
False gods who can neither see nor hear,
Called they for the timbrel and the
pleasant harp
To extol the glory of the King.
Then they pledged the King before the
people,
Crying, Thou, O King, art King of Kings:
O King, live for ever…
And in that same hour, as they feasted
Came forth fingers of a man's hand
And the King saw
The part of the hand that wrote.
In that night was Belshazzar the King slain
And his Kingdom divided.
Then sing aloud to God our strength:
Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
Take a psalm, bring hither the timbrel,
Blow up the trumpet in the new moon,
Blow up the trumpet in Zion
For Babylon the Great is fallen, fallen.
Alleluia!
Then sing aloud to God our strength:
Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob,
While the Kings of the Earth lament
And the merchants of the Earth
Weep, wail and rend their raiment.
They cry, Alas, Alas, that great city,
In one hour is her judgement come.
The trumpeters and pipers are silent,
And the harpers have ceased to harp,
And the light of a candle shall shine no
more.
Then sing aloud to God our strength.
Make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.
For Babylon the Great is fallen.
Alleluia!
And this was the writing that was written:
'MENE, MENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN'
'THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE
BALANCE
AND FOUND WANTING'.
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STEPHEN RICHARDSON
Bass
Stephen Richardson was born in Liverpool and studied at
Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of
Music. He has created roles in many important
contemporary works including Thomas Adès‟s The
Tempest (Royal Opera House); Tan Dun‟s Orchestral
Theatre II‚ Re‚ and Tea (Suntory Hall‚ Tokyo); Barry‟s The
Triumph of Beauty and Deceit and The Intelligence Park;
Tavener‟s Eis Thanaton‚ Resurrection‚ The Apocalypse and Fall
and Resurrection (City of London Sinfonia‚ St Paul‟s
Cathedral); and the British premiere of Ruders‟ The
Handmaid‟s Tale (English National Opera).
Roles with British companies include Graf Waldner Arabella‚ Mamirov The Enchantress‚
Daland‚ Claggart‚ Fasolt‚ Osmin‚ Sarastro‚ Colline‚ Commendatore‚ Kommandant From
the House of the Dead‚ Sparafucile‚ Baron Ochs‚ Swallow‚ Timur‚ and Sir Morosus Die
schweigsame Frau. He appears regularly with Netherlands Opera‚ De Vlaamse Opera‚
Opera National de Paris‚ Teatro alla Scala‚ Oper der Stadt Bonn‚ Istanbul Festival‚ Lyric
Opera of Chicago‚ Salzburg Festival and Nationale Reisopera.
Concert repertoire includes Anubis/Death of Kong in Birtwistle‟s The Second Mrs Kong
(Royal Festival Hall)‚ Hansel and Gretel (BBC Concert Orchestra)‚ Messiah (Carnegie
Hall/Trevor Pinnock)‚ Oedipus Rex (BBC Stravinsky Festival/Sir Andrew Davis)‚ Nixon in
China (London Symphony Orchestra) and Knussen‟s Where the Wild Things Are and
Higglety Pigglety Pop! (Cleveland Orchestra and London Sinfonietta/ Knussen).
Recordings include Where the Wild Things Are‚ title role in Goehr‟s Death of Moses
(Unicorn Kanchana)‚ Purcell‟s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Mary (DG Archiv)‚
Stravinsky‟s The Flood and Britten‟s A Midsummer Night‟s Dream (London Symphony
Orchestra/ Sir Colin Davis‚ Philips) and Albert Herring (Chandos).
Recent and future engagements Stromminger La Wally (Opera Holland Park); Drummaker and Puppeteer/ Fire-eater/Ape-Judge/ Fisherman/ Ringmaster/ Farmer The
Adventures of Pinocchio (Opera North); Flint Billy Budd (Netherlands Opera); Ludwig van
Beethoven in Gerald Barry‟s Schott and Sons‚ Mainz (National Chamber Choir of Ireland‚
Dublin); Samuel Un ballo in maschera (Nationale Reisopera); Rocco and ll Giullare
Francesco da Rimini (Opera Holland Park); Sir Joshua Cramer in Barry‟s The Intelligence
Park (Irish Museum of Modern Art‚ Dublin); Lady Bracknell in Barry‟s The Importance of
Being Earnest (Los Angeles Philharmonic‚ Thomas Adès Festival); Commandant From The
House of The Dead (Opera North); Ferrando Il Trovatore (Den Jyske Opera); Hobson
Peter Grimes (Royal Opera House‚ Covent Garden); Falstaff and Sarastro (Opera
Australia); Kaspar Der Freischütz (Opéra de Rennes); Don Quichotte in Fénelon‟s Le
Chevalier Imaginaire (Ensemble Intercontemporain)‚ Monterone and Hobson (Opera
North)‚ Bartolo Le nozze di Figaro (Grange Park Opera) and X Powder her Face (London
Symphony Orchestra concert/ Thomas Adès).
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TIMOTHY REDMOND
Conductor
Timothy Redmond has been principal conductor
of the Cambridge Philharmonic since 2006. He
recently made his debut at St Petersburg's
Mariinsky Theatre, conducting the Russian
premiere of Thomas Adès' Powder Her Face. The
production was filmed for Russian TV and he was
immediately re-engaged to conduct the opera in
Valery Gergiev‟s Stars of the White Nights festival.
He conducted the same work in Carlos Wagner‟s
new production for the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden in 2008 and 2010.
His 2010/11 season opens with a return to the Wexford Festival for the European
premiere of The Golden Ticket, Peter Ash and Donald Sturrock‟s new opera based on
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which he premiered for Opera Theatre of St Louis last
season. Other highlights this season include a series of concerts with the London
Symphony Orchestra and the Hallé, return engagements with orchestras in Finland,
Macedonia and Slovenia and his debut with Italy‟s Filarmonico Arturo Toscanini.
Timothy Redmond is a regular guest conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
both in the recording studio and the concert hall and he has conducted the Manchester
Camerata every season since 1997. He has conducted many of the UK's other leading
orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic,
the Ulster and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras, the Orchestra of Opera North, Northern
Sinfonia and the Philharmonia. He has recorded several discs for EMI, Type Records and
Harmonia Mundi and his recent CD, Dreams, with the French cellist Ophèlie Gaillard and
the RPO is shortly to be released in the UK, having reached number one in the French
classical charts.
In the opera house he has conducted productions for Opera North (Don Giovanni),
English Touring Opera (Daughter of the Regiment, The Magic Flute, Carmen), Tenerife
Opera (Gianni Schicchi, The Miserly Knight, Carmen) and the Wexford Festival (Weill‟s Die
Silbersee). His particular interest in contemporary music has led him to give premieres in
Bregenz (Richard Ayres‟ The Cricket Recovers) for Almeida Opera/Aldeburgh Festival
(Raymond Yiu‟s The Original Chinese Conjuror), at English National Opera (Will Todd‟s
Damned and Divine) and for Opera Theatre Europe at the ROH Linbury (Tobias Picker‟s
Thérèse Raquin). He has also conducted for Glyndebourne, Garsington, Strasbourg, De
Vlaamse Opera, at the UKLA Festival in Los Angeles and for New York‟s American Lyric
Theater.
Timothy Redmond read music at Manchester University and studied the oboe at the
Royal Northern College of Music. He later held the RNCM's Junior Fellowship in
Conducting and furthered his studies in masterclasses with Yan Pascal Tortelier, Ilya
Musin, George Hurst and Pierre Boulez.
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STEVE BINGHAM
Leader
Steve Bingham studied violin with Emmanuel
Hurwitz, Sidney Griller and the Amadeus Quartet
at the Royal Academy of Music from 1981 to 1985,
where he won prizes for orchestral leading and
string quartet playing. In 1985 he formed the
Bingham String Quartet, an ensemble which has
become one of the foremost in the UK, with an
enviable reputation for both classical and
contemporary repertoire.
The Quartet has
recorded numerous CDs and has worked for radio
and television both in the UK and as far afield as
Australia. The Quartet has worked with distinguished musicians such as Jack Brymer,
Raphael Wallfisch, Michael Collins and David Campbell.
Steve has appeared as guest leader with many orchestras including the BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English National Ballet and
English Sinfonia. He has given solo recitals both in the UK and America and his concerto
performances include works by Bach, Vivaldi, Bruch, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn and
Sibelius, given in venues as prestigious as St John‟s, Smith Square and the Royal Albert
Hall. Steve is also Artistic Director of Ely Sinfonia.
In recent years Steve has developed his interest in improvisation, electronics and World
music, collaborating with several notable musicians including guitarist Jason Carter and
players such as Sanju Vishnu Sahai (tabla), Baluji Shivastrav (sitar) and Abdullah Ibrahim
(piano). Steve‟s debut solo CD Duplicity was released in November 2005, and has been
played on several radio stations including BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. The Independent
gave it a 4-star review. Steve released his second solo CD, Ascension, in November
2008. You can find out more about Steve on his web site at www.stevebingham.co.uk.
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LEO TOMITA
Chorus Master
Leo was Organ Scholar at Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, where in addition to conducting and running
the choir and playing the organ for services, he conducted
the college orchestra. He is now a counter-tenor Lay
Clerk at St John‟s College, Cambridge, where he sings in
the choir in their daily services (including weekly webcast
services), Radio 3 broadcasts, concerts and tours.
Leo is Assistant Conductor of the Cambridge University
Chamber Choir, and will be touring North Germany in July
with them. Leo has been Assistant Conductor for several
operas including a Yorke Trust production of Rameau‟s
Castor et Pollux and a Cambridge Festival production of Britten‟s Noye‟s Fludde.
In September, Leo began studying for an MA in vocal studies at the Royal Academy of
Music, and has been awarded a Postgraduate Performance Award administered by the
Musicians Benevolent Fund.
www.cam-phil.org.uk
CAMBRIDGE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY ORCHESTRA
First Violins
Steve Bingham (leader)
Kate Clow (co
leader)
Vincent Bourret
Graham Bush
Roz Chalmers
Hilary Crooks
Naomi Hilton
Maydo Kay
Adele Martin
Meriel Rhodes
Sean Rock
Victoria Stelzhammer
Gerry Wimpenny
Second Violins
Debbie Saunders
Joanna Baxter
Leila Coupe
Fiona Cunningham
Rebecca Forster
Emma Lawrence
John Mascall
Anne McAleer
Edna Murphy
Katrin Ottersbach
John Richards
Sarah Ridley
Carol Ripley
Violas
Gavin Alexander
Liz Andrews
Dominic de Cogan
Alex Cook
Robert Heap
Miriam Henson
Jo Holland
Emma McCaughan
Janet O‟Boyle
David Watkinson
Cellos
Vivian Williams
Sarah Bendall
Angela Bennett
Helen Davies
Anna Edwards
Melissa Fu
Clare Gilmour
Helen Hills
Lucy Mitchell
Lucy O‟Brien
Amy Shipley
Alex Sicola
Bassoon
Neil Greenham
Jenny Warburton
Double Bass
Sarah Sharrock
Stephen Beaumont
Elspeth Cape
Susan Sparrow
Trumpet
Andy Powlson
Naomi Wrycroft
Mike Ball
Huw Grange
Flute
Alison Townend
Sally Landymore
Samantha Fryer
Adrienne Jackson
Trombones
Denise Hayles
Gary Davison
Oboe
Jenny Sewell
Rachael Dunlop
Camilla Haggett
Cor Anglais
Gareth Stainer
Clarinet
Sarah Whitworth
Frances Richmond (also
Alto Sax)
Graham Dolby (also Eb
Clarinet)
Stephanie Reeve (also
Bass clarinet)
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Contra Bassoon
Phil Evans
Horn
Carole Lewis
Paul Ryder
Stephen Orriss
Mike Appleton
Elly Hey
Liz Perrott
Bass Trombone
Rob Brooks
Tuba
Alan Sugars
Christopher Lawrence
Timps
Dave Ellis
Percussion
Michael Ellis
James Shires
Zoe-Laura Arkinstall
Harps
Lizzie Scorah
Isobel White
Organ
Jonathan Lilley
OFF STAGE LEFT
Trumpets
Shaun Fitzgerald
Elliot McAusland
Noah Lawrence
Trombones
Sarah Minchin
Luke Fitzgerald
OFF STAGE RIGHT
Bass Trombone
Rob Tovey
Tuba
Christopher
Lawrence
Trumpets
Huw Grange
Garath Williams
Mike Spencer
Chapman
Bass Trombone
Chris Holt
Tuba
David Minchin
Trombones
Nick Byers
Will Hutchin
Cambridge Philharmonic Society Chorus
First Soprano
Helen Bache
Jane Cook
Christina Klasse
Ros Mitchell
Ruth Pegington
Amanda Price
Josephine Roberts
Mary Richards
Anne Sales
Pat Sartori
Paddy Smith
Ruth Tricker
Alison Vinnicombe
Second Soprano
Cathy Ashbee
Eleanor Bell
Nicola Bown
Susannah Cameron
Joanne Clark
Jennifer Day
Susan Earnshaw
Christine Halstead
Maggie Hook
Diana Lindsey
Ursula Lyons
Cat Macardle
Valery Mahy
Suzie McCave
Liz Popescu
Vicky Potruff
Anne Read
Pip Smith
First Alto
Jenny Barma
Margaret Cook
Caroline Courtney
Alison Dudbridge
Kin Mei Leung
Jan Littlewood
Janet Mills
Julia Napier
Alice Parr
Sarah Upjohn
Helen Wheatley
Margaret Wilson
Second Alto
Kate Baker
Jane Bower
Hilary Burch
Elizabeth Crowe
Alison Deary
Tabitha Driver
Jane Fenton
Jane Fleming
Stephanie Grey
Hilary Jackson
Sue Purseglove
Gill Rogers
Chris Strachan
Claudia West
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Tenor
Johan Alsiö
Aiden Baker
Jeremy Baumberg
Geoff Forster
David Griffiths
Ian MacMillan
Jim Potter
David Reed
Stephen Roberts
Michael Short
Graham Wickens
Bass
Richard Birkett
Neil Caplan
Brian Dawson
Chris Fisher
Andrew Goldman
Patrick Hall
Lewis Jones
Richard Monk
Paul Rendle
Harrison Sherwood
Mike Warren
David White
Chorus Master
Leo Tomita
Cambridge Philharmonic Society
2011 – 2012 Season Programme
Dates and Venues
Sunday 13 November 2011 West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Saturday 10 December 2011 Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Cambridge
Saturday 21 January 2012 West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Sunday 11 March 2012 West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Saturday 19 May 2012 West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Saturday 30 June 2012 King‟s College Chapel, Cambridge
Details of these concerts are to be confirmed
For further information and online ticket sales, visit:
www.cam-phil.org.uk
To leave feedback about our concerts and events please email:
[email protected]
To receive news of forthcoming concerts, send a blank email to:
[email protected]
www.cam-phil.org.uk