Professor Peter Aston Memorial Concert

On the evening of Friday 14th March 2014 I attended the UEA Symphony Orchestra and Choir's Professor Peter Aston Memorial Concert at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich. This concert was dedicated in memory of Professor Peter Aston and also marked Sharon Andrea Choa's last concert as UEA Director of Music and UEA Symphony Orchestra Conductor.

The programme consisted of Nimrod - Elgar, O Sing unto the Lord a New Song, If ye Love Me, O be Joyful in the Lord, The True Glory - Peter Aston and Symphony No.9 - Beethoven. The Orchestra was conducted by Sharon Andrea Choa and the Choir was conducted by Tom Primrose. Soloists on the evening were Lisa Cassidy, Eleanor White, Iain Milne and Andrew Weeks.

This was an emotional night at St. Andrew's Hall which included sacred choral music by Peter Aston. Elgar's Nimrod and Beethoven's Symphony No.9 were both performed brilliantly with Sharon Andrea Choa conducting the UEA Symphony Orchestra for the last time before taking up her appointment at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

UEA Symphony Orchestra's English Connection Concert

On the evening of Friday 15th November 2013 I attended the UEA Symphony Orchestra's The English Connection Concert at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich. This was a Sir Colin Davis Memorial Concert. The orchestra were conducted by Sharon Andrea Choa and featured soloist Paul Silverthorne (viola).

The programme consisted of Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (transcribed for viola) - Elgar and Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 - Dvorak.

Elgar's Cello Concerto is the last of four expressively linked works together with the Violin Sonata, String Quartet and Piano Quintet he wrote in 1918 and 1919. The chamber works have a wistful and eerie enchantment, to which the concerto adds an unmistakably tragic tone. Viola player Lionel Tertis worked tirelessly to establish the viola as a solo instrument in its own right and made a transcription of Elgar's concerto in 1929.

Dvorak wrote the Eighth Symphony in 1889 and was published by the London firm of Novello and Co in 1892. The Eighth is thought of as the sunniest and most relaxed of Dvorak's symphonies, but there is considerable emotional darkness in the slow movement, as well as light and tranquillity.

This was a wonderful evening at St. Andrew's Hall as the UEA Symphony Orchestra performed splendid pieces by Elgar and Dvorak. This was a fitting memorial concert in memory of Sir Colin Davis.

UEA Symphony Orchestra celebrate Britten

 
On Friday 23rd November 2012 I attended the UEA Symphony Orchestra's Britten Centenary Celebration Concert at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich with two unfinished masterpieces being performed. The orchestra were conducted by Sharon Andrea Choa. Soloists were Simon Smith - violin and Paul Silverthorne - viola. The programme consisted of Double Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in B minor - Britten and Symphony No.3 - Elgar/Payne.

Britten wrote the Double Concerto at the age of 18 but never realised the orchestral parts, nor sought to have it performed. The work only received its premiere in 1997, after completion by Colin Matthews. Anthony Payne (UEA’s Composer in Residence) had a great deal less material to work with – no score, but 130 pages of sketches – when he set out to complete Elgar’s unfinished 3rd Symphony, which also received its first performance in 1997, to great acclaim, at the BBC Proms.

This was a wonderful evening at St. Andrew's Hall to celebrate the centenary of Benjamin Britten which included a brilliant performance of his Double Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra. Anthony Payne was in attendance with Elgar's Symphony No.3 being performed. This piece finishes on a fade out ending, with a ghostly echo of the symphony's opening in the very last bars. Payne took this cue from The Waggons Passes, from Elgar's 1930 Nursery Suite.