Daily Archives: 2 October, 2016

Brighton Festival Chorus! Open Rehearsal

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James Morgan – conductor

Tuesday, October 11th 2016, 7.00pm

Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Falmer

Want to sing with some of the best UK and international orchestras and soloists, and in some of the world’s greatest venues? Join Brighton Festival Chorus (bfc) for our annual open rehearsal on Tuesday October 11th at 7pm in the Medical School, University of Sussex. An exciting season lies ahead, including completing a recording with the BBC Concert Orchestra and performing in the Royal Albert Hall in a fundraising concert for Parkinson’s UK, bringing together amazing musicians and comedians for a night of music and laughter. Two concerts are lined up so far in the Brighton Dome Concert Hall, including our traditional Christmas concert in December. On November 6th 2016 bfc will join the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra for a performance of Brahm’s Requiem and Schicksalslied. James Morgan, Music Director of bfc commented “I’m delighted that the Festival Chorus and BPO will once again join forces in such a special programme. Schicksalslied is a miniature masterpiece; this is one concert you don’t want to arrive late for, as the first minute of music is particularly sublime. Then there is the Requiem – such a well-loved piece and a key work of the choral repertoire.” Sing your heart out with bfc in a rehearsal of Brahms’ Requiem on Tuesday October 11th and meet our friendly members for a drink afterwards.

Sir Neville Marriner CH, CBE, Founder and Life President of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields has died

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Sir Neville Marriner CH, CBE 15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016

sir-neville-marriner

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is deeply saddened to announce the death of Sir Neville Marriner, Founder and Life President of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Sir Neville Marriner passed away peacefully in the night on 2 October.

Born on 15 April 1924 in Lincoln, Sir Neville Marriner studied at the Royal College of Music and the Paris Conservatoire. He began his career as a violinist, playing first in a string quartet and trio, then in the London Symphony Orchestra. It was during this period that he founded the Academy, with the aim of forming a top-class chamber ensemble from London’s finest players. Beginning as a group of friends who gathered to rehearse in Sir Neville’s front room, the Academy gave its first performance in its namesake church in 1959. The Academy now enjoys one of the largest discographies of any chamber orchestra worldwide, and its partnership with Sir Neville Marriner is the most recorded of any orchestra and conductor.

Honoured three times for his services to music in this country – most recently being made a Companion of Honour by Her Majesty The Queen in June 2015 – Sir Neville Marriner has also been awarded honours in France, Germany and Sweden.

As a player, Sir Neville Marriner had observed some of the greatest conductors at close quarters. He worked as an extra under Toscanini and Furtwängler, with Joseph Krips, George Szell, Stokowski and mentor Pierre Monteux. Sir Neville began his conducting career in 1969, after his studies in America with Maestro Monteux. There he founded the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, at the same time as developing and extending the size and repertoire of the Academy. In 1979 he became Music Director and Principal Conductor of both the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Südwest Deutsche Radio Orchestra in Stuttgart, positions he held until the late 1980s. Subsequently he has continued to work with orchestras round the globe in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Athens, New York, Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. In 2011 Sir Neville was appointed Honorary Conductor of the newly formed I, Culture Orchestra which brings together the most talented young musicians from Eastern Europe. Sir Neville was Music Director of the Academy from its formation in1958 to 2011 when he became Life President and handed the baton of Music Director to violinist Joshua Bell.