Winchmore String Orchestra's concert on 18th November will be in aid of Water Aid. Music has been chosen to reflect both the time of year and the time of day, but will range across the centuries and across Europe.
With the festive season approaching and the nights getting longer we have chosen two timely themes for our end-of-year concert: Christmas; and music with nocturnal associations. But the result is a remarkably varied programme, ranging from the Baroque period to 20th-century America, and taking in Germany, Spain, Italy, Bohemia and France on the way.
No music shouts “Christmas” more loudly than HANDEL’s Messiah, even if its first performance, in Dublin in 1742, took place in the month of April. Our concert will open with its overture, rich in images of eager anticipation and pastoral piety. This will link directly to another seasonal piece, written nearly two centuries later – Holy Boy by the British composer John IRELAND.
The Nativity theme will be further developed with the much-loved Christmas Concerto by CORELLI, who was born a generation before Handel and who became known as the “father of the concerto grosso”, the musical form in which this work was written. A different take on Christmas comes with the Meditation on the “Wenceslas” chorale by the Czech composer and son-in-law of Dvořák, Josef SUK, based on an ancient hymn to his country’s patron saint, whom we know as “Good King Wenceslas”. And to round off this theme we go to the USA for a Suite of Carols by the 20 th century composer Leroy ANDERSON, described by the conductor John Williams as “one of the great American masters of light orchestral music”. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The night theme involves two nocturnes – one by the Russian Alexander BORODIN (later recycled in the 1950s musical Kismet), the other for piano by Frédéric CHOPIN – probably this composer’s most famous nocturne and his only work to have been permanently on the Classic FM Hall of Fame list since this started. The latter will be played by our soloist for the evening, Oliver Till, who will also play the first movement of BEETHOVEN’s Moonlight Sonata. Still on the nocturnal theme but quite different in character is an atmospheric piece by the Italian composer BOCCHERINI, who lived for many years in Spain, called Night music from the streets of Madrid.
One other work in the programme, albeit with neither Christmas nor nocturnal baggage, is a Concerto for Keyboard by C P E BACH (son of Johann Sebastian), in which Oliver will be the soloist. The regular interval raffle will be in support of the charity WaterAid, and the concert, which will be held as always at the WINCHMORE HILL METHODIST CHURCH, N13, will start at 7.30 pm on SATURDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2017
Tickets at the door are £9, with concessions at £7.50 (£8 and £6.50 if bought in advance); children under 12 free. For advance tickets ring 020 8882 0351, or email
The WSO is a community string orchestra and a registered charity (No 1070537). We give three concerts a year, which support local and national charities, and we welcome new players of a good standard. Rehearsals take place on Thursday evenings at the church where we hold our concerts,
For further information please ring or email JoanBayliss as above, or visit our website: www.winchmorestrings.co.uk.
