Family Matinee: Mysteries and Dances

Date: Sunday 17th November 2024
Time: 3pm
Venue: Strode Theatre, Street, Somerset

* Special Offer – Up to two child tickets free with every adult ticket purchased.

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Join the Mid-Somerset Orchestra for a fun afternoon of vivid classical music for the whole family!

Grieg’s Norwegian Dances
Lively folk rhythms that celebrate the heart of Norway.

Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre
A thrilling, eerie dance with death, captivating in every note.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden Suite
Lose yourself in the enchanting winter tale of a magical maiden.

Elgar’s Enigma Variations
A deeply emotional and mysterious orchestral work that will leave you spellbound. Narrated by Neil Howiantz.

2024-25 Concert Season

The Mid-Somerset Orchestra is delighted to present another season of concerts in Strode Theatre, with four exciting programmes to look forward to!

  • The season opens on Sunday 17th November at 3pm with a family-friendly matinee concert presented from the stage by compere Neil Howiantz. The programme will include the haunting Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens and Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
  • A second matinee concert takes place on Sunday 2nd February at 3pm when Laurence Perkins will join the orchestra to perform the Mozart Bassoon Concerto. The concert will also include a rare performance of Louise Farrenc’s third symphony.
  • On Saturday 10th May at 7.30pm you can enjoy a concert of full-on rich romantic music, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony.
  • For the season finale on Saturday 5 July at 7.30pm we present A Festival of British Light Music, including favourite works by Eric Coates, Edward German and Ernest Tomlinson.

6 July 2024 – Mozart, Grieg and Nielsen

Saturday 6th July 2024, 7.30pm

Vital Stahievitch Piano

Hitoshi Suzuki Conductor

  • Mozart Overture to The Magic Flute
  • Grieg Piano Concerto
  • Nielsen Symphony No. 1

Strode Theatre, Street, Somerset, BA16 0AB

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The Mid-Somerset Orchestra is delighted to be joined by internationally acclaimed piano soloist Vital Stahievitch* for a performance of Grieg’s piano concerto. Written in 1868, the concerto is one of the most well-known in the repertoire and is an enduring feature in the Classic FM Hall of Fame. This will follow an exuberant opening to the concert with the overture to Mozart’s final opera The Magic Flute.

In the second half of the concert we continue the Scandinavian theme, moving from a Norwegian to a Danish composer. Carl Nielsen completed the first of his six symphonies in 1892. It is a very accessible and melodic symphony with a distinctive Danish flavour, and deserves to be performed much more frequently.

*Change of artist. Pianist Sam Haywood has had to withdraw from this concert. The Mid-Somerset Orchestra is grateful to to Vital Stahievitch for stepping in to perform the concerto.

May 11th – Strauss, Dvořák and Brahms

Saturday 11th May 2024, 7.30pm

Gerard Flotats* Cello

Hitoshi Suzuki Conductor

  • R. Strauss Wind Serenade Op. 7
  • Dvořák Cello Concerto
  • Brahms Symphony No. 4

Strode Theatre, Street, Somerset, BA16 0AB

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The Mid-Somerset Orchestra is delighted to welcome the brilliant young cellist Gerard Flotats as soloist in Dvořák’s supreme cello concerto. This was the composer’s last concerto, premiered in London in 1896, and remains one of his most popular works.

The concert also includes a rare performance of the wind serenade by Richard Strauss featuring the 13 musicians of MSO’s woodwind and horn sections. Written in 1881 when the composer was only 17 this work shows how he was influenced by Mozart and Mendelssohn in his early career.

The concert ends with Brahms’s fourth and final symphony, first performed in 1885. Considered by many to be one of the greatest symphonic works since Beethoven, Brahms’s fourth is notable for its rich, romantic orchestration, and its unusual passacaglia form with a repeated chord sequence in the final movement.

*Kindly supported by Making Music’s Philip & Dorothy Green Young Artists scheme

Mozart and Haydn – February 4th 2024

Sunday 4th February 2024, 3pm (note start time)

Lola Frisby Williams Clarinet

Hitoshi Suzuki Conductor

  • Mozart Overture La Clemenza di Tito
  • Mozart Clarinet Concerto
  • Haydn Overture ll Mondo della Luna
  • Haydn Symphony no 94 Surprise

Strode Theatre, Street, Somerset, BA16 0AB

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The Mid-Somerset Orchestra’s winter concert moves to the daylight hours of a Sunday afternoon this year, with a programme of music by two of the greatest classical composers, Mozart and Haydn. The programme will blend some well-known works with others which deserve to be heard more often. The concert opens with Mozart’s overture to his opera La Clemenza di Tito which exhibits the composer’s characteristic flair and elegance. This is an ideal prelude to a performance of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, one of the most famous pieces written for the instrument, and featuring permanently in the classical hit-parade. Soloist Lola Frisby Williams is a recent alumna of Wells Cathedral School. She was one of the school’s most brilliant clarinettists and all-round musicians. She is now studying at Cambridge University.

The second half starts with another lesser-performed overture, this time from Haydn’s comic opera Il Mondo della Luna (The World on the Moon), first performed in 1777. The concert ends with a performance of Haydn’s Symphony no. 94. Known as “The Surprise” the symphony is peppered with the composer’s characteristic musical jokes.

Coming Soon – Family Matinee Concert

Saturday 25th November – 3pm

Strode Theatre, Church Road, Street, Somerset, BA16 0AB

Narrator: Caroline Blyth*

Conductor: Hitoshi Suzuki

Following last year’s popular family matinee concert, The Mid-Somerset orchestra is pleased to present another celebration of classical music which can be enjoyed by concert-goers of all ages.

Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf is a symphonic fairy tale, with the instruments of the orchestra representing the characters in the story. Listen out for the bird, duck, cat, grandfather, hunters, and of course the title characters. Our very own Caroline Blyth will join the orchestra on stage to bring the story to life. The concert will open with Rossini’s overture to his opera The Barber of Seville, which follows the escapades of the barber Figaro amongst Spanish nobility. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by one-hit-wonder Paul Dukas became famous when it featured in Disney’s Fantasia. It showcases a cautionary tale in which a broom is brought to life to do the apprentice’s chores in a sorcerer’s workshop. The concert closes with the orchestral suite from Tchaikovsky’s ballet, Swan Lake.

*Unfortunately Roger Parsons, who was originally planned to be narrator for this performance, has had to withdraw. We are grateful to Caroline Blyth for stepping in.

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