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"We also want to do a series of instrumental
workshops, and get professional music teachers in from
London colleges. So we're not just doing things for ourselves;
we're involving the community."
An exciting, one-off event for the orchestra earlier this
year was accompanying the Blackbird Leys Choir in the Hallelujah
Chorus at the Town Hall. This was shown recently on Channel
5 in a sequel to last year's four-part documentary, The Singing
Estate. "They didn't have an orchestra," Simon explained.
"So someone phoned us up and within a week we'd got the
Hallelujah Chorus orchestra put together, and we spent all
of Sunday afternoon filming it. Hopefully it will be great
publicity for the orchestra."
The Sinfonia normally puts on four concerts
a year, as well as accompanying local choral societies and
taking part in the occasional charity event - such as the
performance of Haydn's The Creation at the Sheldonian in February,
which was held in aid of The ARTRoom.
The first of this year's main concerts was in January, but
their second is coming up next
weekend, and will be a chamber concert featuring Stravinsky's
Apollon Musagete for Strings and Mozart's Gran Partita for
Wind. This will be followed in June
by a programme of Sibelius, Shostakovich and Beethoven, with
cellist Colin Carr and conductor John Lubbock.
"Colin Carr's doing the Shostakovich Cello Concerto
No. 2, which is an unusual one, because people normally do
the No.1," Simon commented. "We do find that a concerto
helps to bring in audiences, so a violin or cello concerto
is a good thing to have in a programme."
Both of these events take place at the University Church,
the Sinfonia's traditional venue.
The final event of the year, which Simon is particularly
excited about, is Beethoven's 9th,
with the Philharmonia Chorus from London and special guest
conductor Ian Brown. This is part of the Oxfordshire 2007
celebrations, and will see the Sinfonia making one of its
rare appearances at the Sheldonian. The evening also features
the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, with soloist Anthony Pay.
"From our point of view, the Beethoven 9 is the big
thing," Simon told me. "I wanted a good choir, and
the Philharmonia said they'd love to do it. They're doing
a series of Beethoven 9s this year, so they'll have it under
their belts. Ian Brown is one of our favourite conductors,
and he said he'd love to do it as he's never done it. So there
it was!"
Thinking up interesting programmes year after year must be
a challenge, I suggested. How does Simon decide on the repertoire
for each season?
"We want to be innovative and exciting, and we want
to get really interesting conductors. So the way it works
is that I get the conductors, and I ask them what they want
to do. We come up with pieces that are not mainstream.
"According to our audience research, people seem to
come partly because they're friends of the orchestra, but
also because of the innovative programming and the fact that
we have conductors and soloists that they've heard of."
Simon's plans for the orchestra include expanding geographically.
"Dorchester Abbey is the main venue that we'd want to
use, which we haven't yet. We did try doing a concert once
at Radley College, but it was a big disaster, because it's
just not on the list of places that people go to. I'd like
to move up to using the Sheldonian for our concerts more regularly,
because I think it is a more enjoyable venue, and you get
a bigger audience.
"Next year's big project is going to be commissioning
a new work. We also hope to develop the twinning, develop
charity events and do more choral society concerts. I really
want to raise the orchestra's profile."
Oxford Sinfonia's next concert is on April
28 at St Mary's Church, Oxford.
Nicola Lisle, The Oxford Times, 20 Apr 2007
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