2019/2020 Season

Saturday 12 October 2019

7.30 pm

St Thomas' Church

St Thomas Road

Brentwood 

Essex CM14 4DF 

Conductor        Bradley Winand

Violin               Krassimira Jeliazkova-Jones

Cello                Veronica Henderson

Beethoven       Coriolan Overture

Brahms           Concerto for Violin & Cello

Beethoven       Symphony No 3 (Eroica)

Beethoven's take on two military and political leaders, the Roman Coriolanus and Napoleon, frame this concert.  The Brahms concerto is much more personal: a gift of reconciliation for his great friend the violinist Joseph Joachim from whom he had been estranged. After her wonderful performance of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto in February we are delighted to welcome back Krassimira Jeliazkova-Jones as violin soloist together with cellist Veronica Henderson for the alternately dramatic and tender concerto for violin and cello.  

The concert ends with Beethoven's powerful Eroica symphony, a work that despite its familiarity nowadays was startlingly innovative for its time.  In a survey of 151 conductors in 2016 by BBC Music Magazine, this symphony was named as the greatest symphony of all time.

Saturday 8 February 2020

7.30 pm 

St Thomas's Church

St Thomas Road

Brentwood

Essex CM14 4DF

Conductor      Florian Cooper

Cello               Alex Lockyer

Sibelius           Spring Song

Haydn             Cello Concerto in C

Rachmaninov  Symphonic Dances

We are delighted to welcome the young local cellist Alex Lockyer as soloist in Haydn's effervescent concerto. The great cellist Steven Isserlis has written "I have probably played Haydn's C major concerto more than any other concerto; but each time I do I'm still so delighted by Haydn's joy, his freshness, his mastery and perfection. And the jokes still make me laugh."  

The other main work is Rachmaninov's final orchestral work, his Symphonic Dances.  A great orchestral showpiece it is packed with with Russian melodies and lush harmonies.  We are all looking forward to playing it.  

There will be a 20 minute interval. We expect the concert to end at about 9.20 pm.

Tickets bought in advance are  £10 for adults and £1 for under 18s. Tickets bought at the door are £12 for adults and £1 for under 18s. Tickets are available (without booking fee) for payment in cash from The Shenfield Wine Company, 86 Hutton Road, Shenfield CM15 8NB.  Online booking (with booking fee) is also open at wegottickets. Online booking closes at 6pm on the day before the concert. 

There will be free car parking at the Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School just down the road from the church in Queens' Road.