The English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) and Principal Conductor Kenneth Woods have announced their autumn 2014 season, which features three concerts in Christ Church Malvern, home of the ESO’s subscription series, and the orchestra’s first forays into Elgar Hall on the campus of Birmingham University, and LSO St. Luke’s in London. The ESO will also build on its considerable strengths in education and outreach, with a continued series of courses for young musicians and numerous regional concerts.

Encapsulating the ESO’s autumn 2014 season, Kenneth Woods comments, “The programmes are a series of riffs and themes, the most prominent of which is Nature which we’ll explore in a multimedia presentation at LSO St. Luke’s, and in a work by our distinguished Composer-in-Association John McCabe. Our subscription series at Christ Church, Malvern, mixes music and leisure with a selection of serenades and divertimenti. And in addition to our debut at LSO St. Luke’s, we’re looking forward to our first performance in Birmingham’s Elgar Hall, a venue with superb acoustics and wonderful amenities.”

With Woods on the podium, the ESO makes its debut at LSO St. Luke’s in London on 18 October with Wall of Water, a multimedia exploration of the sea, the seasons and the sounds of the natural world, with compositions by Thea Musgrave, Deborah Pritchard, Emily Doolittle and Kaija Saariaho. The title is taken from Pritchard’s violin concerto – which will feature Harriet Mackenzie as soloist – written in response to a new series of paintings by Maggi Hambling and reflecting the intense power, movement and depth of her work. In Wall of Water, which receives its world premiere on this concert, “each wave is depicted musically as it transforms regarding architecture, energy and colour in an expressive dialogue between soloist and orchestra,” explains the composer. Also on the programme are the UK premieres of Doolittle’s falling still for violin and orchestra – inspired by hearing a blackbird singing against the gently changing background sounds of light rain at dawn – and Saariaho’s Terra Memoria for string orchestra, a piece dedicated “for those departed,” says Saariaho. “The title refers to two words which are full of rich associations: earth and memory.” The programme opens with Green by Musgrave, which she refers to as a “short work about conflict, expressed by the clash of opposing musical forces.”

On 8 October, Woods and the ESO will appear for the first time in Elgar Hall at Birmingham University, surveying the finest of English string orchestral music, including Pilgrim by ESO Composer-in-Association John McCabe, a powerful evocation of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. One of McCabe’s predecessors in the position was Sir Michael Tippett who is represented by his vibrant and witty Concerto for Double String Orchestra. Also on the programme are Vaughan Williams’ haunting Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis – a work the ESO has recorded to international acclaim – and Introduction and Allegro by Elgar Hall’s namesake, fittingly performed by the orchestra based in the composer’s home town of Malvern.

The ESO’s subscription season at Christ Church, Malvern opens on 13 September with Slavic Strings, pairing the lyrical string serenades of Dvorak and Tchaikovsky with Shostakovich’s powerful and moving Chamber Symphony, Op. 110a, adapted from his Eighth String Quartet.

The series continues on 3 October with the spotlight on the ESO’s wind players, including Dvorak’s Serenade for Winds, highlights from Mozart’s Don Giovanni arranged for wind octet by his contemporary, Josef Triebensee, and a rare performance of Hans Gál’s witty and lyrical Divertimento, written in the 1920’s for the virtuoso wind section of the Vienna Philharmonic.

The ESO’s 14 November programme in Christ Church, Malvern features John McCabe’s evocative Red Leaves, a miniature tone poem inspired by an autumn journey throughout New England, paired with two classical works – Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 featuring the ESO’s own Peter Adams, and Mozart’s melodious Symphony No. 29.

The ESO’s season is augmented with concerts in Berkeley, Bromsgrove, Cirencester, Pershore and Worcester, including its annual Messiah performance with the Saint Michael’s Singers and a celebration of conductor and organist Donald Hunt’s decades-long service to musical life at Worcester Cathedral. For further details please visit http://eso.co.uk/?page_id=1574.

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For any media enquiries, interview and image requests, please contact Melanne Mueller, melanne@musiccointernational.com, +44 (0) 20 8698 6933 or +1 917 907 2785

To learn more about the English Symphony Orchestra please visit http://eso.co.uk

To learn more about Kenneth Woods please visit http://kennethwoods.net.

ENGLISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
KENNETH WOODS, PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR
AUTUMN 2014 SEASON
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION 

Saturday, 13 September – 7:30 pm (pre-concert talk at 6:45 pm)
Christ Church, Malvern
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings?
Shostakovich Chamber Symphony Op. 110a
Dvo?ák Serenade for Strings

Friday, 3 October – 7:30 pm (pre-concert talk at 6:45 pm)
Christ Church, Malvern
Mozart (arr. Triebensee) Don Giovanni (selections)
Gál Divertimento for Winds
Dvo?ák Serenade for Wind Instruments

Wednesday, 8 October – 7:30 pm (pre-concert talk at 6:45 pm)
Elgar Concert Hall, Birmingham University Campus
Tippett Concerto for Double String Orchestra
John McCabe “Pilgrim” for Double String Orchestra?
Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Elgar Introduction and Allegro for Strings

Sunday, 12 October – 3:00 pm
Bingham Hall, Cirencester
Corelli Concerto Grosso
Vivaldi Concerto in A Minor for Two Violins
Niels Gade Noveletten
Rachmaninov Vocalise
Reger Lyrisches Andante
Warlock Capriol Suite
Sarasate Navarra
English String Orchestra directed from the violin by Michael Bochmann

Saturday, 18 October – 7:30 pm (pre-concert talk at 6:45 pm)
A Celebration for Donald Hunt
Worcester Cathedral
Hunt A Song of Joy
Vaughan Williams Mystical Songs
Elgar Enigma Variations
Elgar The Music Makers
Catherine Wyn-Rogers mezzo-soprano
Tom Hunt bass
Donald Hunt conductor

Saturday, 18 October – 7:30 pm (pre-concert talk at 6:30 pm)
Wall of Water
LSO St. Luke’s, London
Thea Musgrave Green for String Orchestra
Deborah Pritchard Violin Concerto “Wall of Water” (World Premiere)
Emily Doolittle “falling still” for Violin and Strings (UK Premiere) Kaija Saariaho Terra Memoria for String Orchestra (UK Premiere)
English String Orchestra?
Harriet Mackenzie violin

Friday, 14 November – 7:30 pm (pre-concert talk at 6:45 pm)
Christ Church, Malvern
McCabe Red Leaves
Haydn Cello Concerto in C Major
Mozart Symphony No. 29 in A Major
Peter Adams cello

Saturday, 6 December – 7:30 pm
White Christmas
A collaboration with Penelope’s Dance Studio 
Stephen Roberts Ballet: Snow White
Selections from:
Grieg Holberg Suite
Vivaldi Four Seasons
Bartók Romanian Folk Dances
English String Orchestra directed by Michael Bochmann

Sunday, 7 December – 6:00 pm
A Berkeley Castle Christmas
Boyce Symphony No. 1
Marcello Oboe Concerto
Vivaldi Concerto in A Minor for Two Violins
J. S. Bach Concerto for Violin and Oboe
Morricone Gabriel’s Oboe
plus works by Grieg, Brahms, Grainger and Anderson
English String Orchestra directed by Michael Bochmann
Graeme Adams oboe
Eleanor Cooke violin

Saturday, 20 December – 7:30 pm
Cirencester Parish Church
Handel Messiah
Saint Michael’s Singers
Paul Leddington-Wright conductor

Monday, 22 December – 7:30 pm
A Christmas Celebration
Number 8, Pershore
Vivaldi ‘Winter’ from The Four Seasons
Handel ‘For Unto Us A Child is Born’ from Messiah
Boyce Symphony No. 1
Grieg Elegiac Melodies
Roberts Carickfergus and Irish Jig
Mendelssohn ‘There shall a star’ from Christus
English String Orchestra directed by Michael Bochmann
Coventry Singers, Paul Leddington-Wright director