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  Concert Programme

at the Milton Keynes Theatre

 

 


 

From the New World

Friday 29th August 2003 7:30pm

Gershwin - Piano Concerto in F major
Dvorák - Symphony no. 9 in E minor ‘From the New World’
Barber - Candide: Overture
Bernstein - Knoxville: Summer of 1915

 

Siân Edwards  Conductor

Sian Edwards

 

Joanna MacGregor Piano

Joanna MacGregor

Photo - Peter Williams

 

Cheryl Hawkins Soprano

Cheryl Hawkins

 



When Czech composer Antonin Dvorák worked in New York, he found the music of native Americans fascinating. In tribute he wrote his most famous work: the New World symphony. In this concert we have a chance to contrast his view of 19th century America with vibrant American music from the mid-20th century. Delicious pieces by three of the finest composers to grow up in the jazz influenced era, Bernstein, Gershwin and Barber, with soloists Joanna MacGregor and Cheryl Hawkins, make this a concert not to be missed. Siân Edwards conducts. 

 

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Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm in the auditorium.

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Classics for Pleasure

Sunday 12th October 2003
Mozart  - Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major
Prokofiev - Symphony no. 1 ‘Classical’
Dove - The Magic Flute Dances
Mozart - Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Hilary Davan Wetton - Conductor
Soloists
Emily Beynon - Flute
Catherine Beynon - Harp

Catherine & Emily Beynon

Catherine & Emily Beynon



This concert features two outstanding works by the greatest of all Austrian composers, Mozart, including a rarely performed masterpiece, the Concerto for flute and harp, with sisters Emily and Catherine Beynon. Two composers who have shown an admiration for the writings of Mozart are Jonathan Dove and Prokofiev. This concert gives a chance to hear Prokofiev’s enchanting Classical symphony and a second chance to hear Dove’s acclaimed The Magic Flute Dances, jointly commissioned by MKCO and YCAT.

 

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Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm in the auditorium.

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Bags of Beethoven

Sunday 2nd November 2003 7:30pm

Beethoven - Piano concerto no. 3 in C minor
                - Piano concerto no. 1 in C major
                - Prometheus  Overture & Ballet music
                - Overture Coriolan


Hilary Davan Wetton – Conductor
Peter Donohoe - Piano

Peter Donohoe

Peter Donohoe

Did you know that Beethoven wrote music for a ballet? Only the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus is generally performed these days but MKCO offers an opportunity to hear the incidental music, a wonderful rarity. Local favourite Peter Donohoe joins the orchestra in two contrasting piano concertos by Beethoven – the carefree first and the profound third.

 

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Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm in the auditorium.

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Classical Brilliance

Sunday 30th November 2003 7:30pm

Haydn - Concerto for Trumpet in E flat major
Mozart - Symphony no. 41 in C major ‘Jupiter’
Boyce - Symphony no. 4 in F major


Hilary Davan Wetton – Conductor
Tim Hawes - Trumpet

Tim Hawes



This concert features two masterpieces from the end of the 18th century by close friends from Vienna, Mozart and Haydn. Tim Hawes the MKCO’s principal trumpet, is soloist in Haydn’s evergreen trumpet concerto while Hilary Davan Wetton conducts the orchestra in the most monumental of all Mozart’s symphonies, the Jupiter. An English rarity starts the programme – Boyce’s symphonies are delicious explorations into the grandest of all traditions and are highly regarded by aficionados.

 

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Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm in the auditorium.

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Shostakovich meets Schumann

Thursday 29th January 7:30pm

Schumann: Cello concerto in A minor
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1
Schumann: Overture: Manfred


Siân Edwards – Conductor

Sian Edwards

 

Gerard Le Feuvre - Cello

Gerard Le Feuvre

 


Siân Edwards is rightly regarded as one of the finest of British interpreters of Russian music and, in response to audience demand, she conducts the most approachable of Shostakovich’s symphonies, the first. It is full of wonderful tunes and orchestral brilliance but has none of the agonies of political doubt which assailed his later works. The popular leader of the orchestra’s cello section, Gerard Le Feuvre, makes his solo debut with the orchestra in Schumann’s tuneful concerto, re-orchestrated by Shostakovich. Schumann’s own version of his Manfred overture starts the concert.

 

Spnsored by  GT logo

 

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Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm in the auditorium.

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Football and the Wolf - Family concert

Sunday 25th April at 3 p.m. 

Prokofiev - Peter and the Wolf
David Lyon Game! 


Hilary Davan Wetton –conductor
Narrator tba

 

Prokofiev makes a second appearance in this season with his wonderful evocation of youthful high spirits in Peter and the Wolf. This short story of how a young boy manages to outwit a marauding wolf, with the help of a bird, a cat and a duck, is a delightful introduction to orchestral music for ‘children of all ages.’
MKCO brings back to Milton Keynes David Lyon’s fascinating Game in which the audience is divided into supporters of the home team and the away team in a football match – and the result isn’t known in advance. Bring scarves, hats and football shirts for your favourite team – and be ready to cheer (and boo!) as goals are scored.

Financial assistance is acknowledged from Milton
Keynes Arts Association

This work has been
assisted by funding from the Milton Keynes Community Foundation

 

 

 

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Best of youthful Britain

Saturday 8th May 2004 7:30pm

Britten - Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra
Vaughan-Williams - The Lark Ascending 
MacMillan - Into the Ferment
Butterworth - A Shropshire Lad
Elgar - Enigma Variations


With students from the Milton Keynes Music Service
Hilary Davan Wetton – conductor
Diana Cummings – violin

Diana Cummings



Following a successful collaboration in 2001, members of the Milton Keynes Music Service join the orchestra in another collaboration, this time by Scottish composer James MacMillan’s Into the Ferment is a typically approachable work by this fantastically talented writer. An earlier work designed with youngsters in mind is Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, perhaps the finest such work ever written. At the centre of this tribute to British composers is the most popular concert work ever penned in these islands, Elgar’s portrait of his ‘friends within’, the Enigma Variations. 

 

Sponsored by  Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors and Fifth Dimension

 

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Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm in the auditorium.

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Midsummer Magic

Thursday, 24th June 2004 7:30pm

Tchaikovsky: Piano concerto no. 1 in B flat minor
Dvorák: Symphony no. 7 in D minor 
Kodály: Dances of Galánta

Hilary Davan Wetton – Conductor
Bobby Chen - Piano
Bobby Chen



For the season of midsummer, MKCO has devised a programme of mouth-watering music. Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto is in everybody’s ‘Hundred Best Tunes’ and comes between two more masterpieces from Eastern Europe. Kodály’s Dances from Galánta is one of those irritating pieces where you recognise the tunes but can never put a name to it…well now’s the chance to change that. Dvorák’s Seventh Symphony is possibly his greatest work; it is full of Bohemian charm and passion.

 

Sponsored by Baker Tilly logo

 

Book this concert on the internet.

 

Pre-concert talk at 6.30pm in the auditorium.

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