Welcome to the ISWO 2023/2024 Season
The Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra (IWSO) has been proud to present a regular programme of classical music, from its home venue at the Medina Theatre in Newport, for over 40 years. We are very much looking forward to another season of live performances in 2023/24, and we would like to thank our friends and followers once again for their continued support.
We launch our season in November as we welcome Aki Blendis, string finalist in the BBC Young Musician competition in 2022, and a very promising talent who will be playing the wonderfully lyrical Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber, alongside Mahler’s Symphony No.1 in D ‘Titan’ and Brigg Fair by Delius.
In January we welcome back as guest conductor James Thomas, who made his memorable debut with the orchestra last year in a stunning performance of Sibelius’ 2nd Symphony. Cellist Finn Mannion, the youngest ever winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Julius Isserlis scholarship, will be playing Tchaikovsky’s charming Rococo Variations. Completing the programme will be some more Russian masterpieces, Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.1 in D minor and Borodin’s overture to Prince Igor. We also mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of England’s favourite composers, Gustav Holst, with a performance of A Somerset Rhapsody.
We welcome back our old friend Viv McLean in March to play Gershwin’s jazz–infused Piano Concerto in F. We will also present two shorter works, Franck’s Le Chasseut Maudit and Othello by Coleridge–Taylor. Finishing off the evening will be the merry prankster himself in Strauss’ Till Eulenspeigel.
May is marked by an Island premiere for Anthony Hedges’ work, Scenes from the Humber, alongside the dramatic Night on Bare Mountain by Mussorgsky. Talented Ukrainian clarinettist Dmytro Fonariuk will be playing two pieces, the breath-taking Introduction, Theme & Variations by Rossini alongside Weber’s Concertino in E flat. The concert concludes with Borodin’s Symphony No.2 in B minor.
We end our season with the traditional concert of more popular works including this year a return to Medina for local hero, pianist Thomas Luke, BBC Young Musician finalist in 2020 and winner of the Iris Dyer Piano Prize. Thomas will be performing Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto. We will also play Island–based composer Pam Wedgwood’s suite Three Card Trick alongside some favourites including Walton’s Orb and Sceptre, Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours and Copland’s ballet suite Billy the Kid.
New Season Programmes
The Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming season will be filled, once again, with an exciting selection of wonderful music. The opening concert (Sunday 5th November) will feature Mahler’s magnificent Symphony No.1 in D ‘Titan’.
In January there is a chance to hear Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.1, believed lost but rediscovered many years later. March offers Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspeigel, that chronicles the misadventures of the eponymous prankster, and May features Borodin’s Symphony No. 2 in B minor.
Our season is rounded off in July with Copland’s effervescent ballet music Billy the Kid.
Upcoming Concerts
Dmytro Fonariuk, Clarinet
Saturday 18th May 2024, 7.15pm Scenes from the Humber, Anthony Hedges Introduction, Theme and Variations, Gioacchino Rossini Soloist: Dmytro Fonariuk Night On Bare Mountain, Modeste Mussorgsky Concertino in E flat, Carl Maria von Weber Soloist: Dmytro Fonariuk Symphony No.2 in B minor, Alexander Borodin A musician of wide artistic tastes and talents, Anthony Hedges was initially educated at Bicester Grammar School. While there he became Organist of his local Methodist Church before heading to Oxford to study music. His abiding love of Yorkshire, including its dales and moors, developed during his years of National Service. He later moved to the East Riding which inspired a number of major works, not least the Scenes From The Humber which celebrated the Humber Bridge. Gioacchino Rossini is well known for his operatic output yet retired from composing in his early forties to concentrate on his other great loves —eating and drinking. His Introduction, Theme and Variations was composed when he was just 18 years old as a student project at the Bologna Conservatory of Music. It remains one of the most popular virtuosic works for clarinet to this day. The IWSO welcomes the you Ukrainian clarinettist, Dmytro Fonariuk, to perform with us for […]
Thomas Luke, Piano
Saturday 6th July 2024, 7.15pm Fanfare from La Péri, Paul Dukas Festivities, Roy Douglas Warsaw Concerto, Richard Addinsell Soloist: Thomas Luke Dance of the Hours, Amilcare Ponchielli Orb and Sceptre, William Walton Three Card Trick Suite, Pam Wedgwood Party Piece, Richard Rodney Bennett Billy The Kid, Aaron Copland Paul Dukas’ La Péri is a 1912 ballet in one act and is about a man’s search for immortality and an encounter with a mythological Péri (a winged, fairy-like creature). The original music to the ballet was written in 1911 as a Poème Dansé En Un Tableau (Dance Poem in One Scene), and was Dukas’ last published work. The opening fanfare is often performed separately and is a fitting start to our concert. Festivities, an orchestral overture by British composer Roy Douglas, was written 1972. Although having a large output of his own, Roy Douglas worked alongside Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton and Richard Adinsell as editor, copyist and amanuensis. his favourite recreation was motorcycling, travelling throughout England on a Triumph 200cc Tiger Cub until his doctor ordered him to stop after his 80th birthday Roy Douglas also orchestrated Richard Adinsell’s music for the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight, which contained the popular […]
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