Dear Member,

 INTO THE AUTUMN

 Welcome to the new academic year and I hope you have all had a great summer.  I am pleased to tell you that we have now almost caught up with our planning.  So, without further ado, please note down the following dates for your diary (noting that the September Workshop is on 20^th September 2008.  I fear that I may have advised some of you 27^th by mistake).  As you can see, we are offering you a busy year.

 Dates for your Diary

 20^th September 2008    Autumn Workshop – Vivaldi 4 Seasons, Elgar Serenade, R Strauss, Suite for Wind – Coaches/Director  Angus Gibbon, Graham Casey  At St Andrew’s Church, Ledbury Road.

Sessions 10:00 – 11:30, 12:00 – 13:00, Lunch (bring and share), 14:00-15:30, Concert 17:00 – 18:00 with Friends.  Note that wind players start at 11:00.

 16^th November 2008     Autumn Concert -, Dvorak New World, Sibelius Finlandia, Elgar Cello Concerto (Conductor Paul Hilliam, Soloist Tim Gill) at the Broadway , 15:00hr

Rehearsals:-  30/9/08 (string sectionals), 7/10/08, 14/10/08, 21/10/08, 4/11/08, 11/11/08.  All at Thorpe Junior School apart from 7/10/08 which we will confirm as soon as possible.

 14^th December 2008     Christmas Concert with Peterborough Opera at the Key Theatre, 19:00.

Conductor, John Walmsley.  Christmas Overture,Coleridge Taylor, Walton, A Winter Journey, P. Lane the Night before Christmas and (of course) Rutter.

Rehearsals:-  2/12/08, 9/12/08, 12/12/08, first 2 probably at Thorpe Junior School, last at Jack Hunt School.

 8^th February 2009         “New Years” Day Viennese Concert, directed by Angus Gibbon, Venue TBA

Mozart, Marriage of Figaro Overture and 29^th Symphony, a Selection of music by Johann Strauss Jr et al.

Rehearsals:- 6/1/09, 13/1/09, 20/1/09, 27/1/09, 3/2/09.   Venues TBA.

 3rd May 2009                Spring Concert, Programme TBA, conducted by Russell Keable at the Broadway Theatre, 15:00hr.

Rehearsals:-      17/3/09 (string sectionals), 24/3/09, 31/3/09, 14/4/09, 21/4/09, 26/4/09 (weekend rehearsal), 28/4/09, 1/5/09.

 14^th June 2009              Summer Concert, Programme TBA, conducted by Russell Keable at the Broadway Theatre, 15:00hr

Rehearsals:-      5/5/09 (string sectionals), 12/5/09, 19/5/09, 2/6/09, 9/6/09, 12/6/09

 15th November 2009    Autumn Concert, Programme and conductor TBA, Broadway Theatre at 15:00hr

Rehearsals:-      29/9/09 (string sectionals), 6/10/09, 13/10/09, 20/10/09, 3/11/09, 10/11/09, 13/11/09

 Phew!!  And now for some more detailed information.

 (Look for venue details at the back of this mailing.  Also see the website for detailed concert requirements for each event – however please allow a few days before I get it fully updated)

The Last Concert

 As many of you will be aware, the summer concert was organised in somewhat of a hurry and was originally intended to be a stopgap event to maintain activity until we had fully recovered our planning.  In the event it was a wonderful concert, and I believe it was one of our best.  Being able to field Katy Smith as the violin soloist was a tremendous privilege and put the icing on a surprisingly grand cake.  Didn’t she do well?

I was also very proud of our performance of the Bartered Bride Overture, which, despite the formidable technical difficulties, attracted the favourable attention of all audience members that I spoke to.  Also my thanks to Helen Whitehurst for ably leading this concert.  I am so pleased to be able to call on “in house” capability to fill such a need. 

It was the first concert under cover of our new sponsorship arrangement with Moore Stephens, and I understand that they have been very pleased with this first effort. 

 Future Plans

As you can see, we have a very full programme planned for you.  There are still a few “i”s to dot and “t”s to cross, but I believe that the dates are now secure. 

 However, if we are to achieve everything that we are planning without having to dig into reserves, we need to raise about £4,000 in sponsorship over the year.  The Moore Stephens sponsorship deals with a quarter of that amount, so we still have a financial gap to fill.  We need as much help as we can get to achieve this target.  We have done this before and I believe we can do it again.

Further to our sounding out of opinions on rehearsal venues, we are reverting to Thorpe Primary School for now.  However, be aware that we will need to be elsewhere on 7^th October.  We are close to confirming the venue for this rehearsal, but it is not confirmed just yet.  Please keep an eye on the website and your e-mail inbox.

 In the mean time we will be assessing possible alternative venues.  While Thorpe Primary is acceptable for most of our concert rehearsing, for our larger efforts it is too small and we need space to expand.  We don’t have to hurry this decision too much, but we will need your readiness to experiment in some different venues from time to time.  It is my general ambition to aim for the largest possible number of string players in each orchestra that we assemble, and the more successful we are in that respect the more we will need to consider larger spaces.

 Committee reshuffle

 As you are aware, Simon Page has left us to join the RAF.  I have been very grateful for his work as Treasurer over the last year and we wish him every success in his new career. 

 His departure has left us with two holes to fill – that of Treasurer and that of Principal Horn.  I am delighted that Kate Holland has agreed to take on the role of Treasurer and thank her very much for doing this.  However, as I said in the last mailing, we still need some people to assist us on some specific tasks.  These do not have to be full committee places, but they are jobs that need to be done nevertheless.  They are:- 

 The latter arises because we want to give Elaine McEvoy time to start to develop a coherent youth policy for CPSO, and if she is to do this task justice, I badly need to relieve her of other duties.  Hence, expect a little gentle badgering from me next term.  Actually, I have been discussing some options with a few willing individuals over the last term, so when I have reshuffled the pack, it may all fall out as we need it anyway.  I have said many times that I am very impressed by the commitment that so many of you make to helping us run the orchestra, and I remain encouraged that this continues to be the case.

 Autumn Workshop/Friend’s Concert 20^th September 2008.

 I apologise for putting the wrong date in the last mailing, but the Autumn Workshop has now been fixed as above.  It is at St Andrew’s Church and Church Hall as for the last such event.  I am delighted that Angus Gibbon will coach the strings and Graham Casey the wind.  Angus plans to base the workshop on Vivaldi Four Seasons and the Elgar Serenade.  For the wind, in order to provide a full involvement we are proposing to base the session on the Richard Strauss Suite for Wind, which needs all our woodwind and 4 horns.  We had been talking about doing the Dvorak Wind Serenade, but since it excludes flutes we are preferring to stick with the bigger piece.  Wind players, please bear with us a little.  Procuring these is turning out to be a little tricky, so we may end up doing something a little different.  Also, we are considering timetable issues for the day remembering that last time we were all pretty exhausted by the time we did the performance.  A later e-mail will clarify this, but please reserve the date!

Latest for wind players - the R Strauss Suite for Wind has been obtained.

 Autumn Concert, 16^th November 2008

The Autumn Concert is now fully fixed.  Look at the website for details.  I am delighted that Tim Gill, Principal Cello of the RPO will be taking the solo part.  Please make sure that your section representative knows that you are playing.

 Christmas Concert – 14^th December 2008

 You will see that we are joining again with Peterborough Opera for the Christmas concert again.  The programme that John Walmsley is suggesting will be very exciting, and since we are 3 months ahead of our planning last year, I am confident that we can really fill the Key Theatre.  However, as always with these events, we can only accommodate a comparatively limited number of players.  As before, if you are keen to play, make it known to your section representative, who will apply as fair a system as possible for selecting players.

 Which means that we have now planned the following:-

 “New Year’s” Concert, 8^th February 2008

 OK, this is not really the New Year, but I think it is as close to it as we can get.  I am delighted to have reached agreement with Angus for him to direct this concert from the Leader’s position.  The programme and venue remain a little fluid, but what is fixed is that the first half will include Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Overture and 29^th Symphony.  The second half will be all on the Viennese theme, and Angus is gathering suggestions for this now.

 This is an exciting new venture.  We have a clear option on one venue for that date, but we need a little longer to research venue options before we settle on that.  Then other aspects of the programme can be finalised as well.

 I am sure this will be a really exciting event and I hope you will consider it a suitable way of dealing with our mid-winter activity schedule.

Spring and Summer Concerts (3^rd May and 14^th June 2009)

 At this stage I have no more information other than they will be at the Broadway Theatre and that Russell is conducting and Angus leading.  However, we are close to finalising programmes now and should publish them in the next month.

 Autumn Concert 2009 – 15^th November 2009

 Once again, no further information other than that it is at the Broadway Theatre.  As has been typical for the last 3 years, this concert cannot be conducted by Russell, but we will be looking for a suitable guest conductor.

 Peterborough Music Making Launches its New Leaflet

 I thought you should be aware that Peterborough Music Making won a lottery grant to produce a publicity leaflet to circulate round the Peterborough area.  Perhaps you could think of ways to help distribute this to the widest range possible.  The first distribution is planned for September this year, (i.e. later this month), the next for March next year.

 And finally

 I think our planning is finally coming to fruition, so everything should be back on an even keel again very soon.  And now, I leave you with the thought that 2010 happens to be our 20^th Anniversary.  This has got to be something to think about!  Now what could we do about that?...............?

Regards

Steve Osborn

Chairman

 PS  - See Venue information below.

 Thorpe Primary School and St Andrew’s Church, Ledbury Road.

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