WESTBOURNE ORCHESTRAL AUTUMN CONCERTS

St Ambrose Church Westbourne 26th November

Born in Russia of English parents, six years before the revolution, Arthur Shaft, was Orchestra President for over 25 years. Arthur had been involved with the selection of the music for this concert series and was looking forward to playing once again in the violin section. Unfortunately Arthur died suddenly on October 17th aged 93. The concert at St. Ambrose, therefore, was dedicated to his memory. In his opening remarks Father Graham Wheeler commented on Arthur’s adventurous and varied life and mentioned that it seems incongruous that this gentle musician should have been the subject of an investigation by the KGB when he was teaching Russian in Westbourne. To conclude the introduction, principal french horn player Ray Slater, read a poem written as a tribute to Arthur for his 80 th birthday in 1991 by Arthur’s son Malcolm, now resident in New Zealand. Later Arthur’s widow Margo was presented with a large bouquet and she in turn expressed her sincere thanks to the Orchestra as well as to the audience for this special concert.

The Orchestra performed the same programme of music at St. Luke’s Church, Winton 20th November and St. Nicholas Church, Corfe Mullen 27th November

The Westbourne Orchestra will be celebrating its 75th anniversary next year and therefore it is not surprising that the orchestra is extremely fortunate to have several very talented musicians and instrumentalists within its 50 plus membership. The two soloists who performed at this autumn series of concerts admirably demonstrated this.

The programme commenced with the Concert Overture the “Land of the Mountain and the Flood” by Hamish MacCunn , under the baton of conductor Sam Newgarth. This piece was not unknown to many people in the audiences as it is quite often played on Classic FM and was also the theme tune for the TV series “Sutherland’s Law”.

Next David Brooks came to the rostrum to conduct the very exciting and melodic Third Piano Concerto by Beethoven. Christine Taylor who has been a member of the orchestra for over 30 years was the piano soloist. On this occasion she excelled herself, particularly in the very challenging cadenzas. In fact some members of the audiences described her performance, not without good reason, as magnificent.

Sam Newgarth returned to the rostrum for the second half of the concert to conduct Scheherazade, a Symphonic Suite by Rimsky-Korsakov based on the Arabian Nights stories

The leader of the Orchestra is Rebekah Reeve and as such she was required to play all the demanding violin solos, which necessitate expert skill and knowledge of the full range of the instrument. Once again Rebekah as Scheherazade gave a superb performance.

The Orchestra is extremely grateful for all the cooperation they received from the host churches including some magnificent refreshments and would like to express sincere thanks to all the individuals concerned.

The next concerts by the Westbourne Orchestra are to take place in the spring of next year at St. Stephens Church, Bournemouth on the 12th March and at the Barrington Theatre, Ferndown Community Centre on the 19th March. The programme is to include the Poet and Peasant Overture by Suppe, Vaughan Williams London Symphony and Grieg’s Piano Concerto with guest soloist Samantha Ward.

For all enquiries contact Chairman on 01202 551360 or Secretary on 01202 57499.

WOS Review 16 30th November 2004

The Westbourne Orchestra is supported in part by the Portman Building Society.