CONCERT: 10 March 2012, 8.00pm

Saturday 10 March 2012
8.00pm

St Barnabas Cathedral

• Carl Rutti
  Requiem  

• Eric Whitacre
  Five Hebrew Lovesongs
  
  Cloudburst

CONCERT: 14 January 2012, 7.30pm

14 January 2012 
7.30pm

St Andrews Church
Countesthorpe 

Musical Director
Jacques Cohen

• Beethoven
  Symphony no 2

• Mendelssohn
  Overture ‘Son and Stranger’

•  Moeran
  Whythorne’s Shadow 

• Cohen
  Elegy on a Floating Chord

CONCERT: 3 December 2011

Saturday 3 December 2011

St Wystan’s Church,
Repton

Musical Director:
Richard Roddis

• Haydn
  Missa Sancti Nicolai

• Finzi
  In Terra Pax 

• Lauridsen
  Lux Aeterna

CONCERT: 27 August 2011, 7.45pm

Saturday 27 August 2011  7.45pm

St Nicholas Church

Programme Notes

Find out more about the festival

• Hasse
  Canzona

• Haydn
  String Quartet Op 20 No 4

• Handel
  Overture to the Occasional Oratorio
  Organ – Ian Imlay

• Elgar
  Idylle

• Malcolm Arnold
  Oboe Quartet

• Donaldson
  Makin’ Whoopee

• Villoldo
  El Choclo

• Suessdorf
  Moonlight in Vermont
  La Cumparsita

• Youmans
  Tea for Two

CONCERT: 9 July 2011, 7.30pm

Saturday 9 July 2011
7.30pm

St Mary the Virgin Church
Clifton Village
NG11 8NH

Musical Director and Soloist:
Roger Coull

Programme Notes

Clifton Music Festival

ANY CHARACTER HERE

• Handel
  Concerto Grosso Op 3 No 1

•  Tipett
  Little Suite for String Orchestra

• Schubert
  Symphony No.5

•  Mozart
  Violin concerto in G (K216)
  Violin – Roger Coull

CONCERT: 2 April 2011, 7.30pm

Saturday 2 April 2011
7.30pm

Holbrook Memorial Hall,
Holbrook Road,
Leicester.

Musicians of the Helix Ensemble

Programme Notes

• Malcolm Arnold
  Hobson’s

•  Roger Swann
  Five Philosophies

• Mozart
  Wind Seranade in E Flat K375

CONCERT: 15 January 2011, 7.30pm

Saturday 15 January 2011
7.30pm

Winter Warmer

St Andrews Church
Countesthorpe 

Tickets:
£8, accompanied children free.

Tickets available from:
Glebe Garden Centre

Musical Director:
Natalia Luis-Bassa

Winter Warmer

• Thomas
  Rhapsody on a Spanish theme
  Guitar – Alan Thomas

•  Romero
  Fuga con Pajarillo

• Villa-Lobos
  Sinfonietta no 1

•  Haydn
  Symphony no 104
  “London”

Programme Notes

REVIEW: Castle Park Festival – Ian Imlay 50th Anniversary Concert

This concert was in celebration of Ian Imlay’s 50th anniversary as organist and choirmaster of St Nicholas’ Church. It is a post he has held with great distinction and it was good to be part of this special occasion, as Ian is a popular and gifted musician whose personality shines through.  Ian was joined by the Helix Wind Quintet who set the proceedings rolling with two familiar excerpts from Bizet’s Carmen. The excellent blending of instruments and rhythmic precision were evident from the first bars.

There’s an excellent blend and impressive rhythmic vitality and it was fascinating to watch the interplay in the genial Quintet in F by Reicha.  Ian had already given an enjoyable organ recital earlier in the day and he played just three pieces at this concert: Pieds en L’air and Basse Danse from Warlock’s Capriol Suite and TheDambusters’ March by Eric Coates.

As with the morning programme these were played with his customary sensitivity and sense of flair. The Pieds enL’air was exquisite in its refinement and the Dam Busters had a real swagger.  The quintet continued with Three British Folk Songs brilliantly arranged by Ian Carroll and some novelties: The Roaring Twenties, Pizzicato Polka and the quirky Thule Ultima by Stephen Montague.  A dazzling set of Hungarian Dances by Farkas and Holcombe’s arrangement of Alexander’s Ragtime Band brought the proceedings to a close.

Neil Crutchley 28 August 2010

CONCERT: 28 August 2010, 7.45pm

Saturday 28 August 2010
7.45pm 

St Nicholas Church,
Leicester

Castle Park Heritage and Arts Festival

Wind Quintet of the Helix Ensemble

Programme Notes

• Bizet
  Two Carmen Excerpts

• Reicha
  Quintet in F Major

• Warlock
  Excerpts from Capriol Suite

• Harold
  Three British Folk Songs

• Nagle
  The Roaring Twenties

• Strauss
  Pizzicato-Polka

• Montague
  Thule Ulitma

• Coates
  Dambusters March

• Farkas
  Hungarian Dances

• Berlin
  Alexander’s Rag Time Band

REVIEW: Perfect setting for a programme from the English pastoral tradition

The Helix Ensemble conducted by David Greed, hit on the perfect recipe for their summer evening of music in the Minster.  It is the ideal rural setting for a programme in the English pastoral tradition, with a wide range of musical ingredients, from the deeply familiar to a world premiere, but all of them light, accessible and performed superbly.  What made the dish irresistible, though, was the way the performers exuded a relaxed sense of enjoyment.  Warlock’s Capriol Suite set the tone: timeless in its fusion of20th-century and16th-century sound worlds, it had grace, charm and, from the opening bars, a feeling of warmth.

Richard Roddis (tenor) presented three contrasting English songs from the 16th to18th centuries, powerfully conveying the different moods, from springtime joy to soothing lullaby and the twinkle in the eye – and voice- at the thought of love..

Finzi’s Eclogue, with Clive Pollard at the piano, was beautifully unpretentious -attractive, bitter-sweet melodies filled with longing.  David Greed was both violin soloist and conductor for Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, his exquisite playing captivating the audience.

Clive Pollard conducted the premiere of his Southwell Suite, six short orchestral movements on the theme of a visit to the town and its Minster.  This was highly attractive music, instantly appealing and full of warmth and humour, which created a vivid-sense of time and place.  The standing ovation it received was thoroughly deserved.Grahame Whitehead, Nottingham Evening Post 20 July 2010