Not one but two

This was my sandwich weekend of Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and Bruch with a Bach filling.  The Bach filling was very wholesome given the capable, professional performers.  Lovely.  But Maruki's open and unauditioned thus somewhat aurally unbalanced presentation of Tchaiks, Mendelssohn and Bruch was hugely satisfying for players and I trust for the audience.  It was in Albert Hall as our concerts are.  The works were complete and  very much demanding works of that era.  No slouch is this group: we take on the real thing and present hefty concerts.  The Bruch was his Suite Modale for flute and strings, led by flautist James Gibson.  The other two were symphonies, Tchaikovsky symphony no.5 Emin (locally famous as once an ad for a brand of cigarettes) and Mendelssohn symphony no.1  Cmin(written by a 15-year old, no less).  Two symphonies?  As I said, Maruki does not shirk.  We were led by Kristen Simpson in the absence of our formation musical director, John Gould.  A fabulous, long, demanding, difficult concert that we played better than ever in practice.  That's the nature of a gig.  "She'll be right on the night" is a well tested assertion and proved by the level of concentration that comes with an audience.  So this was great training and awareness and a great outing.  And thanks to visitors who often join us at short notice including Olivia Herbert (violin), fairly recently of the Australian Youth Orchestra and a tour to Germany, who came from Brisbane to play with relative Bev Simpson (cello).  See the pic: Olivia with a representative of another generation of youth orchestrists, Anne Stevens of the Canberra Youth Orchestra and much music thereafter.  Great fun and a satisfying achievement.

Maruki Community Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and Bruch at Albert Hall.  Kristen Simpson (conductor) led the orchestra including Paul Hibbard (violin, concertmaster), Olivia Lambert (violin), Anne Stevens (viola) and James Gibson (flute).