Registered charity no 1161642 President: Raphael Wallfisch

presents

Something old, something new Something borrowed, something blue

Ely Cathedral Friday 19 June 2015

with Jenny Bingham, soprano Rowan Marshall, keyboard

Conducted by Steve Bingham

Programme

Something old…

Joseph Haydn Symphony no.45 in Fminor, Farewell Henry Purcell Dido’s Lament Something new… Charles Ives The Unanswered Question Regina Spektor, arr R Marshall Après Moi Something borrowed… Ralph Vaughan Williams orch Gordon Jacob English Folk Song Suite Evanescense, arr R Marshall Lacrymosa Something blue… Anthony Newley & Leslie Bricusse arr R Marshall Feeling Good Joe Zawinul, arr R Marshall Birdland

There will be a 20 minute interval after Après Moi

Programme £2.00

Part of the Isle of Ely Arts Festival

MUSIC IN ELY: DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Coming up from Ely Sinfonia … Saturday 24 October Ely Sinfonia presents Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Ely Cathedral, 7.30pm Jean Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne, with Ely Consort, the Kings Lynn Festival Chorus, the Ely Youth Choir and other local choirs. Saturday 7 May 2016 Ely Sinfonia and the St Ives Choral Society perform Ely Cathedral, 7.30pm Edward Elgar’s The Apostles. Ely Consort Saturday 4 July* Music by American Composers, for American St Andrew’s Church, Sutton Independence Day Saturday 28 November Music for Advent Ely Cathedral Ely Choral Society Saturday 26 September Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise and Philip Ledger’s Ely Cathedral Lady Chapel Requiem, a Thanksgiving for Life Saturday 7 December Annual Christmas concert. St. Mary's Church, Ely Other events involving our players Sunday 21 June The Norfolk Symphony Orchestra plays Holst, Gounod Kings Lynn Minster and Khachaturian. Saturday 27 June The Cambridge Concert Orchestra plays selections St George’s Church from the musicals, as well as a cornucopia of light Chesterton classical, jazz, pops, folk and dance music in support Saturday 11 July* The Cambridge Philharmonic Society returns with another Ely Cathedral performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius * Part of the Isle of Ely Arts Festival

WELCOME

On behalf of the committee and players of the Ely Sinfonia, I would like to welcome you all to this evening’s concert. Our gratitude goes to the Isle of Ely Arts Festival Committee and ADeC for their support, without which tonight would not have been possible. Thanks to them, we have been able to depart from our normal classical repertoire and present a real rule-breaking concert. As well as playing pieces representing many different musical eras and styles, we are playing a number of

brand new arrangements by talented local music theatre director, musician and composer Rowan Marshall, who joins us tonight on keyboard. In addition, the generosity of the Arts Festival Committee has allowed us to run a number of workshops in schools alongside this concert. Our thanks go, too, to Jeremy Tyrrell of Ely Marina for his assistance with publicity for this concert. Taking as its starting point that well-known rhyme from English folklore, “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”, our programme tonight features music from Purcell, Haydn, Vaughan Williams and Charles Ives, juxtaposed with tunes made popular by the likes of Nina Simone, Regina Spector, Weather Report and Evanescence. We are delighted to be joined on vocals by Jenny Bingham, daughter of our conductor Steve Bingham. Steve writes; “We wanted to put together a programme that mixed a wide range of musical styles and also contained some theatrical elements designed to use the space available in Ely Cathedral. Prepare to be entertained and surprised!” The proceeds from this concert will support the Isle of Ely Arts Festivals and Ely Sinfonia’s local education and outreach programme. NOTICES

Please could you switch off all mobile phones while you are in the Cathedral and refrain from using flash photography or audio recordin gduring the event unless authorised. During the interval, Pims, strawberries and cream, wine and soft drinks will be available to purchase from the bar located just outside the Presbytery. You will also be able to visit our Friends’ stall and find out how to become a Friend of Ely Sinfonia—and buy our fabulous Ely Sinfonia mugs and notelets.

Roz Chalmers Chair, Ely Sinfonia

SUPPORT THE ORCHESTRA AND GET DISCOUNTED TICKETS PLUS PRIORITY BOOKING FOR OUR CONCERTS!

Joining the FRIENDS of ELY SINFONIA is a great opportunity to become part of a lively, social group dedicated to supporting the orchestra. Being a friend will give you the following advantages:

Personal email giving advance information of concerts and special events 10% discount plus advance booking for tickets to concerts promoted by Ely

Sinfonia Friends’ newsletter Opportunity to meet the conductor and players at rehearsal

All this for just £10 a year!

As the local community orchestra, Ely Sinfonia aims to give players the chance of orchestral experience close to home, to provide local schoolchildren with the opportunity to learn about music and instruments, and to bring a wealth of wonderful music to local music-lovers. Your subscription will go towards developing the orchestra, allowing it to give more concerts in Ely and to take live music out to rural East Cambridgeshire and beyond. Our Friends help us to perform in local venues and to run workshops during which young players have the chance to play alongside more experienced musicians and learn new, challenging pieces. For more information about becoming a Friend, please ask for details and a membership form at the Friends’ stall or email friends@elysinfonia.co.uk.

The Farewell symphony has a story (a true one) attached to it of which few can be unaware. Haydn's employer at the time, Prince Nikolaus, was accustomed to spending each summer at the palace of Esterhaza, but the regular home base of the court, and hence the living quarters for the musicians'' wives and families, was at Eisenstadt. When the court stayed longer than expected at Esterhaza in the summer of 1772, the musicians became restless. Haydn agreed to argue their case, and did so musically by writing a final movement for this symphony in which the musicians cease playing one by one and leave, blowing out their candles as they depart, with only the two principal violinists remaining at the close. The strategy obviously worked, for Nikolaus is reported to have said "Well, if they all leave, I suppose that I had better leave too!", and accordingly the whole court departed for home the next day. The remarkable thing is how Haydn managed to integrate this touching finale into a work of the greatest seriousness and originality. So original, in fact, that in a number of ways the Farewell Symphony is quite unique. For a start, it is the only symphony from the whole of the eighteenth century to be written in F sharp minor; so rare was this key at the time that special crooks had to be constructed for the horns. The form of the first movement is also quite unprecedented in that it seems to consist of one enormous development. The second subject, which is the only real 'melody', does not appear until well after the double bar in what would be a normal develop-ment section, and thereafter it never returns. The recapitulation, too, is quite irregular in that Haydn continues developing the principal subject. For the rest, turbulent "Sturm und Drang" insistence, jagged syncopations and some highly complex modulations mark the music's progress throughout this extraordinary movement. There are further harmonic surprises in the yearning beauty of the highly romantic adagio, played with mutes, which Haydn takes into the distant realms of the unheard of key of B sharp minor, writing the passage partly enharmonically in C major to avoid confusion. Syncopation is again a feature of the bright minuet in F sharp major, with its relaxed trio, supposedly based on a Gregorian Chant. The presto runs its tempestuous course before abruptly giving way to the gravely beautiful 'Farewell' adagio, in which the slow and stately modulations gradually lead from A major to F sharp major for the final forty bars as the musicians one by one take their leave.

“Something old…” Symphony no. 45 in F sharp minor Farewell Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Allegro assai Adagio Minuet (Allegro) Finale (Presto/Adagio)

Commonly known as Dido’s Lament, this extraordinary aria, which comes at the end of Purcell’s opera, Dido and Aeneas, is perhaps one of his best known works. Built on a simple yet incredibly beautiful ground bass - which is heard at the outset - the aria is Dido’s farewell to life, in which she hopes, as perhaps do we all, that she will be remembered for the right reasons: When I am laid, am laid in earth, May my wrongs create No trouble, no trouble in thy breast; Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate.

“Something new…"

The Unanswered Question Charles Ives (1874 - 1954)

“When I Am Laid In Earth”, from Dido and Aeneas Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695)

In 1906 Ives began two new works which in later years he forgot whether he had originally Intended them as a single two-movement piece or not. They were A Contemplation of Nothing Serious (or Central Park in the Dark in the Good Old Summer Time) and A Contem-plation of a Serious Matter (or The Unanswered Perennial Question). He had the latter piece printed in 1941, but it is not clear if it was performed at that time. The definitive edition, with the familiar shorter title, The Unanswered Question, appeared in 1953. Ives explained the piece in his foreword to that edition: The strings play ppp throughout with no change in tempo. They are to represent “The Silence of the Druids – Who Know, See, and Hear Nothing.” The trumpet intones “The Perennial Question of Existence,” and states it in the same tone of voice each time. But the hunt for “The Invisible Answer”, undertaken by the flutes and other human beings, becomes gradually more active, faster and lower through an animando to a con fuoco. This part need not be played in the exact time position indicated. It is played in somewhat of an impromptu way; if there be no conductor, one of the flute players may direct their playing. “The Fighting Answerers,” as the time goes on, and after a “secret conference,” seem to realize a futility, and begin to mock “The Question” – the strife is over for the moment. After they disappear, “The Question” is asked for the last time, and “The Silences are heard beyond in Undisturbed Solitude.”

Ely Sinfonia Artistic director Steve Bingham Violin 1 Christina Everson, Issy Atkinson, Jacob Keet, Rob Millman, Jonathan

Skerrett, Richard Williamson Violin 2 Naomi Laredo, Jacky Cox, Judith France, Richeldis France, Chris

Moule, IJmkje van der Werf Viola Katy Baker, Patricia Mathieson, Marlen Moss-Eccardt, Brenda

Stewart, Yvonne Williamson ‘Cello Csilla Waterfall, April Bowman, Charlotte Dean, Laura Millman Double Bass Stuart Clow Flute Susan Gatell, Jean Swift Piccolo Susan Gatell Oboe Amanda Williams, Carol London Clarinet Peter Fisher, Stella Page Bassoon Phil Evans, Julia Hudson Horn Owen Rose, Laurie Friday Trumpet Graham Berridge, Evert Bokma Trombone Michael Rickwood, Mark Webb Electric guitar Mark Fawcett Bass guitar John Preston Percussion Dave Ellis, Martin Bright, Ian Harvey, Brenda Stewart Choir kindly arranged by Jan Moore

Ely Sinfonia’s players come from all walks of life. Our artistic director, Steve Bingham, and our leader, Christina Everson, are professional musicians, and a number of our other players make their living from music, mainly teaching. The majority, however, come from completely different backgrounds, for example physicist, doctor, farmer, accountant, secretary administrator, journalist, management consultant, solicitor, archivist, shopkeeper, graphic designer, biologist, forensic scientist, environmental consultant, software specialist, public relations consultant, geologist, teacher, TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) specialist, and representatives of the police, ambulance and military services.

This song, from the 2006 studio album, Begin To Hope, is one of Russian-American singer-songwriter Regina Ilyinichna Spektor’s most popular tunes. Spektor was born to artistic parents in Moscow, where she grew up listening to classical music and bands like The Beatles and Queen. A self-taught pianist, Spektor left Russia with her family in 1989 - due to the ethnic and political discrimination that Jews faced - going first to Austria and then Italy, and finally settling in the United States, where she studied piano at the Manhattan School of Music. She gradually achieved musical recognition through performances in the anti-folk scene in New York City, but it wasn’t until the release of Begin To Hope, and particularly the single Fidelity, in 2006, that she gained real celebrity. She sometimes uses Russian alongside English in her songs, and in Après Moi quotes the Russian poet Boris Pasternak’s poem February. She has said that she is ‘very connected to the [Russian] language and culture’. I must go on standing You can't break that which isn't yours I, oh, must go on standing I'm not my own, it's not my choice Be afraid of the lame They'll inherit your legs Be afraid of the old They'll inherit your souls Be afraid of the cold They'll inherit your blood Apres moi, le deluge After me comes the flood [Translation of fragment by Boris Pasternak: February. Get ink, shed tears. Write of it, sob your heart out, sing, While torrential slush that roars Burns in the blackness of the spring.]

Après Moi Regina Spektor (b.1980) arr R Marshall Steve Bingham stud ied v io l in w ith Em anue l

Hurwitz , S idney Gri l ler and the Amadeus Quartet at the Royal Academy of Music from 1981 to 1985, winning prizes for orchestral leading and string quartet playing. He is founder and lead violinist of the Bingham String Quartet, internationally known for its performances of both classical and contemporary r repertoire.

Steve has appeared as guest leader with many orchestras, including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English National Ballet and English Sinfonia. He has given solo recitals in the UK and America and his concerto performances include works by Bach, Vivaldi, Bruch, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn and Sibelius. Steve is developing a sound reputation as a conductor. As well as Ely Sinfonia, he is musical director of the City of Peterborough Symphony Orchestra, and he is increasingly being invited to appear as guest conductor with groups all over the country. As a violinist, Steve is keenly interested in improvisation, electronics and world music. He has collaborated with several notable musicians in the field of world music, and has also released four solo CDs: Duplicity, Ascension, Third and The Persistence of Vision. He plans two new releases for 2015

www.s t ev eb ingha m.c o. u k

About Ely Sinfonia Ely Sinfonia was founded in November 1999 by a group led by ADeC (Arts Development in East Cambridgeshire) with the aim of becoming a beacon of excellence as East Cambridgeshire’s own community orchestra. Since then it has become one of the region’s best respected orchestras and today attracts players of all ages and backgrounds, including school and college students, business professionals, retired individuals and local music teachers. Our repertoire ranges from mainstream works to the contemporary, including special commissions. We have been strong supporters of the Cambridge Young Composer of the Year competition and winners’ pieces have frequently been played at our concerts. The orchestra has close links with Ely Cathedral, regularly providing small groups to play at events such as the Easter Day Mass. Other projects include open workshops, when less experienced players have the chance to play alongside the orchestra’s regular members and develop their orchestral and ensemble playing techniques.

I. Seventeen Come Sunday II. My Bonny Boy III. Folk Songs From Somerset This is Vaughan Williams’ most well-known piece for military band, originally published as simply Folk Song Suite. It was arranged for full orchestra by the composers’ student Gordon Jacob - who also added English to the title - in 1924. The original fourth movement, called Sea Songs, was removed by the composer and published separately using his own orchestration. Jacob’s orchestration is true to the composer’s English nationalist style, and of course the use of traditional folk melodies was very important to Vaughan Williams. He began collecting from Somerset and Norfolk in 1902 and managed to amass over eight hundred melodies, using the modal harmonies and striking rhythms in his own works, sometimes alongside the melodies themselves.

"Something borrowed…" English Folk Song Suite Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958) orchestrated by Gordon Jacob

Lacrymosa Evanescence arr R Marshall

Founded in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody, American rock band Evanescence had sold over 25 million records worldwide. The band has been described as both rock and metal and several publications have identified its style as gothic metal. Taken from the 2006 album The Open Door, Lacrymosa is a dark track, which utilises both string melodies and harmonies, and choir vocals from Mozart’s Requiem. Out on your own, Cold and alone again. Can this be what you really wanted, baby? Blame it on me, Set your guilt free. Nothing can hold you back now. Now that you're gone, I feel like myself again. Grieving the things I can't repair and willing...

Jenny Bingham is currently studying a degree in Performing Arts and wishes to pursue a career in acting and singing. She has been in many shows in the past including musicals such as Fame, Rent and Godspell, and plays including The Crucible, Ghosts and Pack of Lies. As well as acting, Jenny also has a passion for film-making and media and has worked with companies such as Endemol UK, Hattrick Productions and Disney UK, in addition to having a YouTube channel with 80,000 sub-

scribers. She has also taught performing arts and film/media studies to young people from ages 3 all the way to 18 and likes to teach when she can in her free time.

Rowan Marshall is a Cambridge based musician who has been in-volved in various bands and theatre productions in the past six years. He has a string of show credits to his name, including The Secret Gar-den, Fame - The Musical, My Fair Lady, Seven Brides For Seven Broth-ers and Bugsy Malone. He has been very involved with the St Neots Arts & Film Festival. His compositions include Lamkin, Song For Amy,

Teenage Angst and Madness- The Tragedy Of Macbeth. Rowan is a self-taught keyboardist and has been playing since 1996, and favours the theatrical stylings of Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright and the Divine Comedy, as well as the music of Genesis, Death Cab for Cutie, Billy Joel and Tom Waits. He holds a Grade 7 in Popular Vocal Music and a Grade 8 in Popular Music Theory, and intends to submit a thesis in the new year for the ALCM Professional Diploma

The next Ely Sinfonia workshop will be on Sunday 8th November 2015 Open to all-comers of grade V standard or above. We shall spend the day studying Beethoven’s fabulous Symphony no 9 under the expert guidance of our conductor and artistic director, Steve Bingham. For further details or to register for the workshop, please email Dave McLeish on

workshops@elysinfonia.co.uk.

To let you blame it on me, And set your guilt free. I don't want to hold you back now love. I can't change who I am. Not this time, I won't lie to keep you near me. And in this short life, there's no time to waste on giving up. My love wasn't enough. And you can blame it on me, Just set your guilt free, honey. I don't want to hold you back now love.

“Something blue…" Feeling Good Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse arr R Marshall

This song was written for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd, and was first performed on stage by Cy Grant in 1964. However, it wasn’t until a year later, when Nina Simone recorded it for her album, I Put A Spell On You, that it became a standard, which has now been covered by many artists including Michael Bublé, George Michael and English rock band Muse. Birds flyin' high, you know how I feel Sun in the sky, you know how I feel Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me. Yeah, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me, And I'm feelin' good. Fish in the sea, you know how I feel River runnin' free, you know how I feel Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me, And I'm feelin' good Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don't you know, Butterflies all havin' fun, you know what I mean. Sleep in peace when day is done: that's what I mean, And this old world is a new world and a bold world for me...

Stars when you shine, you know how I feel Scent of the pine, you know how I feel Yeah, freedom is mine, and I know how I feel.. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me And I'm feelin'... good.

Birdland Joe Zawinul arr R Marshall

This well-known instrumental track was written in 1977 by the keyboardist of the band, Weather Report. It was released on the album Heavy Weather at the peak of the band’s commercial career after the addition of bassist Jaco Pastorius. The piece served as a tribute to the famous New York jazz club of the same name, on 52nd Street, and also honoured the musician after whom the club was named, Charlie Parker, the ‘Bird’ himself. Zawinul has said that ’the old Birdland was the most important place in my life’, and Pastorius - in a 1978 interview - states that the studio version was recorded in just one take!