My old friends the Uttlesforde Orchestra are now officially the Saffron Walden Symphony Orchestra, and last Sunday we performed together in the new Saffron Hall for the first time, for the superb Words in Walden Festival.
It’s a beautiful new state of the art concert hall, the gift of a local benefactor, and attracts the top musicians from around the world.
Scheherazade was the music, celebrating Rimsky-Korsakov’s 170th birthday, and the golden sunshine and associations I have with golden Saffron and spices all helped conjure the Orient for the concert. I helped with a few golden/brass props and my golden costume… The performance was fully sold out, and the capacity audience gave us a lovely warm welcome as I strode out in my spendour. Afterwards a little girl called me a genie – I asked “of what?”, having no lamp. She decided I was the Genie of the Paint Pot, which I rather liked. Here I am, complete with whiskers and earrings: baubles, bangles and beads!
Baghdad expert Justin Marozzi was in the audience too, and it was a terrific occasion with lots of children dressed up as princesses and fairy tale characters. Richard Hull conducted with drama and tenderness, expansive in the sea episodes. And Sarah on the solo violin made a splendid Scheherazade. My thanks to them and the entire orchestra – and indeed to Jo Burch, festival director, for supporting such a great project.
Nathaniel Rosa was on hand to take these pictures – more will follow when he has finished working on them, but you can see a few on his website. And HNE media set up the AV and also created a little memento of the day – a short film. Click HERE to see it!
Many thanks to all who came. The raffle of the pictures painted during the show raised £850 for a East Anglian Children’s Hospices, which is wonderful. And 600 people went home with Rimsky-Korsakov in their thoughts, which has to be a good thing!
And now… Onwards to the next concert: Heroes and Villains in Hatfield!
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