Strings at the Abbey

The Vale Royal String Orchestra will hold their Summer Concert in the magnificent surroundings of the Great Hall, Vale Royal Abbey, on Sunday 16th June 2024 at 7.00pm. This popular event includes works by Vivaldi, Holst, Elgar, Bartok and Webern concluding with an early Haydn symphony. The concert is to raise funds for the improvement of facilities at St Mary's Church Whitegate.

In an Olympic year we will be playing a rare work, the overture to Olympiade by Vivaldi. Mark Lansom, our conductor has made an arrangement of the work for string Orchestra which captures the atmosphere and anticipation of the games in ancient Greece.
St Paul's suite for String orchestra by Holst was composed while he was head of music at St Paul's Girl's school, Hamersmith. The last movement is a very clever juxtaposition of Greensleeves and the folk song, Dargason. Englishness is then reinforced with a performance of Elgar's Serenade for String Orchestra.

Moving on to Hungary with Bartok's Transylvanian dances which give an impression of Hungarian village life. Germany next, with Langsamer Satz, an intense early work by Webern.
Oboes and Horns join us for the last item in the programme, Haydn's Symphony No12 (of 104). This tuneful work is part of Haydn's development as one of the great composers.
The Orchestra welcomes Mark Lansom our conductor for this concert. Mark is violinist and head of strings at Kings School Chester.
Tickets for the concert are available from Andrew Ball (Martonsands@gmail.com or 07398 295239)and at the door £15 and £7 for students. Contactless payment will be available. Please click on the QR code which Links to the Orchestra's web site.