Following the success of Tonbridge Philharmonic Society's evening of romantic orchestral music in February, conductor Naomi Butcher has chosen exciting 20th century music for their orchestral concert in May. The programme paints colourful pictures and has many European references at a time when European music was undergoing immense change.
Tonbridge Philharmonic Society is delighted to offer the opportunity to take part in a concert to a winner from the competition now called the Tunbridge Wells International Music Competition (formerly TWIYCA). In 2018 Toby Hughes won the Strings Section, the Audience Prize and was the Overall Winner, and we have been waiting since then to have him play with our orchestra. He has chosen to play the Divertimento Concertante for double bass and orchestra by Nino Rota, a lively work by a prolific Italian composer, whose ability to paint pictures with music served him well when writing the score for a number of Fellini films, as well as operas and orchestral works. We are sure you will be enthralled when you hear how the instrument sings through this fascinating piece.
Carl Nielsen’s approach to composing was radically different to that of Nino Rota. He believed that the music should say everything and should not need to have a narrative to justify it. He had to change all this when he was captivated by an Aegean sunset, and was inspired to write his Helios Overture, replicating the passage of the sun across the sky during one day.
Jean Sibelius had no problem with taking the spirit of his homeland as the starting point for his music. His 5th Symphony takes us to see swans flying in formation over the endless Finnish forests, and culminates in one of his most recognisable themes. He wrote that music begins when the possibilities of language end, and in this symphony uses all the colour of the orchestral forces to show the beauty and magnificence of the Finnish land.
Please join Tonbridge Philharmonic Society on 21st May for an unforgettable evening!
Read reviews of our previous concerts here.