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15th June 2022

Sunday 19th June sees the long-awaited Bardi Young Musician 2022 concert featuring this year’s winner, 18-year- old French horn player Francesca Penny.

In a popular programme which includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, and Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Overture, Francesca will be playing the virtuosic Horn Concerto No. 1 by Richard Strauss. 

A student at Wigston College, Francesca has been playing the French Horn since she was 8 and studies with her Father, French Horn player Mark Penny.  A member of the CBSO Youth orchestra in Birmingham she also plays with the Rutland Sinfonia and the Bardi Wind Orchestra. She is currently studying for A levels and is considering further study and career options in either music, or her other main interest which is modern dance.

The concert will be  is held in the hall of English Martyrs Catholic School, Anstey Lane Leicester and begins at 3.00pm.

Photo of Francesca © Allan Simms

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18th May 2022

The Orchestra’s 2021-22 De Montfort Hall season drew to a triumphant close on Sunday with the long-awaited all-Elgar concert, The Essence of Elgar. The strings of the Orchestra opened the programme with the well-known Serenade for Strings. The remainder of the players then came on to the stage and were joined, in her first appearance with the Orchestra, by soloist Lydia Shelley for an effortless and lyrical rendition the much-loved Cello Concerto.

The inclusion of this work, although originally programmed over two years ago, provided a fitting piece to include in this concert which was dedicated to the memory of the Christina Warner, a long-standing cellist in the Orchestra who died earlier this year. The concert was attended by a large group of her friends and family.

The second half was occupied by the composer’s First Symphony, a big work in every way scored for a large orchestra and substantial in length. The Orchestra did it full justice and the applause lasted for some time. A fitting end to a season which was not without its logistical challenges as the country emerged from the grip of the pandemic. As one audience member commented on social media afterwards “the emotional atmosphere generated by this enthusiastic and accomplished orchestra would compare well with any in the capital, and all on our own doorstep. Thank you so much for a truly memorable concert”.

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11th May 2022

Elgar on a late spring afternoon

The Bardi Symphony Orchestra’s long awaited Essence of Elgar concert is nearly here. The original workshop rehearsal for this long-delayed concert took place back in February 2020, and it has been twice postponed since. Recent rehearsals have been greeted with great relief and enthusiasm by players delighted to be able to play this wonderful music again after all this time. 

They will be joined for the Cello Concerto by internationally acclaimed soloist Lydia Shelley. Originally from the UK, Lydia now lives in Paris and pursues a varied career as both soloist, orchestral principal and enthusiastic advocate of the string quartet genre. The concert programme is completed with Elgar’s iconic Symphony No. 1, a first performance for the Bardi, and the well-known Serenade for Strings. 

There is special poignancy to the concert as it has been dedicated to the memory of the late Christina Warner, a cellist with the Orchestra almost since its foundation who sadly died earlier this year. You can read about Christina here.

The concert is also supported by the Elgar Society, for which the Orchestra is very grateful.

Orchestra Manager Robert Calow can also be heard discussing the concert on Wednesday on BBC Radio Leicester at 2hr 12 on this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0c2nh35

Join the Orchestra at De Montfort Hall for what is guaranteed to be a wonderful afternoon of English music.

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20th April 2022

The Bardi Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director Claus Efland has just returned from conducting concerts in Denmark and Romania. The latter included a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6 which, giving the present worrying circumstances in neighbouring Ukraine, he said was ‘incredibly moving’.

He has now turned to preparing for the orchestra’s next concert on 15th May at De Montfort Hall and has shared his thoughts ahead of conducting an all-Elgar programme:

“Elgar is one of my favourite composers. I got to know his First Symphony during my time at the Royal College of Music and have conducted it many times since. The music is powerful, intense and incredibly beautiful. I am hugely looking forward to conducting the Bardi Symphony Orchestra in such a key work of English orchestral literature – it will be the first performance in the Bardi’s history”.

Almost exactly two years since it was originally programmed (for a concert in May 2020) the Orchestra’s players are eagerly looking forward to playing this wonderful work again. The orchestra last rehearsed the piece at a workshop day weeks before the first lockdown. Here is the finale to the Symphony performed at that workshop on 15th February 2020:

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29th March 2022

In support of the people of Ukraine the Bardi Symphony Orchestra played the National Anthem of Ukraine at the start of their ‘Fantasy and Adventure’  concert in De Montfort Hall on Sunday 20 March. You can watch the performance below.

The concert was in support of the the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine appeal (www.dec.org.uk) and our generous audience contributed over £1,000 to buckets at the concert. There is still time to make an online contribution as this appalling situation continues to unfold. Thank you all!

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