For Members

Evening All,

Here we are in September already but I do hope that everyone has had a good summer.

This e-mail goes through the details of the John Williams concert at DMH on Sunday 8th October at 3pm.

See below the music list sheet that is on the front of each of the music envelopes that you’ll all have -just as we did for R&H. 

This clearly indicates exactly which piece of music is being played and in particular the 6 Star Wars items that end the concert before the Raiders encore. The Ai theme and The Patriot are mvts 2 & 3 of a 3 part suite.

To make things as straightforward as possible there are no cuts in any individual pieces. The only work that we are not playing in its entirety is the Close Encounters Excerpts. We are starting at the 3/4 Cantabile at Bar 62. 

I would like to put on record my thanks to Janet Crew for all of her hard work in sourcing a good number of the music for this concert. These are also the John Williams ‘Signature Editions’ -the real thing.

Tickets are on the way to 600 for this concert already and so if you are still waiting to buy I would look at doing it soon for decent seats. Our good friend Brian Merry from Nuneaton has got two coaches coming to a Bardi concert for the first time -usually it is one. A sure testament to the popularity of this composer and his music. 

You will see that the JW flyer reminds everyone that 18&under & NUS are the usual £5. Great value. However I also need to stress that we have agreed with De Montfort Hall for many years now a strict no Under 5s policy for all of our concerts unless it is specified as a children’s event – which this concert isn’t.

To remind everyone, the Subs deal code is BARDI2324. This gives £2 off any full price ticket in the hall.

REHEARSALS

Friday 22nd September  7-9.45pm  St Nicholas Hall LGS

Monday 25th September 7-9.545pm  Recital Room LGS

Sunday 1st October 10am-1pm/2-5pm  Junior Hall  LGS

WEDNESDAY 4th OCTOBER 7-9.45pm  St Nicholas Hall LGS

Friday 6th October 7-9.45pm VENUE TBC

CONCERT DAY DMH

Rehearsal 10am-1pm, Concert 3pm.

Music is being sorted by the String section leads – Basses with me. Winds, Horns, Brass & Percussion is myself too.

Any questions please contact me.

With best wishes,

Robert

John-Williams-music-list

Dear Bardi Friends, 

We remain grateful for our partnership with you all each year; you provide a massive boost for many of our young musicians who play with you in the orchestra and especially those who have the privilege of performing solo items. Needless to say, it is a treat for Amy and I to have conducted some amazingly ambitious programmes over the past few years; thank you for making it easy for us! We are also delighted to have introduced a number of other schools to our Set Works programme.

You will have gathered that we are eager to support music-making in as many ways as possible and, to this end, are seeking to raise funds for an electro-acoustic system that will turn St Nicholas’ Hall into space that reflects the ambitions and quality of groups such as the Bardi Orchestra. We are calling this campaign Space to Inspire.

Our concert on 5^th November is a fundraiser in aid of this vision. The programme is broad and appealing and will include An American in Paris, Pines of Rome and Shostakovich’s Festive Overture. The LGS Chamber Choir and Youth Brass 2000, the Champion Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, will be supporting us as well. 

Please do spread the word about this brilliant event. Tickets are free so that anyone can come, but we are also encouraging donations from those who feel able based on the donation structure that can be found here: Space to Inspire event tickets from TicketSource.

We are very much looking forward to working with you again in October and November. 

With thanks, as always, for your support,

John

John Barker

Director of Music

Leicester Grammar School

Hello All,

I hope this message finds everyone well.

This update includes the V2 of the new season schedule and includes two important additions.

1) Extra rehearsal on Wednesday 4th October for the John Williams concert

Claus has asked that given the amount of music in this concert that we have an extra rehearsal. This has been booked in at LGS.

The music for this concert will be with us by mid August. Once everything is confirmed, we will then send out an audio track as we did for the R&H concert so that everyone can listen to the music in concert order. There will also be the individual music pads as before.

2) Rehearsal revision and programme confirmed for the LGS concert on Sunday 5th November

Following discussions with John Barker at LGS, we have agreed to have an all day Tutti rehearsal on 29th October instead of one on Monday 30th. 

Given the music repertoire this makes far more sense but also is in line with our usual rehearsal format.

The updated schedule also now includes the programme for the LGS concert. This is a really prestigious event to launch the fundraising for the main St Nicholas Hall upgrade to a fully equipped concert Hall.

John Barker has also put a letter together to be sent to ourselves explaining the ideas behind the Hall upgrade. This is attached.

2023/24 Season Subs Reminder

£50 Subs for the new season are due on 1st August. This is to paid by Standing Order please. If payment is not made this way, the Subs are £75. This is as agreed at the 2022 AGM. If you have any problems paying then do please contact our Treasurer Claire Cowan

ccowen003@gmail.com

We are very happy to work with anyone who may have problems with payment and to come to a flexible solution.

Have a really good summer!

With best wishes,

Robert

Hello All,

As I indicated at the AGM, moving forward we are looking at a 5 concert plus Workshop Bardi season – three DMH, the Young Musician and Leicester Grammar School concerts. This way we see Claus four times during the season.

You will now see the full repertoire for the three DMH concerts;

Sunday 8th October 2023 3pm 
A film spectacular celebrating the music of John Williams.

Sunday 24th March 2024 3pm
A Scandinavian concert:
Grieg – Peer Gynt Suites 1 & 2
Nielsen – Flute Concerto (soloist Anna Wolstenholme)
Sibelius – Symphony No. 2

Sunday 19th May 2024 3pm
Mozart – Piano Concerto No.23 in A Major (soloist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason)
Mahler – Symphony No.1

In particular we are very pleased to announce that Jeneba Kanneh-Mason will be joining us in May to play Mozart with the orchestra. The Bardi gave her elder sister Isata the opportunity to play the Grieg and Schumann Concertos in the past and we think that is it really good that we are able to continue our relationship with this famous East Midlands family.

The John Williams Film Celebration will go live this Friday 9th June and publicity will be on show and available in the De Montfort Hall at the Bardi Wind Charity concert on this coming Sunday afternoon (11th). I will be sending out further details next week. The March and May concerts will go live during August. All three concerts will have the usual Bardi sub deal giving £2 off all full priced tickets to players- BARDI2324.

The annual Grammar School concert on Sunday 5th November (which we do in return  for our free rehearsal venue) will take on an entirely new format this season.  It is planned to be the launch event for  ‘Space to Inspire’ which is the Grammar School’s appeal for funding to improve St Nicholas Hall (the Main Hall) with the addition of new equipment to improve both the acoustic and seating facilities. The Grammar School intend to invite potential sponsors and donors (which will be good for profile raising for Bardi too) and they will hold a reception afterwards for those guests.  The concert will again feature young soloists from the school and LGS players will join the Orchestra.  We are also hoping also to be joined by the LGS Chamber Choir for some vocal items with orchestra. 

Following the huge success of the Bardi Young Musician concert in it’s new venue at Holy Trinity Church last January,  our Bardi Young Musician 2024 will appear at a concert with the Orchestra on Saturday 27th January 2024 at the same venue.  Recruitment for the Bardi Young Musician 2024 will begin later in June with applications on-line and a social media campaign for the launch.  Full details will be on the Bardi website so please let any young players  (your pupils, relatives, kids next door etc.)  know about this opportunity. 

The all day Workshop at Holy Trinity this season will be at the end of the early Spring Half Term week on Saturday 24th February. This is to help Claus who has some European concerts at the beginning of the week. We are intending to look at the Mahler Symphony No.1 in preparation for the 19th May concert.

I would be grateful if everyone could now look at the schedule and start to let your usual contacts know your availability. 

I do hope that everyone has a good summer!

With best wishes,

Robert