For Members

Hello All,

A very Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all had a good Christmas.

Our annual Festive extravaganza was again incredibly well received by all present. So many still say that Christmas doesn’t start until they come to our concert!

Please put Saturday 19th December with the rehearsal on Friday 18th December 2026 in your diaries.

Looking ahead to the summer, our annual Charity concert at De Montfort Hall will be on Sunday 14th June at 3pm. 
If you remember from a previous message, it is a week later than usual because of the Rutland Sinfonia concert on Saturday 6th June (plus rehearsal on Friday 5th) and because David and I have our annual Aviation art exhibition that weekend also. The rehearsals will be on Wednesday 10th and Friday 12th June.

We are close to finalising the Charity With the Lions and will get back with details in due course.

With best wishes,

Robert

Hello All,

There have been discussions for some time with Adam about organising a day for the Strings to continue to build on what has been some excellent progress since the start of the New Horizons concert season as well as it giving the chance to enjoy playing string repertoire together without the pressure of a concert.

We had also canvassed your opinion on two concerts to premiere the 7 Ages of Man, a stunning work for Jazz ensemble and Strings by our very own Paul Mottram, to take place over a weekend in June next year. Unfortunately, the logistics to put this all together have meant that at the moment it is postponed, but it then opens up the opportunity to have a day together earlier in the season.

The proposed date is Sunday 1st March to take place in the main hall at Leicester Grammar School. We would be keeping to our usual timings so 10am-1pm, lunch and then 2-5pm. We are intending to organise and evening social afterwards at a nearby pub or restaurant.

The Orchestra would be hiring the Hall for this event as it is not a normal rehearsal for a concert within the season and so it would be great to have a really good attendance.

I would now please ask that you get back to your String Leads to confirm your availability as soon as possible so that they can get an idea of the numbers and start to put everything in place.

Discussions are taking place about the repertoire that will be looked at during the day with Adam, who will be leading from the Violin – meaning this is also a chance to experience playing repertoire unconducted.

Many thanks,

With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year!

Robert

Hello All,

I am sure that we all agree that the concert on Sunday was another success. 

The final audience total was 1065 and so the first two concerts have had 200 more attending at each than last season. Thanks to all who have cajoled family and friends to come along!

José was very happy with how it all went and has sent us some very nice words. Clearly he would like to come back….

There will be a separate update coming soon with all of the details about the Young Musician concert on Saturday 24th January and the Workshop Day on Saturday 21st February, both at Holy Trinity Church on Regent Road.
Please look out for that and as ever please be proactive about letting the section leads know regarding your availability.

Best wishes,

Robert

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My dear Bardi Symphony Orchestra,

Congratulations on a great performance of a marathonic programme.

Thank you very, very much for your commitment, your energy and professionalism. Thank you for making me feel welcomed and safe to be myself, and for the opportunity of re-creating and rediscovering music with you.

I can only hope we can create more memories together in the future, and in the meantime I wish you great music making and hope that the cohesion we achieved and the sound you built for yourself, stays with you and becomes your default.

Count on me always as a dear friend and supporter.

My best wishes,

José

Dear Fabulous musicians and friends of the Bardi Orchestra,

I am still smiling from ear to ear as I relive the wonderful concert last Sunday. I meant what I said: it is genuinely wonderful to return to the orchestra and find it in a better shape than before. 

Firstly, there’s the music making. This was not an easy concert by any yardstick. With your commitment, enthusiasm and skills, we managed to overcome what is a challenging schedule even for a top-flight professional orchestra: I think the result, and the well-deserved ovation, spoke for what a great success it was. I was struck over this rehearsal process how much the orchestra – like a wine that has had space to breathe – opened up. I very rarely had to speak about dynamics or shape, for you were all incredibly sensitive to every gesture from the podium. I know I challenged you in other ways in rehearsals: we worked fast, we changed bowings, and we didn’t run the symphony on the concert day. Not only did you meet those challenges, by the end it felt like we have always worked this way. 

Then there’s the impressive work happening “on the other side of the curtain”. It was heartening to see such a great audience. The orchestra’s publicity and ambition continues to go from strength to strength. I am in no doubt that Bardi is a great success story in the country’s musical landscape.

Thank you for having me, and for allowing me to play a small part on your impressive upward trajectory. I can’t wait until our paths may cross again! 

With huge respect and admiration,

Jonny 

Morning All,

Here are the messages that I have received from Tom & Fenella:

Dear all, 

Congratulations on a wonderful concert at De Montfort Hall on Sunday. What a treat it was to play this iconic repertoire together: thank you for your commitment and energy. 

From the large audience we had, it was clear to me not only that you have a very loyal following, but that you are actively growing Bardi’s reach in the city and beyond. There were many people there for whom that was their first orchestral concert (and what a first show to come to!), and it is particularly heartening that you as an orchestra have this as a central aim of your work. 

Have a lovely summer; good luck for your exciting season ahead, and I hope our paths cross again in the future. 

Warmest wishes, 

Tom

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Hello!

I just wanted to say a massive thank you for the last few days. It was really great getting to work with the Orchestra and thanks for looking after me so brilliantly. Please pass on my congrats to everyone for their fantastic playing both in the Tchaikovsky and the Planets – and also for their lovely welcome! 

Thanks so much!

Fenella

Hello All,

It was undoubtedly an incredibly well received concert on Sunday afternoon with nearly 900 in attendance and we have had lots of positive feedback from members of the audience. A huge all-round success.

As many of you know, after Sunday, Jonny went straight to London to start his Christmas run of Prokofiev’s Cinderella at Covent Garden. He has however had time to send us all some words on his time with us. Clearly very heartfelt thoughts! Please do send in your feedback about the concert as before to those in the Conductors Committee who have contacted you. They are very important to have for future planning.

Dear musicians, volunteers and friends of the Bardi Orchestra,

I am still smiling from our concert together last Sunday. Thank you for pulling out all the stops – in Ivan the organist’s case, really very literally – in creating such a special afternoon. First, I am thankful and amazed by your fine collective music-making, with some truly stunning solo contributions from all quarters of the orchestra. The way you improved so quickly and consistently week on week is quite extraordinary for an orchestra that does not meet every day for 6 hours at a time. What I loved also was the way you opened up generously, so that by the time we got to the concert you really committed to the music. Please know that this is not to be taken for granted, and it was really special.

I am also thankful and rather gobsmacked by the way the whole project was organised. One thinks of the sleek operations, the stunning publicity, plus all the unique peripherals such as the brass band, the nightingale, the extra saxophones, the solo piano… For most orchestras, a concert like this takes an entire backroom office of professional arts administrators to put together, whereas you all seem to take it in your stride, chipping in wherever and whenever you could. It was quite something.

I come away from Bardi having left a large piece of my heart with you. Thank you for being an inspiration. I do hope your run up to Christmas is full of the joy of music making, and the spirit of connection and inspiration with your community, your friends and your family. How lucky we are that at Bardi, that joy and that sense of connection is not just for Christmas!

With love and very best wishes,

Jonny

I then want to top and tail what is happening in the early New Year.

BARDI YOUNG MUSICIAN 2025 CONCERT 

Saturday 25th January 7.30pm Holy Trinity Church Regent Road, Leicester
Conductor Paul Hilliam
Alto Saxophone – Prakash Easwar Bardi Young Musician 2025
Rehearsals ;
Monday 20th & Friday 24th January 
Concert day 2-5pm

Beethoven – Prometheus Overture
Vaughan Williams – Five Variants on Dives & Lazarus
Maurice – Tableaux de Provence for Saxophone & Orchestra
Haydn – Symphony No.104 ‘London’

BARDI FEBRUARY 2025 HALF TERM WORKSHOP

Saturday 15th February 10am-5pm Holy Trinity Church Regent Road, Leicester
Conductor –  Adam Summerhayes
Prokofiev –  Symphony No.5

The 2025 Workshop is again on the Saturday at the beginning of the February Half Term and Adam will be taking us through one of the standout symphonies of the 20th Century. Some may remember a night at The Rowans many moons ago when we played through this symphony with Andrew Constantine just before he conducted it with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Festival Hall. This was his prize for winning the inaugural Donatella Flick Conducting Competition. 

There is still an opportunity to have an evening meal after the Workshop if we have enough numbers to make it viable so we will be asking for replies about this in the New Year.

Can you please let the String leads know your availability asap for both of the above and I’ll co-ordinate with the Winds, Horns, Brass & Percussion as usual.

In closing I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy a Peaceful New Year.

Robert

Hello All,

The concert last Sunday was well received by a decent audience of 520 which for what could be described as a ’standard’ Classical concert was a good start to the season. It is also good to know through the DMH marketing systems that we do appear to be getting a decent number of Philharmonia audience coming to our concerts now too.

Lydia has let us know that she was very happy with her second appearance with the Bardi in the Dvorak Concerto. She credits her change in direction from chamber playing to concerto performances directly from her experience of performing the Elgar with the Bardi back in 2022. Good to know!

Natalia has also sent through some words for us following the concert. She clearly enjoyed coming to conduct us.

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To all the members of the Bardi Orchestra!

I just wanted to express again my gratitude to the Bardi for a wonderful musical experience. Thank you for making me feel so welcome and free to be making good music, not the least my favourite composer, Brahms!

The love you have for your orchestra is palpable and it was very enjoyable for me to learn from you. I hope I made a nice impression and that you all had a relaxing and enjoyable time.

The amazing advantage of being a guest conductor is that I have a fresh canvas and I always go with an open mind about the musicians.  It works the same way for the orchestra, in a short period of time, we adapt and react to each other to create the best possible performance.  I also really think the orchestra benefits from sectionals, so this is a good scheme to keep -again when tackling more complex repertoire.

I had a fantastic time, and I learnt a lot from you.
Thank you for inviting me and hopefully see you again soon.

Fondest regards,
Natalia

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By now, all of you that played in the concert will have received a message from the relevant Conductor Committee member who looks after your section. Please do reply with your thoughts on our two weeks with Natalia and the concert itself. We will be doing this after each of the concerts. I should add again that the four conductors for this season are not a shortlist for a future MD.

Please now keep an eye out for the e-mail looking forward to the next two concerts at LGS on 10th November and DMH on 1st December!

With best wishes,

Robert