Ely Sinfonia – Symphonie Fantastique – Saturday 12th March – Ely Cathedral

SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE to THRILL ELY CATHEDRAL IN CONCERT OF FANTASTIC FRENCH MUSIC

Saturday 12 March 2016, 7.30pm

Audiences in Ely Cathedral will delight to the fabulous sounds of French classical music in a by Ely Sinfonia on Saturday 12^th March.

Symphonie Fantastique was one of the most extraordinary pieces of its time – perhaps (to quote Leonard Bernstein) the first musical trip into psychedelia. It was to bring fame and notoriety to 26-year-old composer, Hector Berlioz, and its colourful, surreal nature still thrills audiences today.

Also featured in the concert are two other major French works. Who is not familiar with Saint-Saëns’ exciting and highly evocative Danse Macabre? It is actually a tone poem for orchestra based on a medieval legend about the power and universality of death, but is also extremely well known as the theme tune for TV’s Jonathan Creek. In contrast, a train journey through the region was the inspiration for Joseph Canteloube’s delightful, but rarely performed collection of Songs of the Auvergne, being performed by locally-based soprano Tara Bungard.

For anyone not familiar with Ely Sinfonia, it will be well worth the trip to Ely Cathedral to hear this concert. The orchestra has gone from strength to strength since it was founded in 1999 as a millennium project.   Nowadays it is one of the region’s best respected amateur orchestras, playing everything from mainstream to modern works, including special commissions. For example, in 2015 Ely Sinfonia hosted the extraordinary first performance of two new pieces, Island and Hereward in Ely Cathedral in 2015, with a choir of more than 100 local children and adults.

Ely Sinfonia’s artistic director Steve Bingham has a growing reputation both as a conductor and professional violinist, while the orchestra’s leader, Christina Everson, is a highly accomplished professional violin and viola player.

Tickets for Symphonie Fantastique cost £22.50, £17.50 or £12 (reserved) or £7.50 (unreserved).   Concessions cost £12 in the £17.50 seats. They are available from Ely Cathedral Box Office, tel 01353 660349, email box.office@elycathedral.org or online from https://tickets.elycathedral.org.

To find out more about Ely Sinfonia, visit www.elysinfonia.co.uk. To ask about joining, call 01353 721007 or email publicity@elysinfonia.co.uk.

About Ely Sinfonia

Ely Sinfonia is the first ever high quality ensemble to be based in Ely. Launched in November 1999, it is made up of players of all ages and backgrounds, including school and college students, business professionals, retired individuals and local music teachers. The orchestra plays a wide range of music, from contemporary to mainstream, and has commissioned its own pieces as well as showcasing the work of young musicians such as the Cambridge Young Composer of the Year.   Ely Sinfonia gives three or four full orchestral concerts every year and, in addition, provides smaller groups to play at events such as the Easter Day mass in Ely Cathedral. Teaching is a vital part of the orchestra’s mission and it runs annual training days and workshops for less experienced players and students, coached by professionals.

Ely Sinfonia was founded by a consortium of local arts organisations, led by ADeC (Arts Development in East Cambridgeshire), to become a beacon of excellence as East Cambridgeshire’s own community orchestra. It has more than lived up to this, particularly since local celebrity violinist, Steve Bingham, took over as artistic director.