Saturday, October 12, 2013


We're  delighted to return to St Mary's in Thatcham as part of the Thatcham Festival.  And we are very excited to welcome Victoria Benjamin who will play the virtuoso solo in Iturralde's Pequeña Czarda (you may remember her wonderful performance of Riverdance a few years ago which went down a storm). Scroll down to find out more about Victoria.
Date: Saturday 19th October 2013, 7:30pm

Venue:  St Marys Church, Church Gate, Thatcham, Berkshire, RG19 3PN 

Sounds from the Mediterranean including Capriccio Espagñol by Rimsky Korsakov and pieces by Ravel, Bernstein, Rossini and Michel Legrand.  We’ve been generous with our interpretation of Mediterranean – and you’ll see that it’s a spirited programme!

Our programme includes

·        Pequeña Czarda by Pedro Iturralde
·        Pavane pour une Infante défunte by Maurice Ravel
·        Cappricio Espagñol by N. Rimsky-Korsakow (op. 34)
·        Tarantella by Gioacchino Rossini
·        Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (themes from the film) by Michel Legrand, arr. Jean Brouquières
·        Four Dances from Westside Story by Leonard Bernstein, arr. Ian Polster
·        El Camino by Jerry Nowak
·        Jardin d’Espagñol (Gardens of Spain) by Harry Sosnik
·        Suite Francaise by Darius Milhaud
·        Vesuvius (for concert band) by Frank Ticheli  

Tickets are available in advance from the Family Bookshop, orchestra members or contact Gay Spackman dandyeve@dsl.pipex.com or 0118 9712575 in advance £10 (concessions £9, U18s £2).

On the door, full price tickets are £12 (or concessions £11 and U18s £2)

 Looking forward to seeing you all...


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

St Mary's Church, 19th October 2013


Victoria Benjamin
Our next concert, at St Mary's Church, Thatcham on Saturday 19th October at 7.30pm will feature a programme of music loosely based on a Mediterranean theme. A mixture of old favourites and exciting music composed for Wind Orchestra, pieces by Ravel and Rossini, Bernstein and Milhaud.

Our soloist is local musician and teacher, saxophonist Victoria Benjamin.
  
Victoria studied saxophone at the University of Leeds with Richard Ingham and Carl Raven and at the University of North Texas with Sarah Roberts. She currently teaches woodwind and cello for Berkshire Maestros as well as working freelance in the area. Victoria played Principal Alto Saxophone with the National Saxophone Choir of Great Britain from the age of 15 and most recently in the SaxFamily, along side Nigel Wood and Gerard McCrystal.
Click on the link to listen to Victoria playing with the National Saxophone Choir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5bv0RLlG2M&list=UU4nQh_VkmDgxZZMBW2X2yuw

Friday, July 19, 2013

Band on the Rec 2013

Here we all are then, on 19 July 2013, with many of the Beenham villagers, at our annual "Band on the Rec" event.  It was hot and sunny this year, unlike the last few years, when we have had bad luck with the weather."
Next year we will be playing on Friday 18th July, so keep the date free, plan your picnic and keep your fingers crossed for sunshine.

Monday, May 27, 2013

From our last concert at St Mary's Mortimer

This has almost taken over from 'The Lion King' as our favourite piece!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Our next Concert

An evening of familiar tunes from films and shows.

Tickets £10 in advance, £12 on the door

Box Office 0118 933 1310  or 0118 933 2764

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Chamber Concert

A really successful Chamber Concert last night in the Old Bluecoat School, a perfect venue. A really varied programme from members of BWO, and featuring the world premier of the Cold Ash Brass Quintet, notable for their purple socks as well as their accomplished playing! Hope they will join us for the next one.
I hope it sounded better than it looks, no-one looks good playing the clarinet!
Kate playing unaccompanied
First public performance for this trio, Ann, Anne and Jane
Cold Ash Brass with purple socks

 
Saxitude with red shoes

Kay and Jane playing Mozart
Thank you to Simon for organising the concert
 

John with bass recorder












Thursday, April 18, 2013

Beenham Wind Orchestra & Friends Chamber Concert

At The Old Bluecoat School, Chapel Street (A4) , Thatcham, RG18 4QL on Saturday 20th April (this Saturday) at 7.30pm.

Come and hear members of BWO doing their own thing.


All sections of the Wind Orchestra are represented (and Recorders!). From Mozart to Gershwin, Benjamin Britten to James Rae.

Tickets are £5 on the door.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Tom Hicks - Pianist, Rhapsody In Blue
St Nicolas' Church, Newbury, 2nd March 2013

Tom Hicks is a 19-year-old pianist from Guernsey. He has been awarded first prize in the Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias Under-22 Piano Competition, first prize and the European Piano Teachers’ Association (EPTA) UK Salver in the Croydon Advanced Piano Concerto Competition, first prize in the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Junior Intercollegiate Competition, first prize in the Junior Bakst Memorial Prize for the playing of Chopin and first prize in the Chetham's Beethoven and Chopin Competitions. In 2012 he was also selected as one of 32 finalists in the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah. Alongside competition successes, Tom has also won awards such as the Richards’ Prize for piano and musicianship and the Dennis Midwood Keyboard Prize from Chetham’s School of Music and the Proctor-Gregg Performance Prize from the University of Manchester. In addition, he has recently been awarded the Keith Dawber Memorial Bursary from Deutche Bank and a John Biggs Scholarship from EPTA UK and has been grateful for financial assistance from the Ormsby Guernsey Charitable Trust.
After lessons in Guernsey with Mervyn Grand he gained a place at Chetham’s School of Music in 2009, studying with Murray McLachlan, with whom he is continuing on the prestigious joint course at The Royal Northern College of Music and The Manchester University. Tom also plays regularly to musicians including Christopher Elton, Peter Donohoe and John Gough and has enjoyed many master classes from pianists including Joseph Banowetz, Michel Beroff, Philippe Cassard, Stefano Fiuzzi, Ronan O’Hora, Stephen Hough, Leslie Howard, Vanessa Latarche, John Lill, Hamish Milne, Steven Osborne, Charles Owen, Dina Parakhina, Daniel-Ben Pienaar, Vladimir Tropp, Simon Trpcezici, Nelita True and Catherine Vickers.

He already has an expansive repertoire spanning from Scarlatti and Bach through to Shchedrin and Silvestrov and has performed in venues such as the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Centre in Salt Lake City, St James’ Piccadilly in London and The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. As a concerto soloist, he is currently undertaking a cycle of the complete Rachmaninov Concerti with orchestras from his island home in Guernsey.
As a versatile musician, Tom is also a skilled accompanist, having studied principally with Elena Nalimova, and is an experienced chamber musician, receiving coaching from John Gough, Valerie Taylor, Jeremy Young and Sara Wolstenholme. He has also received coaching from Stephen Threlfall and Mark Heron in conducting.




Paul Saunders Clarinet soloist, Artie Shaw's Concerto for Clarinet
 St Nicolas' Church, Newbury, 2nd March 2013

Paul studied at the Royal College of Music (under Michael Collins and Bob Hill). He gained the “Roger Fallows Prize for orchestral Clarinet Playing” and the “Constant and Kit Lambert” Prize for the most promising woodwind player leaving the College that year.  He was a finalist in the Royal Overseas League competition and a semi finalist in the Shell LSO competition. 
Since leaving the College he has enjoyed a varied career combining performing with teaching and he is now an established West End musician, trebling on Flute Clarinet and Saxophone. 
Previous solo work includes Solo Clarinet in Bernstein’s Prelude Fugue and Riffs (Capital Radio Jazz Festival), Mozart Clarinet Concert (City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra) and Weber’s First Concerto, (Dartford Symphony Orchestra, October 9th 2011). 
TV and studio work include LWT Parkinson, BBC Open University and BBC Can’t Sing Singers but the majority of his work is theatre based.  He has held many chairs on UK tours (including Sunset Boulevard. Kiss me Kate, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Half a Sixpence and Ain’t Misbehavin’).  West End work includes the following productions “Guys and Dolls”, Les Miserables”, “The Producers”, “Mary Poppins”, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, “The Full Monty” , “My Fair Lady”) 
He can currently be found working on the London production of “Wicked” playing Bb, Eb, Bass Cl and Sop Sax.  
Work outside of the musical theatre genre includes Matthew Bourne’s “Edward Scissorhands” performed at Saddlers Wells, RLPO, WNO, Chameleon Arts Orchestra and a the occasional late night cabaret at Madame Jo Jo’s.
He has recently enjoyed success as a composer and has had works published by Spartan Press. He is also a UK endorsee for Legere Reeds.