The Royal Forest of Dean Orchestra is delighted to announce details of its forthcoming spring concert on Saturday 24^th March at Newnham Church. The orchestra will once again be under the musical direction of its energetic young conductor, Thomas Payne, who studied violin and conducting at the Birmingham Conservatoire and will perform Mozart’s Overture to ‘The Magic Flute’ and the concertino for trombone by David in the first half. The soloist this term is local trombone prodigy Rhiannon Symonds from Yorkley.

Rhiannon, 14, has been playing the trombone for 5 years. At the age of 11 she passed her Grade 8 with Distinction and at 12 became the youngest ever brass player in the prestigious National Youth Wind Orchestra of Wales where she is currently Principal Trombone.

In 2009 Rhiannon was awarded the Robert Lewin Scholarship by the AYM, became a Future Talent Star and the youngest member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra. In 2010 Rhiannon was again awarded the Robert Lewin Scholarship as well as an EMI Music Scholarship and Musicians Benevolent Fund Scholarship.

2011 was a very special year for Rhiannon. In January Rhiannon competed at the Chandos Symphony Orchestra Young Musician of the Year competition and was awarded the title of Most Promising Player for the second successive year and in February she won the Newark National Brass Festival. During March Rhiannon was a concerto soloist with the Solihull Symphony Orchestra and became the youngest trombonist in the UK to pass the Associate of the Trinity Guildhall London (ATCL) examination following a 40 minute recital. In July she performed at the Ryedale Festival on behalf of Future Talent in the presence of HRH Katherine Kent and took up the co-principal trombone position with the National Youth Brass Band of Wales. In November, Rhiannon was runner-up in the AXA Ambition Awards in the Arts category, a highly competitive national competition, and performed for the third time at the Royal Albert Hall for the Music For Youth Schools Prom. To close the year Rhiannon was successful in auditioning for positions with the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain and securing her Grade 8 with Distinction on Euphonium.

A spokesperson for the orchestra said, ‘we’re thrilled to be playing alongside Rhiannon in this concert – she’s easily the youngest soloist we’ve ever had but she’s also so inspirational – we recommend all young musicians to come along and hear what can be achieved with hard work and determination.’

Following the interval the second half will entirely devoted to a performance of Johannes Brahms’s mighty second symphony. The orchestra is led as usual by distinguished local performer and teacher, Ros Taunton. The concert will start at 7.30pm and tickets are available at the door, £8/£5 concessions with children under 14 getting in for free, so long as they are accompanied by an adult. The orchestra now has a fully updated website www.rfdo.org.uk and a facebook page where further details about the orchestra and recruitment can be found.

For any further info about the orchestra please contact The Chairperson on 01594 510604.

Photos of Rhiannon will be forwarded on from another email.

Winter 2011 Concert

The Royal Forest of Dean Orchestra is delighted to announce details of its forthcoming winter concert on Saturday 3^rd December 2011 at Coleford Baptist Church. The orchestra will once again be under the musical direction of its energetic young conductor, Thomas Payne, who studied violin and conducting at the Birmingham Conservatoire and will perform Bartok’s Rumanian Folk Dances and Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C in the first half. The soloist is cellist Kwesi Edman who graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied with David Strange and Philip Sheppard.

Since leaving the Academy his career has branched out to include other art forms such as the spoken word, dance and artists.
He performs regularly across the world as a soloist, chamber musician, pop musician and conductor and has collaborated with players from the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Southbank Sinfonia, the Royal Opera Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He has worked alongside artists such as Shirley Bassey, Damon Albarn and Elton John and even appeared next to David Beckham at the Beijing Olympics.

Kwesi founded Chamber Academy Orchestra in 2007 of which he is the principal conductor. He is head of the Performance, Advanced and Alpine courses at Oxford Cello School and teaches privately in London.

Following the interval the second half will entirely devoted to a performance of one of Mozart’s best known and final works; Symphony No 41 ‘The Jupiter’. The orchestra is led as usual by distinguished local performer and teacher, Ros Taunton. The concert will start at 7.30pm and tickets are available at the door, £8/£5 concessions with children under 14 getting in for free, so long as they are accompanied by an adult. There will be retiring collection in aid of ‘Hope for Tomorrow’ and refreshments will be available. The orchestra now has a fully updated website www.rfdo.org.uk and a facebook page where further details about the orchestra can be found.

Kwesi Edman

For any further info about the orchestra please contact The Chairperson on 01594 510604.

There was a standing ovation for the outstanding pianist, Alex Kirk, at a delightful concert presented by the Royal Forest of Dean Orchestra at St Briavels Church on Saturday 9^th July.  Alex, perhaps the most accomplished young musician in the Forest, played Beethoven’s powerful 1^st Piano Concerto as the finale to a well chosen and well received programme of works mostly from the golden age of romantic music. I had the wonderful opportunity from my seat of observing a great musician at work, which is one of the rewarding things of the concert-going experience, the excitement, the visual aspects, the thrilling uncertainty and the danger.

RFODO are acquiring a reputation as Beethoven specialists, and with soloists like Alex, and Simon Smith, who performed the Beethoven violin concerto at their previous concert, fans of the composer can be assured of a great evening of music with this Orchestra.

The evening started with a lively and thrilling performance of Rossini’s overture to his opera ‘The Italian Girl in Algiers’, a story about an indomitable heroine who rescues her lover from the forces of evil.

This was followed by Schubert’s Tragic Symphony, which is in turn reflective, lyrical, agitated and dramatic, well suited to the style and strengths of the Orchestra.

The guest conductor, Alastair Cameron, is less flamboyant that Thomas Payne, the other conductor working with the Orchestra. The contrast in styles is remarkable, but the outcomes in terms of high quality musical outcomes are equally good. Alastair is also a composer, of film music as well as concert works. He had lined up Gounod’s ‘Funeral March of a Marionette’ (well known as the signature tune to Hitchcock thrillers) in the programme, but as this music was unavailable he wrote his own piece for the evening. His modestly titled ‘A Trifle’ (a world premiere) was the only gatecrasher in an evening of otherwise exclusively early nineteenth century music. It is an amusing little piece which could be imagined as the sound track to some off-beat television comedy, and was relished by performers and audience.

The RFODO are gradually making the journey to becoming a fine regional orchestra. After a perhaps uncertain start some years ago, they get better every performance. Encouraged by a series of top class soloists and conductors, they can now give a performance that can satisfy the St Briavels concert-going public, who are used to the international standards of the Wye Valley Music Society which often performs at St Briavels Church.