24 Dec 2015
In 2016 the Norwich Philharmonic Society, one of the oldest music societies in the country, celebrates a remarkable landmark – its 175th anniversary. The Society has been making music in Norwich continuously since 1841 and the highlight of a very special celebratory season in 2015/16 will be a spectacular performance of Mahler's monumental Symphony No. 8, 'The Symphony of a Thousand' on 21st May 2016. The concert will be given as part of the 2016 Norfolk & Norwich Festival at the Norfolk Showground Arena, especially transformed in to an enormous concert hall for an audience of over 2,200.
Mahler's gigantic 8th Symphony, the 'Symphony of a Thousand', is so-called because it is scored for a vast orchestra, multiple choirs, organ, off-stage band and 8 solo singers. Indeed it is conceived on such a large scale that the Norfolk Showground Arena is the only venue in Norfolk capable of staging it - the first time an event of this kind has been held there. With over 500 performers on stage – a vast orchestra of around 150 (including organ, harmonium, piano, celeste and mandolins), off-stage band, double choirs and children's choir of 350 singers and 8 soloists - it will almost certainly be the largest scale classical music concert ever staged in Norfolk.
The concert is scheduled to take place on Saturday 21st May 2016 as an extra concert to the usual Phil season and as part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival in May 2016 - a new initiative for both the Society and for the Festival. This ambitious project has only been made possible by the generous support of the Arts Council of Great Britain and South Norfolk Council as well as a number of local charitable trusts – the Town Close Estate Charity, Geoffrey Watling Charity, Paul Bassham Charitable Trust, John Jarrold Trust and the RC Snelling Charitable Trust.
The symphony features no less than 8 soloists, and an have assembled a star cast of international opera singers – sopranos Kirstin Sharpin, Katherine Broderick,andCatherine May, altosAnne Marie Gibbons,andAnna Burford,tenorPeter Wedd,baritoneJames Harrisonand bassRichard Wiegold.
In addition to the musicians and singers of the Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and conductor Matthew Andrews, the concert will also involve musicians from other orchestras, notably the Academy of St Thomas, and singers from several other Norfolk choirs including Sheringham and Cromer Choral Society, Kings Lynn Festival Chorus, Norfolk & Norwich Festival Chorus and the choristers of Norwich Cathedral Choir.
In addition to the concert itself, principal musicians from the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Festival's 'resident' orchestra, will work with players in the Phil in a day of intensive orchestral workshops as part of preparations for the performance and to support talent development within the band. That workshop takes place on Saturday 23rd April and in the evening the Philharmonia players will give a public chamber music recital at the United Reform Church in Princes Street, Norwich.
The venue, the Norfolk Showground Arena, has had significant investment recently, with a new front-of-house area and improved acoustics and internal décor. However, to enable this event to take place, it will be transformed into a 2,200 plus seat concert hall with seating for the audience, staging and rostra to accommodate the orchestra, multiple choirs and soloists, lighting, and projection facilities to relay images of the performance to monitors at the rear of the hall. The practical staging arrangements will be handled by specialist local event production contractors, Blackwing Productions Ltd.
There will be a bar, food and hot drinks available on site before the concert and a special bus service will operate leaving from the outside the Theatre Royal in the city centre at 6.30pm for £6 return (bookable with concert tickets).
Concert details:
Presented by the Norwich Philharmonic Society as part of the 2016 Norfolk & Norwich Festival
Saturday 21st May 2016 at 8pm
Norfolk Showground Arena, Norfolk Showground
Mahler - Symphony No. 8, 'The Symphony of a Thousand'
Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra
Academy of St Thomas
Norwich Philharmonic Chorus
Norfolk & Norwich Festival Chorus
Kings Lynn Festival Chorus
Sheringham and Cromer Choral Society
Norwich Cathedral Choir
Matthew Andrews, conductor
Kirstin Sharpin, soprano
Katherine Broderick, soprano
Catherine May, soprano
Anne Marie Gibbons, alto
Anna Burford, alto
Peter Wedd, tenor
James Harrison, baritone
Richard Wiegold, Bass
Tickets: £28, £24, £18, £12
From Theatre Royal Box Office, Theatre Street, Norwich NR2 1RL
Tel. 01603 766400
Concessions – 10% off (except top price seats)
Under 25s – limited number of seats available at £7.50 (excluding top price)
Supported by:
Arts Council England and South Norfolk Council
Generous support also received from:
Town Close Estate Charity, Geoffrey Watling Charity, Paul Bassham Charitable Trust, John Jarrold Trust, RC Snelling Charitable Trust
The Norwich Philharmonic Society also acknowledges the generous assistance of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival and the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association in presenting this concert.
Notes to editors
For more information and images as well as interviews with Michael Nutt, Chairman Orchestra Sub-committee Norwich Philharmonic Society please contact Melanie Cook, Public Relations Manager, VisitNorwich on 01603 727939 or melanie.cook@visitnorwich.co.uk .
Christmas & New Year hours; Melanie Cook will be available until 23rd December and from 11 January. The office is closed from 24 December and open again Monday 4th January 2016 please call 01603 727979 or email tourism@visitnorwich.co.uk.
About Mahler's Symphony No.8 'The Symphony of a Thousand'
- Completed in August 1906 and first performed 12 September 1910 at the Munich Exhibition Hall – just 8 months before Mahler's death.
- Principal Conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler himself conducted the first performance and it proved to be the last time he conducted in Europe. The premiere was a great triumph and the audience included some of the great artistic figures of the day – among others, Richard Strauss, Bruno Walter, Leopold Stokowski, Arnold Schoenberg, Camille Saint-Saëns, Willem Mengelberg, Anton Webern, Max Reinhardt, Thomas Mann, Arthur Schnitzler, Stefan Zweig.
- Mahler's 8th is the first completely choral symphony on the history of music and it is scored for vast orchestra – quintuple woodwind, eight horns, off-stage brass band, huge percussion, celeste, piano, harmonium, organ, 2 harps, mandolin ('preferably several') and strings – plus double chorus, children's choir and eight soloists - three soprano, two alto, tenor, baritone, and bass. (There will be over 500 performers on stage when the Norwich Phil perform it in May 2016.)
- The Symphony is divided in to two unequal parts. The first sets the Latin text of the 9th century vespers hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus (Come, creator spirit), while the second is a setting of the final section of Part II of Goethe's Faust. Two very different sources but Mahler's intention was to link the Christian belief in the power of the spirit with Goethe's vision of mankind's redemption through love.
- Rarely performed because of the vast forces involved, it is a work which has an immense emotional impact on the audience. It ends in a mighty blaze of sound as the massed choirs sing of the Eternal –Feminine drawing mankind towards heaven before the work's opening theme is restated by the full orchestra in a final instrumental coda which triumphantly affirms faith in both man and God.
About Norwich Philharmonic Society www.norwichphil.org.uk
- Norwich Philharmonic Society is one of the city's most illustrious concert promoters, with a history stretching back to its formation in 1841. First the orchestra and then, from 1930, the chorus have brought together the cream of local musicians and singers to perform large-scale symphonies, choral and orchestral works and concertos. In turn, they have collaborated with internationally acclaimed soloists, guest conductors and young professionals at the start of their careers. Programmes have unearthed rarities and introduced new works as well as reinterpreting the core Classical Romantic and 20th Century repertoire.
- A full-size symphony orchestra of around 80 players, the Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra (leader, Dominic Hopkins) is one of the UK's leading amateur orchestras and certainly one of the longest established. Made up of talented non-professional, semi-professional and former professional musicians, the orchestra is acclaimed for its performances of major works from the symphonic repertoire and its work with gifted guest soloists, many of whom are the rising stars of the concert world. The orchestra's Principal Conductor is Matthew Andrews.
- The Norwich Philharmonic Chorus, which has around 120 members, is directed by David Dunnett, the principal organist for Norwich Cathedral and an acclaimed trainer of singers and chorus master.
About VisitNorwich
- VisitNorwich is the destination management organisation for the Norwich area. It is a private/public sector partnership and a not for profit organisation whose sole focus is to promote and develop the destination and support its membersthrough collaborative marketing, research, information and business advice.
- For the benefit of the area as a whole, VisitNorwich strives to achieve: better profile and reputation locally, nationally and internationally; increased visitor spend; more investment; more jobs and better quality experiences for both visitors and residents.
- Tourism is worth around £700 million per year to the Norwich area, supports over 9,000 jobs (Tourism South East, 2010).
- In 2014 VisitNorwich- funded by the Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) - launched Norwich, the City of Stories a digital campaign which reached finalist status in the EDP Norfolk Tourism Awards 2015, www.cityofstories.co.uk.
- In 2014 Norwich was named as one of Britain's Top 10 cities in The Telegraph Travel Awards.In 2014 The Norwich Lanes was crowned Great British High Street of the Year in the city category.
For further information on Norwich and its surrounding area visit www.visitnorwich.co.uk, www.cityofstories.co.uk
Christmas & New Year hours; Melanie Cook will be available until 23rd December and from 11 January. The office is closed from 24 December and open again Monday 4th January 2016. Please call 01603 727979 or email tourism@visitnorwich.co.uk between 4th January and 11 January 2016.
