Some of our concerts are reviewed by local papers. The latest review is reproduced here in full, and you can find links to earlier reviews below.
Superb first spring concert in over two years
Abergavenny Symphony Orchestra returned to full complement with a performance of the Dvorak 8th Symphony which was not only played with considerable panache and technical accomplishment but, under conductor Michael Bell, caught the genuine Slavonic lilt essential to this most sheerly Czech of the composer’s symphonies.
It is the work which finally sheds any vestige of the Germanic influence which prevailed in European music in the first half of the 19th Century.
The concert, in Our Lady and St Michael’s Church, Abergavenny, on Sunday, opened with the wind and string sections demonstrating their distinctive colours with aplomb performing Richard Strauss’ Serenade for 13 Wind Instruments followed by Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C.
The return of this much-loved band in such superb form, under new leader Marisa Riordan, promises an assured future for music-making in the area after the long drought of lock-down and restrictions.
Chris Hall
Orchestral Workshop 2017
In February 2017 we held a workshop on Mahler’s second symphony and were delighted that John Searight, author of Mahler biography To Live for You, to Die for You, was able to attend. We benefitted not only from John’s extensive knowledge, but also by his very generous donation to ASO of the profits from the sale of his book on that day. After the event, John wrote a review of his day with us for the Mahler Society’s quarterly magazine. Mahler’s Second – behind closed doors