Cork Symphony Orchestra & Julian Lloyd Webber

murphym7

Just wanted to say that I went to see the Cork Symphony Orchestra last night in the Cork City Hall. The concert was absolutely fabulous. The night was titled "last night at the proms". They enlisted the services of the mighty Julian Lloyd Webber who played the Elgar Cello concerto, one of my all time favourites I have to say. Julian came back for an encore after much aplause and played a really unusual piece by Benjamin Britten for solo Cello, it was all played by plucking - very unusual and great to experience. The concert consisted of many of the last night of the proms pieces which were great to listen to. The CSO were joined by the Fleishman choir which added to the spectacle for many of the pieces, one of my favourites being Massenet's Meditation, played by the leader of the orchestra. (I hated this as a kid!). I have never heard this with a choir before and it really was great.

What amazed me throughout the entire evening was the fact that the CSO is made up of primarily amateur players who rehearse once a week on Monday nights. There are a few mercenaries in the brass section, but this is to be expected. They played with Tasmin little last year and Nigel Kennedy a few years before that, a really impressive line up I must admit considering they are an amateur orchestra.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know of the great things being done down here in Cork.

lyndonjones

I was fortunate to see the Schools rehearsal on the Wednesday night and I have to concur with the original poster of this thread - The CSO or as they will be known as "The City Of Cork Symphony Orchestra" are a wonderful bunch of very talented musicians and Cork should and is very proud of them

They are in the Guinness Book of Record as the longest established amateur orchestra in the world.

Bravo!!