Monday 17 August 2009

The 44th Season

We are delighted to announce the line up for our next season of Family Concerts - music to educate and entertain on a Saturday morning.

Sat 17 October 2009 11am
Peter and the Wolf
Conductor: Darrell Davison
Trombone: David Whitson
Narrator: To be Announced
Guildford Symphony Orchestra

A brilliant carnival of animals with a colourful aquarium and aviary, jolly elephants, wild bears, acrobatic seals, dancing hippopotami and the famous story of a small boy called Peter who manages to capture a very angry, dangerous wolf.

Sat 12 December 2009 11am
A Christmas Carol
Conductor: Darrell Davison
Organ: Ian Le Grice
Narrator: To be Announced
Croydon Symphony Orchestra
Young soloists from the Yehudi Menuhin School

A special musical version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is the highlight of this Christmas programme which features seasonal favourites such as Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, Anderson's Sleigh Ride with Santa Claus and Carols for the audience. The concert starts with Arnold's amusing Grand, Grand Overture which features three hoovers and a floor polisher as well as the finale from Aint-Saƫns' magnificent Organ Symphony.

Sat 6 February 2010 11am
The Snowman
Conductor: Darrell Davison
Violin: Valtie Nunn
Narrator: To be Announced
Epsom Symphony Orchestra

An exciting programme of The Elements with Holst's Spirits of the Earth, Falla's Ritual Fire Dance, Handel's Water Music and Britten's Wind Storm, Frost and Ice are represented in Vivaldi's Winter and Thunder and Lightning in Strauss' lively Polka. And of course the elements would not be complete without the popular story of the Snowman with its chart topping song We're Walking in the Air, sung by pupils from Downside Lodge and St. David's Schools.

Sat 27 March 2010 11am
The Time Travellers
Conductor: Darrell Davison
Narrator: To be Announced
The Classic Buskers
Croydon Symphony Orchestra

Travel through time with Dr. Who, Star Trek, Jurassic Park and the intrepid Classic Buskers who will take us on a whirlwind trip through time and place. The programme also includes an ancient Javanese temple dance and a musical trip on a space rocket.

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All concerts are held at the Fairfield Halls, and run for 80 minutes. Tickets are Adults £9, Children £7.50, Family Prices: Adults £8 & Children £6 (For a family of 4 or more)

As usual we are running our popluar season ticket scheme, where you can buy and save up to 50%. For more information, please call the Fairfield Box Office on 0208 688 9291.

Saturday 25 July 2009

Catch some great family activites at the Proms this Summer

This season's BBC proms include a number of concerts and activities specifically for families. These consist of concerts, family orchestras, and pre-concert events to name but a few. For more details including dates, locations, and how to get tickets please see the proms page here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/takepart/

Friday 22 May 2009

Our Pied Piper and Medieval Music Concert

What a great way to end the season! We had a fantastic concert with the Little Symphony of London, Dragonsfire, and Sam Davies to narrate our tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. To the right you can see a picture of the Dragonsfire group ( Nigel Perona-Wright, Hilary Perona-Wright, Jon Banks, and Jack Davies) performing on their period instruments.

As usual we had a number of great entries to our competitions. This time's winners were Eleanor Tsoukkas (aged 9 from Wimbledon Park) for the Quiz, Rebecca McCallum (aged 9 from Brighton) for the wordsearch, and Elaine Jones (aged 7 from Wallington) for the picture. You can see Elaine and Rebecca with our conductor Darrell Davison, Sam Davies, and Nigel Perona-Wright.

Unfortunately this was the last concert of this season. Check back to find out details of our next Family Concert series which will begin in September. We look forward to seeing you there!

Friday 10 April 2009

Medieval Mysteries with The Pied Piper

Come and join us on Saturday 25th April at 11am to travel back in time to the medieval era with the haunting story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. We will also have the Dragonsfire Medieval Group with us who will be dressed in period costume, pictured to the right. The family concert also includes Handel's Water Music, Pachelbel's Canon, Warlock's Sword Dance as well as music by Mozart and Schubert.

As well as the Dragonsfire Medieval Music Group performing for us, our orchestra will be the The Little Symphony of London.

Friday 20 March 2009

Magical myths and more

We were delighted to have David Leonard to narrate our story piece of The Firebird. We also had Samuel Jacobs to show us how the French horn works as well as play the Finale from the Horn Concerto no 1 by Strauss.

As usual we had some excellent entries to our family concert competitions; the February winners were Kieren Athayde (aged 10), Rebecca McCallum (aged 9) and Elaine Jones (aged 7), pictured here with Darrell Davison and David Leonard.

Friday 13 February 2009

Magical Myths and Legends

Our next family concert will be full of magic and mystery as we perform excerpts from Lord of the Rings, Beauty and the Beast, as well as tell you the story of The Firebird. We will have David Leonard in attendance as our narrator. Come and join us to hear musical stories and legends of old!

Tuesday 20 January 2009

The next concert approaches

We are looking forward to the next family concert, which is going to be on Saturday February 7th at 11am. Magical toys, spinning tops, beautiful dolls and a dramatic game of chess are all to be found in this lively concert of Toy Stories. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker and Delibes Coppelia are also featured in this programme in which you can try and discover the magic of the Secret Toy Shop. Top Harpist Sally Pryce will also be performing Debussy's mesmerising music of Danse Profane.

We hope you can join us there!