Saturday June 14th 2014 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Dvorak – Carnival Overture, op.92
Gregson – Tuba Comcerto
Elgar – Symphony No. 2
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist Tom Francombe
Saturday March 8th 2014 – St. James Church, Taunton
Saint-Saens – Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah
Breeze – Pluto’s Song (first performance)
Weber – Clarinet Concerto
Holst – The Planets
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist Nick White
Saturday December 14th 2013 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Elgar – Serenade for Strings
Dvorak – Serenade for Strings
Finzi – Elegy for Solo Violin and Strings
Finzi – Prelude
Ireland – Merry Andrew
Grainger – Shepherd’s Hey
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist – Alex Ennis
Saturday October 19th 2013 – Queen’s College, Taunton- 7.30pm
Cimarosa – Overture to ‘The Secret Marriage’
Shostakovich – Piano Concerto No.2
Rachmaninov – Symphony No. 1
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist – Weng Soon Tee
Saturday June 15th 2013 – St James Church, Taunton
Beethoven – Symphony no 1
Elgar – Romance for bassoon and orchestra
Tim Watts – Windflower (first performance)
Brahms – Symphony no 4
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist – Shelly Organ
Saturday March 9th 2013 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Beethoven – Leonora Overture no 3
Walton – Cello concerto
Brahms – symphony no 1
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist Tim Lowe
Saturday October 13th 2012 – Queens College, Taunton
Haydn – Symphony no 101
Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn
Vaughan Williams – Norfolk Rhapsody
Beethoven – Symphony no 4
Conductor – David Hedges
Saturday June 16th 2012 – St James Church, Taunton
Debussy – L’apres midi d’un faun
Mozart – Symphony Concertante
Walton – Symphony no 1
Conductor – David Hedges Soloists – Alistair Smith, Julie Payne, Martin Gatt, David Mackenzie
Saturday March 10th 2012 – St James Church, Taunton
Elgar – In the South
Stravinsky – Symphonies of wind instruments (1940 version)
Berlioz – Symphony Fantastique
Conductor – David Hedges
Saturday November 12th 2011 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet Overture
Canteloube – Chants d’Auvergne
Berlioz – Les nuits d’ete
Saint-Saens – Symphony no 3
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist Lorna Anderson
Saturday May 21st 2011 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Mozart – Don Giovanni Overture
Ney Rosauro – Concerto no 1 for marimba and string orchestra
Saint-Saens – Danse Macabre
Schubert – Symphony no 5
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist Matt Thurtell
Saturday March 5th 2011 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Wagner – The Flying Dutchman Overture
Arutiunian – Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra
Tchaikovsky – Symphony no 5
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist Stuart Paul
Saturday November 13th 2010 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Butterworth – A Shropshire Lad
Schumann – Cello Concerto in A minor
Sibelius – Symphony no 2
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist Tim Lowe
Saturday May 22nd 2010 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Mendelssohn – Overture A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Mozart – Violin Concerto no 3
Mozart – Symphony no 41
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist Sophie Lang
Saturday March 6th 2010 – St James Church, Taunton
Smetana – Symphonic Poem Richard III
Richard Strauss – Oboe Concerto
Mahler – Symphony no 1
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist Holly Randall
Saturday November 14th 2009 – Queens College, Taunton
Tchaikovsky – Hamlet Fantasy Overture
Guilmant – Symphony no 1 for Organ and Orchestra
Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist – Simon Bell
Saturday June 13th 2009 – St James Church, Taunton
Shostakovitch – Jazz Suite no 2
Tippet – Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Vaughan Williams – Symphony no 6
Conductor – David Hedges
Saturday March 7th 2009 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Sibelius – Finlandia
Beethoven – Violin Concerto in D major
Vaughan Williams – Symphony no 5
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist – Rustom Pomeroy
Saturday November 15th 2008 – Queen’s College, Taunton
Rossini – Barber of Seville Overture
Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto no 1
Vaughan Williams – Symphony no 4
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist – Elizabeth Hayley
Review
Somerset County Orchestra made a very impressive start to their season, earning rapturous and well deserved applause from a large audience.
Opening with sweet and airy playing in Rossini’s Overture to the Barber of Seville, the players then got down to some serious work with an exciting performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no 1.
Conductor David Hedges established a good rapport with his team right from the start, allowing the music to unfold in all its varied glory.
Pianist Elizabeth Hayley has really got the measure of this demanding work, and gave a powerful and impressive performance. Strong or delicate, intense or relaxed, her playing was always emotionally in tune with the complex musical structure.
Tempi in the second movement were very effectively controlled, and the players had a really confident sound in the dramatic final movement. The strings in particular produced a beautifully cohesive tone.
There were patches of spreading intonation from time to time but David Hedges held everything together to a triumphant finale.
After the interval, a performance of Vaughan Williams Fourth Symphony really tested the players, and they rose ably to the challenge. From the violent opening dissonances we knew were very far from the pastoral harmonies often associated with this composer. David’s informative pre-concert talk had given us some background but nothing prepared the audience for the sheer scale of the work.
All the sections of the orchestra showed to their best effect, with some impressive solo passages from flute and other woodwind sections. Complicated rhythms were played lightly and freely, and dynamic variations were very effectively controlled.
The orchestra is to be congratulated on an ambitious programme, very successfully performed. This is intelligent music making of a very high order indeed. Sue Goodman
Saturday June 7th 2008 – St James Church, Taunton
Wagner – Meistersingers Overture
Respighi – Fountains of Rome
Sibelius – Valse Trists
Sibelius – Symphony no 1
Conductor – Stephen Bell
Saturday March 8th 2008 – St James Church, Taunton
Richard Strauss – Till Eulenspiegel
Weber – Bassoon Concerto
Borodin – Symphony no 2
Conductor – David Hedges Soloist – Shelly Organ
Saturday March 10th 2007 – St James Church, Taunton
Berlioz – Roman Carnival Overture
Enesco – Rumanian Rhapsody
Mahler – Symphony no 5
Conductor – David Hedges
Saturday June 17th 2006 – St James Church, Taunton
Brahms – Tragic Overture
Haydn – Cello Concerto
Mozart – Exsultate Jubilate
Dvorak – Symphony no 6
Conductor – Duncan Emerson Soloists – Kate Ayres and Rhiannon Llewellyn