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STOP
PRESS
New Harmonie has received another grant from the D'Oyly
Carte Charitable Trust. The generosity of the Trustees
now means that the quintet tour -'From Tin Pan Alley
to Abbey Road ' can continue for eight more Sussex
venues. These concerts tell the story of popular music
from the 1890s including Vaudeville , Vaudeville,
Ragtime, Jazz, Swing, Gershwin, Broadway to the 1960s
music of the Beatles. |
New
Harmonie
Sarah
Williams oboe; Liz
Burtenshaw flute; Sue
Bellamy bassoon; Annie
Barnard horn;Geoffrey
Richardson clarinet;
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PRESS
.............NEW WIND PLAYERS WANTED.... WITHIN NEW HARMONIE
THERE ARE SEVERAL SMALL GROUPS ....QUINTETS,QUARTETS,TRIOS.....
WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEW TALENTED (AT LEAST GRADE
8) PLAYERS - FLUTE, OBOE, CLARINET, BASSOON, HORN .....
INFORMAL REHEARSALS, LARGE LIBRARY ..... MEET ONCE EVERY
SIX-EIGHT WEEKS .......IF INTERESTED PHONE GEOFFREY RICHARDSON
01403 242429
CONCERTS
FOR 2011
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PRESS ...
New Harmonie has been awarded grants by Awards for All,
Jessie's Fund and the Beaufort House Trust to run music
drama workshops in three Sussex Special Schools - Ingfield
Manor, Billingshurst, Queen Elizabeth 2 Silver Jubilee
School, Horsham and Newick House, Burgess Hill. The children,
staff and players will create the story with music to
depict 'The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games'
Newick House School
“THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES”
On
July 13th, children from Year 7 and Glow Worms classes
at Newick House School Burgess Hill performed a music/drama
workshop in front of parents and friends with the help
of school staff and five players from Horsham-based New
Harmonie. The project was made possible by successful
grant applications by New Harmonie to The Big Lottery,
Jessie’s Fund and The Beaufort House Trust.
A music drama workshop starts with an idea and a set of
possibilities. Children, staff and players work together
to develop this so that it can be performed in front of
parents, friends and other children. The story started
in a music shop in Burgess Hill with an unhappy shopkeeper
who couldn’t sell his instruments. A Bandleader
came into the shop and bought five instruments (flute,
oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn) to provide the
music for the Opening Ceremony. Dr Liz Lane composed the
Olympic Fanfare, the Olympic March and music from different
countries to accompany the grand display. The children
acted out the story, dressed up, accompanied some of the
music with percussion instruments and helped to create
the props.
Dr Geoffrey Richardson who leads New Harmonie said “It
has been a real privilege for all of us to work with the
children. They have responded to the very considerable
challenge over six weeks with great enthusiasm and worked
so hard to produce this little pageant. We have had wonderful
support from staff. We could not have succeeded without
their enthusiasm, commitment and hard work. The grants
made it possible to bring five professional musicians
into school at a time when school budgets would not have
allowed this to happen. We look forward to taking the
project into Queen Elizabeth 2 Silver Jubilee School Horsham
and Ingfield Manor Billingshurst”.
Jane Worthington who led the staff team said “The
children thoroughly enjoyed the workshops and were very
enthusiastic throughout the 6 weekly sessions. It was
a fantastic opportunity for all the children to participate.”
PRESS
RELEASE
The Golden Age of Popular song and dance
The 1920s to 1940s was a time when the Big Bands were
in vogue playing the new swing music to which people danced
to forget the trauma of the first world war and cope with
the gloom of the depression and second world war. It was
also a time of wonderful songs from Hollywood and Broadway.
Following lots of requests, New Harmonie has commissioned
arrangements of some of this great music for double wind
quintet. The first concert in a Sussex tour was at St
Andrews Church Nuthurst in February and was a great success.
A second performance will be at Billingshurst Village
Hall on Sunday May 22nd.
Geoff Richardson who leads New Harmonie said “This
concert series follows a very successful quintet tour
of seventeen Sussex venues with our show in words and
music. “From Tin Pan Alley to Abbey Road ”.
Now we have the much fuller sound of ten instruments –
flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns with music
by Gershwin, Berlin, Kern, Porter and old favourites made
popular by the Glen Miller and Billy May orchestras. A
delightful Sunday afternoon entertainment for young and
old”.
David
Stockwell who is the Arts and Entertainment Officer, Billingshurst
Village Hall Committee and promoting the event said “
We are delighted to welcome New Harmonie back to our Village
Hall. Last time we had Mozart's magnificent Gran Partita
for 13 winds and before that the decet played a mixture
of classical and modern music. This time it is completely
different with a focus on swing and the great evergreen
songs of the first half of the 20th century"
New Harmonie is supported by West Sussex Arts Partnership.
Tickets £ 8 Concessions £7 Book at the Hall
or Telephone 01403 7876907.
We
have also added new music clips from the Quintet Concert
held on 27th March 2010 at St John's Church, Felbridge
click
here for details and downloads >>
PRESS
REVIEW – MOZART’S GRAN PARTITA NOVEMBER
19th THE CAPITOL HORSHAM
A
double musical treat was in store for the audience
at Horsham’s Capitol Theatre last Friday evening.
Not only were they able to hear a splendid performance
of Mozart’s Serenade for Thirteen Wind (also
known more simply as the Gran Partita) by the talented
local wind ensemble New Harmonie but also, during
the first half of the Horsham Music Circle’s
evening, they were given a lively and informative
introduction to the work by the distinguished pianist,
Margaret Lynn. She not only described each movement
in some detail with illustrative excerpts played
by the ensemble but she also related a lot of interesting
detail concerning the original players for whom
Mozart wrote this masterpiece, perhaps the most
ambitious work ever written for a wind ensemble
in terms of its scale and variety. New Harmonie
more than did justice to the complexity of the writing
with admirable articulation in the fast movements
and delightful subtlety of phrasing in the more
lyrical passages, particularly in the glorious Adagio
third movement. With a group this large, there is
sometimes a tendency for the ensemble to get a bit
shaky but New Harmonie largely managed to avoid
such pitfalls and turned in a performance which
amply displayed their considerable musicianship
to the full.
Chris Walker
The full 13 piece ensemble
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PRESS
REVIEW “A SMUGGLER’S TALE” – MUSIC
DRAMA WORKSHOPS WITH HORSHAM BROWNIES
Horsham Brownies with New Harmonie on the Smugglers’
Trail
New
Harmonie, with funding from The Ernest Cook Trust, commissioned
Ges Lonsdale to research the Hawkesbury gang’s smuggling
exploits in West Sussex during the 18th century. Ges Lonsdale
created “ A Smuggler’s Tale” in verse
which Ben Pope then set to music for oboe, clarinet and
bassoon with narrator. This piece is the third in a series
of commissions by New Harmonie. The first one was “The
Pied Piper of Hamelin” using the original poem by
Robert Browning and was subsequently used as the basis for
over eighty music/drama workshops in West Sussex primary
schools. This was followed by “St Leonard and the
Dragon of Horsham” researched and written by Ges Lonsdale
and set to music by Ben Pope. New Harmonie took this, as
a music/drama workshop, into more than forty West Sussex
primary schools and ten Horsham Brownie packs after school.
With the current difficulty in raising funds, New Harmonie
has so far only able to run three after school music/drama
workshops in November involving sixty five children from
1st and 8th Horsham, 2nd Broadbridge Heath and 3rd Roffey.
The workshops held at Farlington School were possible with
funding from Gatwick Airport Community Trust and Horsham
District Council.
Dr Geoffrey Richardson who leads New Harmonie said “We
are extremely grateful to the Ernest Cook Trustees who had
the confidence in us to make it possible for New Harmonie
to commission “A Smuggler’s Tale” and
to Gatwick Airport Community Trust and Horsham District
Council for funding these first workshops. Small charitable
arts groups like New Harmonie are finding it extremely difficult
at present to obtain grant funding. The children that took
part learnt something more about their local history, were
fascinated by the three instruments, demonstrated vivid
imaginations, enjoyed the inclusive nature of the workshops
and were successful in putting a dramatisation together
and performing it with music in a very short period of time.
There are other Brownies who would have a wonderful time
dramatising this brand new verse in addition to the twelve
Sussex primary schools that have been waiting so long for
us to succeed in raising the necessary funds”
Sylvia Smith who is County President Sussex Central
Girl Guides said “I am very pleased that this
project has gone ahead though sorry more Brownies cannot
take part. Such activities are so creative, enjoyable and
help to give the Brownies confidence meeting and working
with other people”.
CONTINUING
OUR WORK IN RESIDENTIAL/NURSING HOMES AND DAY CARE CENTRES
Grants have been received from the Garfield Weston Foundation
and Barchester Health Care Trust to continue our music with
exercise, singing and relaxation workshops into 2011. A
quintet ran a workshop at Maidenbower Day Care centre on
January 17th and another one at Methold House Worthing on
23rd March. A quartet ran music/exercise/singing workshops
at Red Oaks Henfield (March 7th), Tandridge Heights Oxted
(14th March) and will be at
Epsom Beaumont on 18th May.
A
quartet (flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon) has now run
over 50 live music workshops with exercise/singing in 23
Sussex residential/nursing homes and day care centres, supported
21 Falls Clinics in Horsham Hospital and 3 Clinics in the
Cardiac Rehabilitation unit of Crawley hospital.
“New
Harmonie Quartet: left to right
Geoffrey Richardson (clarinet); Rachel Wright (flute)
Sue Bellamy (bassoon) ; Sarah Williams (oboe)
BACKGROUND
TO NEW HARMONIE
The
Horsham Wind Quintet was formed in 1996 and gave
concerts in village halls and churches in the
West Sussex. In 1998, the ensemble was enlarged
to a decet (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2
bassoons and 2 horns) and was set up as a non-profit
making company, limited by guarantee and trading
under the name ''New Harmonie''. In March 2007, New
Harmonie became a registered Charity.
Since 1999, New Harmonie has given on average
three decet concerts each year and since 1999
these have been under the banner “Something
old, something new”. From 2011, a new concert
programme will be available - "The Golden
Age of Popular songs and dance" with specially
commissioned arrangements we will play the popular
dance band music of the 20s, 30s and 40s.
If requested the “Something old, something
new” concert programme is still available
to include something from the wind classical repertoire,
medleys from the shows, specially commissioned
arrangements, popular with children, of “Peter
and the Wolf” and “Hansel and Gretel”
(with narration by the players), and swing by
Glen Miller and Duke Ellington. The group tours
village halls and churches mainly in West Sussex
supported by the West Sussex Arts Partnership.
The village community promotes the concerts, the
partnership mitigates the financial risk and,
with a good audience, the village can retain some
of the ticket sale proceeds.
Interested venues should contact New Harmonie
to learn more.
Within New Harmonie, there are also an octet,
sextet (with piano), two quintets, three quartets
and trios. These groups meet informally to work
on projects which require them to perform in a
variety of settings. New Harmonie has given concerts,
entertainments and workshops:
- in
village halls, such as in 2005 the 12 entertainments
relating the story of World War Two in words and
music and from 2008-10 the tour of 17 Sussex venues
with "From Tin Pan Alley to Abbey Road";
- in
main stream rural junior schools (and after-school
with Brownie packs) where over 120 music drama
workshops have been run, based on specially commissioned
pieces for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and narrator
- “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” and
“St Leonard and the Dragon of Horsham”;
a new project "A Smugglers Tale" about
Sussex Smugglers has been commissioned - we are
currently trying to raise funds to take it into
schools and run out of school workshops with packs
of Horsham Brownies - to date we havec run three.
-
in
Special schools where trios and quartets have
run music/drama workshops based on “Animal
Magic”, “The Grand Ball”,
“Minibeasts” and “The Circus”;
- in
residential homes and day care centres where quartets
have run music with exercise/singing/relaxation
workshops in 23 residential/nursing homes and
day care centres and in one recent project working
with residents to produce their own CD for use
in regular sessions when New Harmonie is not there;
-
at
outdoor village community tea parties as part
of fund raising efforts for worthwhile local
causes; and
- in
hospitals with medical staff running 21 Falls
Clinics and 3 Cardiac Rehabilitation Classes where
live music and the interaction with players provide
a new dimension to the therapy and help recovery.
New Harmonie tries to raise funds from trusts,
foundations, The Arts Council, The Lottery, local
authorities and private companies, all of which
supports its varied programme of work and the
great bulk of which has gone back into musical/drama
activities in communities and schools, mainly
in West Sussex reducing the cost of the group
to those venues
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New
Harmonie
has an Equal Opportunities policy, the only criterion
for joining
New
Harmonie
being musical ability and the existence of a vacancy
For further information and bookings please contact
Dr Geoffrey Richardson
01403 242429 (g.a.richardson@btinternet.com)
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