New Harmonie will perform Mozart’s Serenade for 13 winds (Gran Partita) at The Capital Horsham as part of Horsham Music Circle’s Season at 7.30pm on Friday 19th November 2010 (note over a year’s advance notice!)

New Harmonie first performed this jewel in the crown of Mozart’s wind music, displaying his brilliance in writing for wind instruments, on October 15th 2006 in Billingshurst Village Hall in celebration of the composer’s 250th anniversary year.
The piece is written for two oboes, two clarinets, two basset-horns (now obsolete members of the clarinet family), two bassoons, four horns and a double bass. Dr Margaret Lynn will talk to the audience about the piece with the help of musical illustrations from New Harmonie and then the complete work will be performed.
Extracts from the 2006 performance can be heard by using the link on this site.

 


"Courtesy Mark Dean"

STOP PRESS …… Saturday October 9th (7.30pm St Peter’s Church Slinfold) and Saturday October 16th (7.30pm St Mary’s Church Slaugham) concerts numbers 16 and 17 in a quintet tour telling the story in words and music of popular music from the 1890s to the 1960s ….. Vaudeville, Ragtime, Jazz, Swing, Gershwin, Broadway and the Beatles … with funding from the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

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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 >>

STOP PRESS … … Friday November 19th 2010 7.30 Capitol Horsham
NEW HARMONIE - W.A.MOZART SERENADE in Bflat K361 (Gran Partita)

Sarah Williams, David Hollingum oboes
Geoffrey Richardson Bridget Wilcox clarinets
Andrew Meredith, Susan Moss basset horns
Sue Bellamy, Heather Lawrence bassoons
Annie Barnard, Richard Gamlen, Peter Lewis, Stephen Caldicott horns
Dick Hammett double bass
Margaret Lynn presenter

At the invitation of Horsham Music Circle, an augmented group will perform the Gran Partita regarded by many as the jewel in the crown of Mozart’s wind music. “Magnificent and grand, excellent and sublime” was how a critic in 1784 described this piece. The performance will be preceded by a talk given by Dr Margaret Lynn on some of the unusual aspects of the work with musical illustrations by New Harmonie. Additional funding for the concert is being provided by The John Wates Foundation


New Harmonie Decet

STOP PRESS ….. Sunday 6th February 2011 3.00pm Mannings Heath Village Hall ….. brand new concert programme - "The Golden Age of Popular songs and dance" with specially commissioned arrangements we will play the popular dance band music of the 20's, 30's and 40's.

Review of New Harmonie Concert – 8 February 2009
“From Tin Pan Alley to Abbey Road” – Victory Hall, Balcombe, 8 February

They’ve done it again! A couple of years ago I attended a thoroughly convincing “entertainment” by the New Harmonie Wind Quintet in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, in which a pot-pourri of popular light music of the period was stitched together with a narrative recalling significant events and nostalgic memories of daily life.

The concert I attended last Sunday followed the same format and, to my mind, was equally successful. This time the subject was the development of popular music from the 1890s to the 1960s. Playing to a full house, New Harmonie regaled us with a string of “standards” that took us from the era of vaudeville through ragtime, jazz, swing and Broadway up to the Beatles. An informative narrative presented by two of the players set the scene as the programme proceeded.

This type of concert is highly effective and creates a rapport between the audience and the musicians. The ensemble - Liz Burtenshaw (flute); Sarah Williams (oboe); Geoffrey Richardson (clarinet); Sue Bellamy (bassoon) and Richard Gamlen (horn) – played with style and enthusiasm. I understand that the programme will be repeated at a number of West Sussex venues and I strongly recommend anyone interested to go along – I note from their colourful flier that the dates and venues are on their website (www.newharmonie.org.uk)

George Gibson


HARTING VILLAGE HALL February 7th 2010

A friend told me about New Harmonie. She had been to a quintet concert by New Harmonie in Harting Village Hall in 2009 and thought it was wonderful. I went on their web site and was very impressed by the clips of their music and all the work the group does in schools, residential homes and hospitals. A friend and I decided to go to this latest concert by the full group. I was so pleased that I did. The group offered a varied programme. Peter and the Wolf in words and music and a new commission The Young Person's Guide to the Wind Ensemble were both appreciated by the considerable number of children in the audience. A bit of the classics, suite from Merry Widow, swing - something for everybody. It is quite an experience to hear the wind section of an orchestra on its own without brass and strings. And how do they do it without a conductor? Quite a few of the arrangements were by John Newhill who died recently and New Harmonie dedicated the concert to his memory.
Gillian Jones


“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 the twelve entertainments relating the story of World War Two in words and music in 2005 and "From Tin Pan Alley to Abbey Road" in 2009;
  • in main stream rural junior schools (and after-school with Brownie packs) where over 90 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. We will be running workshops with Brownies in the autumn 2010
  • 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 performed for the residents’ relaxation, exercise and singing, 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 Falls Clinics and 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


New Harmonie Quintet


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)

 

New Harmonie is incorporated in England and Wales with Registered Number 4142408.
Registered office: 12, Tennyson Close, Horsham RH12 5PN. The liability of the company is limited.
New Harmonie is a Registered Charity Number 1118410