What’s the ethos of the orchestra? What sets you apart from other ensembles?
The name of our orchestra – ‘Creation’ – links to an idea that we want to keep creating opportunities for young professionals in much the same way that Sinfonia Smith Square does. Our year in the orchestra was fantastic, and what it does is essential and invaluable, but we all wished that we could’ve had more time doing it! We’ve taken huge steps, but many of us are still young professionals who are perhaps not as busy as we would like to be. With this orchestra, we want to keep giving people opportunities, keep programming exciting music, and keep having fun as friends and as colleagues.
Were there any experiences in your year at Sinfonia Smith Square that have helped you in this project – both as a player and a conductor?
It was crucial to experience a professional orchestral working life, and all the parts that come with that – particularly in terms of working with management, working to schedules, and working with different conductors. Those are all things that we simply could not have internalised and experienced without the Sinfonia, and they’ve been hugely useful in preparing this orchestra. I especially found working with varied conductors – as a player – very helpful for developing myself as a conductor; I was able to take something different from each one. Looking back, I (and many of my colleagues) found that the conductors who were able to get the most out of us as an ensemble were those who were willing to try things out, take risks, explore, and be ambitious in how they worked with us. We didn’t mind being worked hard when we were all excited about what we were creating together – that’s been an amazing template to work from.
Why did you choose to perform Haydn’s Creation for your first concert as an orchestra?
To be absolutely honest, it’s partly because it’s my favourite piece in the world – I absolutely love it, and I just think it’s this perfect combination of an imaginative, compelling story and masterful storytelling. Haydn finds so many exciting ways to paint with sound and music. There’s a moment in which the text describes “beasts with heavy trod”, which Haydn depicts by having the bassoons and contrabassoons playing their lowest notes, creating this rude, heavy, boisterous sound, and it’s moments like these, where Haydn puts these fantastic ideas to music, that show his absolute mastery. I think the whole piece is a masterwork – it’s so alive with colour and vigour and excitement.
As a side note, I recently realised that the first professional concert I ever did in London was as a chorister, performing Haydn’s Creation, in Smith Square Hall, which I wasn’t initially aware of when deciding to perform this, but it’s a fantastic full-circle moment!
I also wanted to work with my choir – the Campanile Chamber Choir – a choir for people who have sung professionally, but now want to continue their practice whilst accommodating for the constraints and hurdles of working life. We work at a very high standard, but don’t impose strict time restrictions on our members – that’s our purpose. So I thought a piece like this would be a great opportunity to get us together – I also love music that incorporates both choir and orchestra.
