CHRISTOPHER Stark, Minehead and Exmoor Music Festival’s new conductor, was met with rapturous applause at the first of the festival’s three orchestral concerts in Minehead’s Regal Theatre this week.
The audience took him immediately to their hearts as he danced them through a varied and lively programme, his feet nearly leaving the podium during some of the livelier sections of Rameau’s Suite from Les Boréades.
Virtuoso violinist Callum Smart, on his third festival appearance, wowed the audience with musical Olympics in the outer movements of Mozart’s 4th Violin Concerto, contrasting exquisitely with the serene lyricism of the slow movement.
And as the concert closed with Mendelssohn’s 4th symphony, the audience erupted into cheers and whistles.
And it’s not only the audience who love this festival: the orchestra members are hugely committed to it as well – so much so that in the case of double bass player Robin Major, this is his honeymoon, with new wife Emma looking on from the audience!
At the time of writing, the second orchestral concert and a chamber concert in the Methodist church were still to come, but there is still a chance of tickets for the final concert this Saturday (July 27) featuring pianist Jill Morton with Ravel’s jazzy piano concerto, Tchaikovsky’s wonderful 4th symphony and Stokowski’s orchestral arrangement of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, best known for its use on the organ as film music for the 1932 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the original 1962 Phantom of the Opera! For tickets go to the Regal Theatre, Minehead – online, by phone or in person.
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