Final year musician Beth Fuller-Teed recently led the RWCMD Symphony Orchestra when it performed Borodin and Stravinsky at St David’s Hall. Here’s her blog post about the experience.
Firebird was actually one of the first pieces I ever covered with RWCMD, in two repertoire sessions held in St Teilo’s church in 2010 (where we used to rehearse before the new facilities were built). It was a very different experience: sitting at the back of 2nd violins, probably a bag of sweets hidden under my chair, desperately wondering what jeté meant, and how on earth I was meant to achieve it! It was very rewarding seeing how my playing has developed since then.
This was actually the second time I have performed Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances in St David’s Hall, so this was a less daunting experience than it could have been, although again, a very different situation. Last time I performed it was for a professional gig so we basically got handed the parts and were expected to play it no problems, so it was nice when doing it with our Symphony Orchestra to look at parts in a little more detail.
The Overture to Prince Igor was a great part of the evening – I think the string section managed to achieve such a rich, Russian sound which obviously developed across the week – evidence of good rehearsals and hard work on everyone’s behalf. I didn’t know this very well before the project, which I think gave it a freshness that was appealing to all the orchestra and audience.
I’ve done some leading in college – Badinerie (since I’m a 2nd study baroque violinist) as well as the Concert Orchestra’s Bond at 50 concert under conductor Julian Bigg – but nothing anywhere near as daunting as Symphony Orchestra! I think Simon Jones (Head of String Performance) knew that I was keen to lead the orchestra at some point, and I was given a choice to rehearse with BBC National Orchestra of Wales for Mahler 9 or take on college’s orchestra. I would have loved to do both but for me the Russian programme just tipped the scales!
The day of the concert was a busy one so there was not much time to feel nervous until right before taking my leader’s entry, which was when the nerves really hit me, especially since I could see how full the hall was!
I thought the concert was a huge success – evident by the applause we received. I’ve never been so utterly exhausted after such a short concert, but I loved every minute and I felt really proud to be a part of such a hardworking, dynamic group of musicians.
Share on Twitter
Share on Facebook