Worthing Symphony Orchestra - bold programming key to success - video Dailymotion

SussexWorld

Worthing Symphony Orchestra finds itself in a strong position as it looks forward to its next concert on Sunday, November 12 at 2.45pm when acclaimed violinist Simon Zhu will be the soloist.

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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Now, it's

00:06 lovely to be speaking to John Gibbons. Worthing Symphony Orchestra are going to be offering

00:10 a programme with Sibelius, Vernon Stevens and Dvorak in the Assembly Room on Sunday,

00:15 November 12th at 2.45pm. And John, as ever, who else, you will be conducting. Now this

00:21 is your 25th anniversary season with the Orchestra, and goodness, there have been some fantastic

00:27 achievements, but top of those achievements, you were suggesting, was simply to still be

00:31 here.

00:32 Yeah, absolutely.

00:33 What a blessing.

00:34 And I think it's recognised increasingly across the country that for us still to be going

00:43 is quite an achievement when you consider all the threats to BBC orchestras, a lot of

00:49 debate about cutting back in English National Opera, Northern Ballet taking out their orchestra

00:55 for touring and everything. It's great that we're able to still continue and produce concerts

01:01 in the Assembly Room.

01:02 How do you explain that, the fact that you are still here?

01:05 I think there's a bit of luck. The luck is that we have one of the greatest concert halls

01:10 in Europe for acoustics. BBC, I've told this story before, but BBC Radio 2 Sound Engineers,

01:17 it was their favourite venue, because they only had to check the mic was working, single

01:21 mic in the middle of the hall, and they were being paid eight hours for a rig, and it took

01:25 half an hour to check the mic. And then what do you do with seven and a half hours if you're

01:28 down in Worthing and there's a pub next door?

01:30 But also, Keith, there's a sense that you're bold in the programming, aren't you?

01:37 Yeah, I think a lot of people always said to me, oh, Worthing, you'll just programme

01:42 standard stuff. And I always think to people, no, that's the last thing you do. The people

01:48 who are coming to the concerts, yes, they might have heard Brahms' first symphony conducted

01:51 by Bolt, Clempura, Toscanini, who knows the greats? And we will do that. We finished the

01:58 season with Brahms' first symphony. But the opportunity to explore things and to do Malcolm

02:03 Arnold's sixth symphony, and on Sunday the 12th, we've got the last movement of Bernard

02:09 Stevens, Symphony of Liberation, which is a real rarity, the piece that won a prize

02:14 for the piece to celebrate the end of the Second World War.

02:17 And you have a fabulous sounding violinist coming.

02:21 Yeah, Simon Zou continues this tradition that we've had of being able to attract young soloists

02:28 at the start of their career. Most memorably, we've had Nicola Benedetti, we've had Sheku

02:33 Canemason, Jess Gillum, all BBC young musicians. We had an amazing violinist just before lockdown,

02:40 Johan de Laarne, who played the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. It was our last concert before

02:44 lockdown. And in the three, four years since then, he's gone on to international acclaim.

02:51 His recordings of Nielsen Violin Concerto has just been raved about all over the world

02:56 as the best recording ever, playing at the Proms and everything.

02:59 You can safely say that playing with the orchestra is an essential step towards superstardom,

03:04 isn't it?

03:05 Yeah, and I think actually we've actually been... Well, I know that all three of the

03:11 ones, all of the ones I've mentioned before will say that their time with Worthing Symphony

03:16 Orchestra was essential in their development. We have the advantage that London critics

03:22 won't come down to Worthing because you have to come down to Brighton and then turn right.

03:26 So that's a bit too much for a critic to come down. So it's a relatively safe venue to come

03:32 down and try out repertoire. You've got a really good professional orchestra and a really

03:38 great acoustic to work in. So all the factors for young performers coming through, developing

03:42 their art and everything are great. And I love it. I love the energy.

03:47 So despite the pandemic, despite all the difficulties, the challenge of finding the funding, you

03:53 in a 25th anniversary season are in a good place.

03:57 Oh yeah, absolutely. And driving onwards, we've got a good supporters base. We've got

04:02 over 200 season ticket holders. That's a really nice thing to always know that you've got

04:07 that sort of level of thing. And I think there's always more people moving into the area who

04:13 are discovering us and going, wow, why did I not know about this orchestra? But there's

04:18 so much out there, it's very hard to cut through all the social media to let people know that

04:25 we exist and everything. But we're very proud of what we do.

04:28 Brilliant. And the next chance to see you then, Worthing Assembly Hall, Sunday, November

04:33 12th, 2.45pm. Brilliant. Well, lovely to speak to you again, John. Thank you for your time.

04:40 Thank you very much.

04:41 Good luck with everything. Thank you.

04:42 Thank you.

04:42 - Cheers, thank you.

04:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Worthing Symphony Orchestra - bold programming key to success

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