Come and sing Beethoven 9

On 22 May, the Leamington Sinfonia will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the arrival of our Musical Director, Jenny Barrie. To mark this occasion, we will be holding a workshop day at Kingsley School focusing on Beethoven's 9th symphony. We will then put on a concert at the end of the day for the public, to demonstrate the fruits of the day's labours.

For this we need a choir, which we would like to comprise of friends, family and enthusiastic amateurs. All we ask is a £5 contribution per singer to help cover the venue/music hire. The orchestra will be taking lunch at the “Orient Star”, where you are more than welcome to join us.

If you would like to join us to sing, please get in touch with the secretary via the contact form to let us know, remembering to include the part you would like to sing (soprano, alto, tenor or bass) and contact details, to help us ensure the correct balance of voices.

Easter tour to Tuscany

On Saturday 27th March there will be a fundraising lunch at Wilmcote Village Hall to support the forthcoming tour to Tuscany. Members of the orchestra will spend the morning rehearsing the tour music, and then you are warmly invited to join them for lunch at 12.30 pm, with a short concert first. Tickets cost £7.50 (please feel free to bring a bottle of wine or other tipple of your choice!!) If you would like to join us please ask a member of the orchestra or e-mail stuartchamberlain77@hotmail.co.uk for further details.

At the car wash!

On Saturday, 26th September 2009, some members of the orchestra spent the morning washing the cars of Wilmcote residents and other orchestra members, whilst the drivers enjoyed a cup of tea and a cake sale.

As you can see in the photos, the weather conditions were perfect those concerned established an industrious line of work, washing, drying and vacuuming! Some of our newer members, Pippa and Klara, proved they were a dab hand with a bucket and sponge, ably assisted by Sarah, Mike and Rachel. John’s impromptu plumbing of a hosepipe also saved many trips with a watering can. The tea shop, cake sale and raffle were manned by Jenny, Philippa and Karin.

The event, which also included a raffle, raised nearly £150 for the orchestra. A big thanks to those members who helped out or supported us by bringing their cars for a spruce-up!

Stuart Chamberlain, Leamington Sinfonia Chairman

Leamington Sinfonia puts on “Last night of the Proms”

Leamington Sinfonia were asked to perform at Wroxall Abbey again recently. On Friday, 11th September 2009, the orchestra played some of the pieces traditionally associated with the final concert in the BBC Proms series. Richard Monnington joined us to sing excerpts from Henry Wood's Fantasia of British Sea Songs and was enthusiastically assisted by the audience for "Rule Britannia".

This was followed by Parry’s "Jerusalem" and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No.1, to which the audience were again invited to join Richard Monnington in singing "Land of Hope and Glory". Many of the attendees were very complimentary in the bar afterwards as some of the orchestra stayed afterwards for a well-earned drink!