News Summary

This is a summary of older news items for this web site, with links to more details further down the page or elsewhere on the site.  Note that some old links on this page may no longer work, or may no longer be active. 

11th December 2009	Our Chairman Tony Gutteridge will be making the bookings on Monday next (14 December) for the Opera trip to the Coliseum on 22nd March to see/hear Katya Kabanova conducted by Mark Wigglesworth (Bursary Holder 1988-89) as mentioned in the November Newsletter and he believes that there are still some requests for seats that he hasn’t received.  He needs a few more reservations in order for us all to qualify for a whopping 30% reduction on the ticket prices which range from £78 (gross) to £16 – and we do not have to choose just one price or all sit together!  Please leave him a message by telephone: 023 9247 4681; or e-mail: acg@waitrose.com by Sunday so that he can call the Coliseum early on Monday.  It would also be useful for him to know if you would like to take part in Pauline s proposed study session so that a suitable venue can be arranged.
11th December 2009	We now have more details about the Afternoon of Music which the Friends of the Orchestras are presenting at the Newtown House Hotel, Hayling Island on Sunday 24 January, as mentioned in the November Newsletter.  Becky Hill is providing the music and artists and plans to begin with her own Nadina String Quartet playing a selection of Mozart’s chamber music including Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.  Then after a short interval the tone will be more varied - from ‘Bach to the Beatles’ with music from the Baroque period to the present day, including the chance for you to choose some of the programme.  She will also be introducing some young and talented instrumentalists and singers. It should be a very interesting and friendly occasion with an opportunity to talk afterwards when refreshments will be served.  Tickets are £8.00 or £6.00 if you are a Friend of the Orchestras - see the November Newsletter for how to obtain them.
22nd November 2009	Ben Baker, the violin soloist for our concert on Saturday 28th November, will be bringing some copies of his 2 CDs for sale at the concert.  For details, see “Ben Baker CDs” below.
21st November 2009	We congratulate our Musical Director, Peter Craddock, who received the Special Achievement Award at the Portsmouth News ‘Guide Awards’ on Monday, 16th November 2009.  If you follow the preceding link to the Portsmouth News site, there is a video of the awards event.  The Special Achievement Award presentation is near the end, starting at about 1:41:55.
21st November 2009	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for November 2009 is now available.
14th November 2009	Due to unforeseen circumstances the original soloist for our 28th November 2009 concert is not available and after a concentrated search his replacement will be the very young violinist Ben Baker who was born in New Zealand just 19 years ago.  He came to England with his family after winning a scholarship to the Yehudi Menuhin School when he was eight years old and is now a student at the Royal College of Music.  Ben has already performed concertos by Mendelssohn, Bruch, Mozart, Vivaldi and Vaughan Williams and his debut CD Arcadian Strings was awarded Classic FM’s ‘Next Big Thing’ prize in 2006.
6th November 2009	Players please note that the rehearsal originally scheduled for 8th January 2010 (the first rehearsal for the March concert) has now been moved to 4th December 2009 to allow another organization to use St Faith’s Hall on the original date.  The rehearsal schedule has been updated accordingly.  As the new date is now the last rehearsal before Christmas, mince pies will be provided!
3rd October 2009	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for October 2009 is now available.
15th August 2009	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for September 2009 is now available, with details about the conductor and soloist for the September concert.
15th August 2009	The 2009-2010 Bob Harding Bursary has been awarded to Samuel Draper, who will be getting off to a flying start by conducting the Hayling Island concert on 19th September 2009.
19th July 2009	If you haven’t yet decided what to do in the first week of August, the Music for People Summer School in Yorkshire would welcome more instrumentalists, especially violinists.  For more details visit http://www.m4p.org.uk/summerschool.html.
5th July 2009	The web site has now been updated for the 2009-2010 season.  You can still view the concert details for the previous season via the 2008-2009 link on the concert dates menu.
4th July 2009	We have heard that the computer system at Ferneham Hall is currently not working, which means that their web site is unavailable and they are unable to book tickets via the web site or phone at the moment.  However, they say that they will be using a manual backup system to sell tickets at the door this evening, and there should be plenty, so please buy your tickets at the door!
26th June 2009	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for July 2009 is now available.  This includes the provisional programme for the Hayling Island concert on 19th September 2009.
24th June 2009	Further details about the soloist for our 4th July concert, Alexander Karpeyev, are now available (and linked from the July programme page) including some excerpts of him playing Brahms’ 2nd piano concerto at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Gold Medal Competition in 2008.
16th May 2009	The concert details for the 2009-2010 Season have now been announced and can be viewed on this site.  Also, players may be interested in the rehearsal schedule for the 2009-2010 season, and for forward planning purposes the list of concert dates for the 2010-2011 season.
9th May 2009	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for May 2009 is now available.
22nd April 2009	We are pleased to hear that our conductor Peter Craddock has now had his second hip operation and we wish him a speedy and comfortable recovery.  This means that (as anticipated in the March newsletter) Peter will be out of action for the May concert, but in his place we are happy to welcome back Jason Lai as a guest conductor of the Havant Chamber Orchestra.  HCO players please note that the rehearsal times on Tuesday 5th May and 12th May will now be 15 minutes earlier than usual, from 7:15pm to 9:45pm, in order to help Jason with his travel arrangements; please arrive in time to start promptly at 7:15pm. Our bursary holder Jessica Cottis will also be helping out by conducting HSO rehearsals until Peter is back on his feet.
22nd March 2009	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for March 2009 is now available.
9th March 2009	Information about the Havant Orchestras Hire Library, including the complete library catalogue, has now been added to this web site.
19th February 2009	Members of Havant Chamber Orchestra and their audiences will be sad to learn that Sheelagh Bridgman, principal viola, died on 12th February after a short illness.  A Memorial Service will be held at Holy Trinity Church, Bosham, on Thursday 26th February at 11.30am.  (There is little parking space near the Church - but there is a public car park in the village which incurs a walk.  Further travel/parking details can be accessed from: http://www.achurchnearyou.com/bosham-holy-trinity/)
4th February 2009	This web site now supports a password-protected members’ area containing pages which can only be viewed by suitably authorized people (currently Havant Orchestras players, friends and committee members) by entering a user name and password.  See below for further details.
30th January 2009	The Havant Orchestras Newsletter for February 2009 is now available.
29th January 2009	A list of all works performed by the Havant Orchestras is now available in the new Reference section on this web site.
25th January 2009	Details of the Havant Symphony Orchestra CD have now been moved to a separate page on this web site, where you can now listen to excerpts from the Maurice Blower Symphony in C.
25th January 2009	Various improvements have been made to the web site to improve the presentation and make it easier to navigate, including a second-level link bar for the “About” section.

Ben Baker CDs

22nd November 2009

Ben Baker, the violin soloist for the concert on Saturday 28th November, will be bringing some copies of his 2 CDs for sale at the concert.  They cost £7.00 each or £12.00 for one of each.

CD 1 is an album titled ‘Arcadian Strings’ and Ben’s accompanist is Julian Dyson.  The contents are:

1. Wieniawsky: Polonaise in D
2. Elgar: Salut d'Amour
3. Paganini: Moses Fantasy
4. Williams: Schindler's List
5. Schubert: The Bee
6. Granados, arr. Kreisler: Spanish Dance
7. Wieniawsky: Legende
8. Kreisler: Miniature Viennese March
9. Schubert: Ave Maria
10. Monti: Czardas

Ben sells this CD to raise money for sponsored children in Ghana (World Vision) and HIV orphanages in Eastern Europe (Children in Distress).

CD 2 is a Live performance in The Menuhin Hall and Ben’s accompanists are Susanna Kim, Ayaka Shigeno and Julian Dyson.  The music is:

1. Niccolo Paganini - La Campanella
2. Richard Wagner - Albumblatt
3. Ernest Chausson - Poeme, Op 25
4. Robert Schumann - Fantasie in C Major, Op. 131
5. Fritz Kreisler - Schön Rosmarin

Password-protected area for Havant Orchestras players, friends and committee

4th February 2009

This web site can now store pages in a password-protected members’ area which can only be viewed by suitably authorized people (currently Havant Orchestras players, friends and committee members) by entering a user name and password which will be given out to the relevant people once we have stored some information in this area. 

This private information will only be shown in the menus when you are logged in as a user who can view it.  You can log in by clicking on the Login button and entering the user name and password that you have been given.  If you try to view a private page without logging on first, the browser will automatically prompt you to log in with an appropriate user name and password. 

Different pages may be made available to different user types (players, friends and committee members) or to any combination of these types if this seems appropriate. 

We hope to use this facility to be able to share information available more freely among the orchestras and friends, avoiding the privacy concerns that arise from making information available to the internet in general.  This facility provides privacy rather than high security, as it does not use encryption and relies on shared user names and passwords, but it should be quite safe from search engines and inquisitive members of the general public.