North Herts Music Making | Events Calendar

Our list of events and calendar contain details about concerts, recitals and other performances by the six member organisations; in addition, there is information about other selected events which have been notified to us. The entries are colour coded. Please note that red squares in the calendar indicate that more than one listed event is taking place on the same day.

Event Colour Coding
Hitchin Symphony Orchestra
Stevenage Choral Society
Stevenage Ladies Choir
Stevenage Male Voice Choir
Stevenage Symphony Orchestra
The Orpheus Choir of North Hertfordshire
North Herts Guild of Singers
Benslow Music Trust
Hertfordshire Community Youth Choir
Miscellaneous
Multiple Events

August 2010
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
26	27	28	29	30	31	1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31	1	2	3	4	5

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You don't have to be a member of NHMM to Add an Event! Simply Click Here for our On-Line Event Notification Form. Fill it in and we'll do the rest.

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Tue - Aug 03 -- Sat - Aug 07		International Harp Summer School The dynamic, internationally renowned team of Danielle Perrett and the Nash Ensemble’s Lucy Wakeford leads Benslow’s International Harp Summer School this year. We’re aiming to recruit advanced players from conservatoire to professional levels who will benefit from our tutors’ deep experience and friendly and insightful guidance. Because we are aiming at the highest standards and because places are limited our tutors will have the final say about who is accepted, but you will be informed in good time. Danielle will also lead a helpful evening session which demonstrates how the Pilates technique can help musicians. There’ll be an informal concert given by students on the final day and all course members will also receive a complimentary ticket to the flute, harp and viola recital given by Philippa Davies, Lucy Wakeford and Martin Outram on Friday 6 August at 8 pm as part of the Benslow International Series. Please note that this course begins at 11 am on the Tuesday and ends in mid-afternoon on the Saturday. We encourage informal collaboration between this course and the International Viola and Flute Summer Schools which run alongside it. Resident £335 Non Resident £285
Tue - Aug 03 -- Sat - Aug 07		International Flute Summer School The Nash Ensemble’s Philippa Davies, one of the world’s finest flautists, returns to lead another Benslow International Flute Summer School. Her aim is to enable advanced students – conservatoire entry level is the minimum - to increase their musical freedom, imagination, awareness and expression in solo, chamber and orchestral repertoire. Every aspect of technique will be worked upon, and particular attention paid to posture, breathing, tone and articulation. Philippa and her distinguished colleagues will give masterclasses and there will be general sessions too. Observers are welcome. The course starts at 11 am on the Tuesday and ends on the Saturday afternoon following an informal concert given by course members. Participants receive a complimentary ticket for the public recital, part of the Benslow International Series, given by Philippa with viola player Martin Outram and harpist Lucy Wakeford, on Friday 6 August at 8 pm. Please note that acceptance on this course is subject to the tutors’ approval, but you will be informed in good time. Informal collaboration with the International Viola and Harp Summer Schools is encouraged. Resident: £335 Non Resident £285
Tue - Aug 03 -- Sat - Aug 07		International Viola Summer School This is a course for players at the most advanced level, from conservatoire standard to professional. Please note that because we are aiming at the highest standards our tutors will have the final say about who is accepted, but you will be informed in good time. Martin Outram, one of the country’s finest viola players and a member of the internationally renowned Maggini Quartet, will guide participants in all areas of technique and interpretation in friendly, informal masterclasses and private lessons. There may also be opportunities for playing in viola ensembles and for discussion relating to every aspect of the viola and its repertoire. Baroque viola player Jane Rogers will also give a masterclass. Participants will be encouraged to perform in an informal course concert with pianist Julian Rolton on the final day. Please note that this course begins at 11 am on the Tuesday and ends in mid-afternoon on the Saturday. A complimentary ticket to the flute, harp and viola recital given on Friday 6 August at 8 pm by Philippa Davies, Lucy Wakeford and Martin Outram - part of the Benslow International Series – is included. We encourage informal collaboration between this course and the International Harp and Flute Summer Schools which run alongside it. Resident: £335 Non Resident £285
Mon - Aug 09 -- Wed - Aug 11		Benslow Baroque: Chamber Music at A=440 Explore and enjoy a wide range of baroque chamber music in varied instrumental combinations on this course, designed for instruments playing at A=440 Hz. Our new young team, consisting of keyboard player Julian Perkins, cellist Henrik Persson and flautists Georgia Browne, will guide you expertly and affably in matters of style. We’ll tell you about any set repertoire that you need to prepare but you can also bring your own choice of music. It helps if you can sight read reasonably well. Recorder, oboe, flute, violin, viola, cello, bass viol, bassoon and keyboard players are all very welcome, as are pre-formed groups. We’ll attempt to mix and match everyone sensitively. Resident: £220 Non Resident: £185
Mon - Aug 09 -- Wed - Aug 11		Conducting and Rehearsing with Christopher Gayford The conductor and researcher Christopher Gayford will help you improve and develop your score-learning, interpretation, gesture and rehearsal techniques, working with examples from the orchestral, choral and operatic repertoire. Some pieces might be specified in advance, and you are invited to play or sing in small ensemble versions of the works to provide your fellow participants with plenty of opportunities for hands-on conducting. So bring your instrument! Christopher’s course will benefit conductors at all levels, and places might be available for those who don’t want to conduct but instead to develop their listening and/or performing skills. Resident: £220 Non Resident £185
Fri - Aug 13 -- Sun - Aug 15		Harmony for Beginners Katharine Bramley takes the terror out of writing harmony, extending your basic knowledge and exploring ways in which you can make your harmonisations sound more interesting. We’ll also learn how to write effectively for different combinations of instruments and voices. We’d like you to have some previous knowledge of harmony. Please bring manuscript paper and suitable writing implements. The course will benefit participants at many levels, but it’s also designed to help those preparing for examinations in the theory of music at Grades 6 to 8. Resident: £190 Non Resident: £155
Mon - Aug 16		Janet Myatt's Summer Winds You’ll benefit from the vast experience of Janet Myatt and her colleagues on this friendly and busy course, which offers opportunities for playing in large and small ensembles and in solo performance classes. There will be visiting tutors for each instrument (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn). Janet always brings a vast selection of her own music, but you are also welcome to bring pieces of your own choice. We are looking for players of Grade 5 standard and above who have some experience of ensemble playing and who are good sight readers. Resident £305 Non Resident £255
Mon - Aug 16 -- Wed - Aug 18		Sarah Leonard's Vocal Summer School Improve communication with your audience by gaining insights into music and text which will be reflected in and therefore enrich your performance. Discuss how technique can enhance your interpretation, and examine ways of removing the physical tensions that can adversely affect technique. Bring four pieces in any style - they can be contrasting or complementary - and Sarah Leonard will help you with them. You can discuss repertoire, programme building and audition techniques, and there will also be informal concerts during the course, Please let us know in advance what you’ll be bringing to sing. Resident: £305 Non Resident: £255
Mon - Aug 23 -- Fri - Aug 27		Colin Bradbury's Wind Plus Summer School This popular course combines an atmosphere of natural exuberance with a lot of concentrated, serious work. Colin Bradbury, the doyen of British clarinetists, and Martin Gatt, bassoonist extraordinaire, bring to the party a wealth of experience and a team of illustrious but down-to-earth colleagues. You’ll have the opportunity to play in groups large and small, to encounter a wide variety of repertoire, and to take part in the traditional last night concert given by participants and tutors. Colin also gives a slightly less informal recital with his tutor colleagues on the final afternoon. Woodwind and horn players and pianists are all welcome to apply. As a rough guide you should be of at least Grade 6 standard. Resident: £395 Non Resident £345
Mon - Aug 30 2:30 PM		Stevenage Male Voice Choir. Free - Afternoon - Outdoor Concert. What is becoming an annual event and by popular request, The Stevenage Male Voice Choir will be performing, on Bank Holiday Monday 30th August 2010 at Priory Island, Ware. The choir will be singing songs from musical shows, popular standards and even a bit of opera during this out-side performance (Weather permitting). Come and enjoy this FREE afternoon concert. Chairs are provided but your own picnic chairs, food and drink will enhance your pleasure while soaking up the sun (we hope). If wet the concert will be performed in the adjacent Prior Park Hall.
Tue - Aug 31 -- Thu - Sep 02		The Benslow String Orchestra A new midweek slot for the Benslow String Orchestra course, which offers a wonderful opportunity to get to grips with a lovely and rewarding repertoire. The works to be studied this time will include Tchaikovsky’s Serenade, Op 48, Lennox Berkeley’s Serenade, Op 12, Handel’s Concerto Grosso in D minor, Op 6 No 10, Sibelius’s Romance, Op 42 and parts of Walton’s music for the film Henry V. Jonathan Trout and his team will help with both musical and technical matters in informal but intensive group sessions and sectionals. Ideally, you’ll have some experience of playing in an orchestra and to get the most out of the course you should be of at least Grade 5 standard. Resident: £220 Non Resident £185
Tue - Aug 31 -- Thu - Sep 02		The Torment of Love: Italian Madrigals “...Tormented woes... Perfidious beauty... Anguished delights...”. Who needs opera? Madrigals often embrace the extremes of passion in expressing the plights of unrequited love. Join our small choir - maximum twenty voices - to experience this cathartic melancholy in unaccompanied Italian madrigals by the likes of Gesualdo, Monteverdi and Palestrina under the sensitive guidance of Julian Perkins, who also promises occasional light relief in the form of some English madrigals, replete with trademark fa la las. Resident £220 Non Resident £185