Grateful thanks to Kenneth Ross for the photos. Videos by Paul Cormie

Grateful thanks to Kenneth Ross for the photos. Videos by Paul Cormie. We are also very grateful to Derrick Morgan (Assistant Conductor RSNO) and Alexandra Mackenzie (Solo Cello) for their kind permission to post video recordings of the concert on our website.

The orchestra committee have chosen to support the Royal National Lifeboat Institution as their chosen charity for our Autumn Concert on 2nd November 2024 as the RNLI celebrates its 200th anniversary. In the Scottish Borders region the RNLI operates a lifeboat station at Eyemouth and provides lifeguards at Coldingham Bay. The following is an extract from their website:

"In 2024, let’s get together to mark the RNLI’s special 200th year of lifesaving. 200 years is an amazing milestone for the RNLI, but everything we have achieved in that time has only been possible thanks to ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Since the RNLI was formed in 1824, people like you have formed crews and funded the kit and lifeboats to save lives at sea. RNLI lifesavers are counting on you to join us in our 200th year and we are proud to have you beside us. 

Just look how far we’ve come together. Once, our volunteers launched wooden lifeboats with oars and sails and now we’re saving lives on motor-powered all-weather lifeboats with state-of-the-art technology and communications. In every single one of those lifeboats, the crew have been the same: unwilling to stand by and do nothing when people are in trouble. And the generosity of our supporters hasn’t changed either. It’s a powerful combination of kindness and courage – together we’ve saved more than 146,000 lives."

We hope that you will come to our concert and enjoy an evening of beautiful music and, in doing so, support the orchestra in raising money for the RNLI

Autumn Concert - Saturday 2nd November, 7pm, Melrose Parish Church

Programme
Mendelssohn: Overture The Fair Melusine 
Mozart: Aria - Ruhe sanft mein holdes Leben from Zaide
Vorisek: Symphony in D  
Vivaldi: String Concerto in D minor (RV128) 
Chabrier: 2 movements from Suite Pastorale (Idyll and Danse Villageoise)

Conductor: James Young
Soprano: Claire Taylor

The concert opens with a popular overture by Felix Mendelssohn about Melusine, the mythical water-nymph who takes the form of a mermaid on Saturdays. The opening arpeggios perhaps anticipate the later river music of Wagner.
Mozart wrote his opera Zaide in 1780 but it remained unfinished - we feature the beautiful soprano solo aria from Act I sung by local favourite Claire Taylor.
Jan Vaclav Vorisek was a close friend of Schubert - his only symphony was composed in 1821 and is often compared to early Beethoven. It is an accessible work in four movements lasting around half an hour.
The French Romantic composer Chabrier is famous for his orchestral rhapsody Espana but wrote much more besides, orchestrating several piano works to form his Suite Pastorale, from which we have selected two attractive movements.
Our talented string section will also perform a short concerto in D minor by Vivaldi, similar in character to the Four Seasons.
 
Simon McCann