Chester-born soloist Duncan Anderson to perform at Vale Royal Abbey in Cheshire on Sunday

May 4 2010 Chester Chronicle

DUNCAN Anderson will be soloist in Telemann’s Viola concerto in the Great Hall at Vale Royal Abbey in Cheshire on Sunda, May 9 at 7.30pm.

Duncan is currently studying viola with Ian Jewel at the Royal College of Music in London, while also studying for a physics degree at Imperial College.

Duncan was born in Chester in 1990 and asked for a violin for his third birthday. He began formal lessons with Sylvia More when he was seven, continuing his studies at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, where he made the transition to viola when he was 13.

The concerto for viola and strings is the only known viola concerto written by Telemann who was a very prolific composer.

It was written just as the Baroque style was going out of fashion and fuses the Baroque with the new up and coming ‘galant’ style.

The rest of the programme for the concert is Purcell’s Fantasia No 9, The Serenade for Strings by Elgar and the concert concludes with an arrangement for String Orchestra of Mendelssohn’s string quartet Op 80.

Purcell’s Fantasia No 9 was written on August 31, 1680 when he was 21. The violin was only just beginning to replace viols and coming into general acceptance. Interestingly the piece is written for violins, 1st and 2nd violas and cellos

The Serenade for Strings by Elgar is one of the most popular pieces for string orchestra is the essence of Englishness with many familiar melodies.

Mendelssohn's quartet Op 80 was the last piece that Mendelssohn wrote and its fateful course is a premonition of the composers death and his sadness at the death of his beloved sister.

Tim Crooks will be the conductor for the performance and was originally a violinist who studied at the University of Manchester. He then gained a MPhil at the RNCM in performance.

Tim is music director of the Cheshire Youth Training Orchestra and teaches at Chethams School of Music. He also plays with the Manchester Camerata and at Covent Garden for Opera Theatre Europe.

The concert follows on the success of previous concerts by the Orchestra in the wonderful setting of the Great Hall.

The Orchestra and St Mary’s Whitegate Church appreciate the continuing help and support of Vale Royal Abbey Golf Club in hosting this event.

Full details of the rest of the orchestra’s season are on the orchestra’s web site www.valeroyalstringorchestra.co.uk.

Tickets which include coffee/tea are £10 (school age children £5) and are available from Andrew Ball on 01606 593260, email andrew.ball@lineone.net.

ABBEY CONCERT: Duncan Anderson will be soloist in Telemann’s Viola Concerto in the Great Hall at Vale Royal Abbey on May 9.