Three Sunday afternoon concerts of popular classics for Spring and Summer
Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra has announced its Spring and Summer series of three concerts called
Celebration Sundays.
The concerts take place at The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, on Sunday afternoons at 4.00pm and feature
music by the great Classical masters - Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
The first Celebration Sunday concert ‘Mozart – the Prague Years’ is on Sunday 26 March at
4.00pm with two of the best-loved concertos: Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto and Mozart’s Clarinet
Concerto. Sponsored by St Edmundsbury Wealth Management Ltd, the concert also features
Mozart’s Symphony No.38 known as the Prague Symphony, which is named after the city where it
was first performed.
The solo in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, which became known to a wide audience through its soulful
use in the film Out of Africa, is played by Matthew Glendening, principal clarinet at the Royal Opera
House Covent Garden. As a student, Matthew starred as principal clarinet in the Britten Pears
Orchestra at Snape Maltings, and his career has included playing with orchestras such as the Royal
Philharmonic.
Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto is played by Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra’s resident principal trumpet
Christian Barraclough, who first played with the world-famous London Mozart Players at the age of
just 15 and currently enjoys a busy career playing with all the major orchestras and recording film
scores. Christian says the Haydn Trumpet Concerto is a defining piece in the history of the trumpet,
and he plans to explain why at the concert before he plays the piece.
Conductor Leslie Olive, who has chosen all the music said: “We’re very excited to be launching our
Sunday Celebration season with a real showstopper featuring not one but two dazzling concertos
which showcase the extraordinary talents of our world class orchestra.
“This is the first of three relaxed Sunday afternoon concerts celebrating the evolving Classical style
through masterpieces of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, with a glance back to J.C. Bach, and forward
to Mendelssohn – ideal entertainment after Sunday lunch, or before going out for supper after the
concert.”