Wilmslow Symphony Orchestra will perform the final concert of their 64th season on Saturday, 11th June, with popular Spanish conductor Juan Ortuño and their Principal Clarinettist Geoffrey Smith as the soloist in Weber's popular first Clarinet Concerto.
The program will also feature Tchaikovsky's fourth Symphony and Brahms' rousing Academic Festival Overture.
Born in Altrincham, Geoffrey Smith began to play the clarinet at the age of eleven and studied in London for several years with the well known clarinettist Thea King. As a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, he has performed in concert halls across England, toured Poland and Switzerland and took part in several televised performances.
Geoffrey has played principal clarinet with Wilmslow Symphony Orchestra for nine years and has appeared as soloist in Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and his Sinfonia Concertante. Geoffrey has also been principal clarinet in Stockport Symphony Orchestra since its inception in 1975 and is principal clarinet in Cheshire Sinfonia where he has performed concertos by Weber and Finzi.
Geoffrey has also been concerto soloist with Lancashire Chamber Orchestra, Beethoven Society Orchestra, Salford Symphony Orchestra, Amaretti Chamber Orchestra and North Staffordshire Symphony Orchestra.
Young conductor Juan Ortuño is a Masters graduate in conducting from the Royal Northern College of Music where he studied with Clark Rundell and Mark Shanahan. Recently he has been appointed as Musical Director of the City of Manchester Opera Society.
Juan is developing an exciting career as a conductor in the UK where he has worked with orchestras such as the Manchester Camerata and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He has conducted numerous symphony orchestras across Spain and Austria and future conducting engagements include his debut at the Buxton Opera Festival in July 2011.
Publicity Manager, Ray Bulpitt said "Weber's concerto is dramatic and lyrical. While the fast movements are delightful and cheerful, the slow movements are lyrical. This concerto was inspired by and composed for Weber's virtuosic clarinettist friend, Baermann, and requires a virtuosic player of Geoffs' calibre to do justice to the composition.
"The Fourth Symphony opens with a theme representing 'a force which, like the sword of Damocles, that hangs perpetually over our heads and is always embittering the soul'. The third movement is played fast, pizzicato, and with a brilliant sense of quick-nerved imagination.
"The drunken peasant appears in a hectic little oboe tune, the military band in a stiff strutting theme over which fragments of the oboe tune are presently scattered, together with phrases of the pizzicato theme which then returns. All three are flung together in a brilliant free-for-all that drives the movement home hilariously. The finale bursts in with a flourish, portraying a national festival."
Ticket are available from 01625 526 380, from Bang & Olufsen on 01625 527666 or at the door. Tickets are priced £10, concessions £8 and under 18s £2.
The concert starts at 7.45pm. For more information visit the Wilmslow Symphony Orchestra website.
