“I think I’ll bring an orchestra to Church,” he said!
Chris Pelly, a 20 year old student and a member of Farnham United Reformed Church, is studying music at the University of Leeds. He is keen to become an orchestral conductor and he assembled an orchestra from his friends and others in order to give a concert at lunchtime on the 13th April, during the Easter vacation. The concert was given at the church as part of the regular Music at Lunchtime series.
The orchestra consisted of 20 players (strings, flute, oboes, bassoons and horns), which fitted comfortably in the space available in the church.
The piece Chris chose to play was Schubert’s Symphony no. 5 in B flat, a popular choice, well suited to the relatively small orchestra. They rehearsed throughout Monday 12th April and on Tuesday morning, ready for the lunchtime concert. An audience of some 60 people came to hear the performance, which was very much enjoyed.
 Chris said, “I was really impressed with how well the players came together as a group in the day-and-a-half’s rehearsal time, and I am very grateful to the church for supporting and helping with the concert.”
Background note:
Schubert lived from 1797 to 1828, and his fifth symphony was written in 1816 (though not published in Schubert’s lifetime). So Schubert was only 19 when he wrote the symphony. This does not mean that it is an immature work: far from it. But it is youthful in spirit, and eminently suitable for a young conductor.
Music at Lunchtime is the name given to a series of concerts given at Farnham United Reformed Church, South Street, Farnham, Surrey, on Tuesdays, usually the first Tuesday of the month, from October until the Spring. Concerts start at 1.10 p.m. and finish round about 1.50 p.m. Chris’s concert marks the end of the 12th season of concerts, which began in October 1997.
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