Friends of Classical Music at The Sands

Version 20, 22 June 2008

Latest News (June 2008).
  • The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING will be held on the night of the first concert, 11 October at 6.00 pm, before the pre-concert talk. The committee has decided that there will be a subscription "holiday" for the next season, when membership will be free. It has also been decided to have floral decorations at the opening concert, which will be paid for by the Friends. A review of the benefits of the Friends has been made and details of this will be mailed to members and subscribers shortly.
  • Future of the International Concert Series. We are aware that Carlisle City Council will be losing regular grant funding from the Arts Council, and this may have an impact in the 2009-2010 season on the number of concerts that will be promoted that season. Our chair Steve Matthews, vice chair Malcolm  Jackson, and secretary Ian Watson have requested a meeting with officers of the council to clarify matters. We will report back at the AGM.
  • Programme for the 2008-2009 season. Dates for the concert next season are now known, and also the details of the programmes. There is very little repetition of music heard in recent years. As usual there is Dvorak, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. But there is also Haydn's Mercury symphony, and two works by Shostakovich. While we have quite a lot of Russian music, we only have one piece of British music included in the programme,  the Elgar Introduction & Allegro for Strings. The details appear at the bottom of the page. Ticket prices have been increased slightly.
  • Pre-concert talks. It is the intention again to have talks at 6.30 pm on the night of the concert. Details for next season have not yet been fixed. These talks are now very popular, and you are advised to get your free tickets in good time.
  • Survey. Along with the programme booklets, at the request of the Friends, the Sands Centre sent out a survey form. The results of these have now been analysed, and the results were presented to the committee at its last meeting in February. Of particular interest to Friends were the responses on "What type of Music Would You Like to Hear?". People could choose two out of five categories. The results  (as percentages) were:
British Baroque Classical Romantic Modern
24 9 29 28 10

The Friends has been set up with the following objectives:

The Friends have been set up on a formal basis. You can find a copy of our constitution here (this is the revised version, agreed at the AGM in November 2006).  If you are interested in being involved, please send an E-mail with your details to: contact@thesandsfriends.org.uk  or, better still, complete a membership application form and send it with your subscription of £5.

The Sands Centre itself has a  web-site,

For details of all classical music concerts in the Carlisle, Longtown, Brampton, Penrith, Keswick, Cockermouth and Wigton areas, see the Music in North Cumbria web site.

Dates of Concerts in the 2008 - 2009 Season

(LP 3 means Last Played in Carlisle 3 years ago)

 Saturday 11 October 2008 - Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra

conducted by Jeremy Brett

Rimsky Korsakov - Sadko, Op 5

Shostakovich - Violin Concerto - soloist, Charles Siem

Tchaikovsky - Francesca da Rimini   (LP 7)

Khatchaturian - Spartacus Suite  (LP 7)

 Friday  14 November 2008 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

conducted by Vasily Petrenko

Beethoven - overture Corialan (LP 4)

Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 1 - soloist, Paul  Lewis

Brahms - Symphony No 4 in E minor (LP 7)

 Saturday 7 February 2009 -  Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra

conducted by Valery Poliansky

Rimsky Korsakov - Russian Easter Festival Overture (LP 3)

Shostakovich - Piano Concerto No 2 - soloist, Tatiana Poliansky  (LP 6)

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 6  (LP 8)

 Saturday 28 March 2009 -  Hallé Orchestra

conductor - Edward Gardner

Elgar - Introduction & Allegro for Strings

Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 3 - soloist Garrick Ohlsson

Sibelius - Night Rise & Sunrise

Sibelius - Symphony No 5  (LP 3)

 Saturday 18 April 2009 -  BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

conductor - Gianandrea Noseda

Haydn - Symphony No 43 - Mercury

Mozart - Clarinet Concerto - soloist, Mark Simpson (LP 4)

Mahler - Symphony No 1  (LP 6)

 Friday 22 May 2009 -  Prague Symphony Orchestra

conductor - Petr Altrichter

Dvorak - Carnival overture

Dvorak - Cello concerto - soloist, Nina Kotova (LP 3)

Smetana - Ma Vlast (Vlava, Tabor, Blanik)

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