Royal Wootton Bassett Orchestra(RWBO) are returning to Malmesbury Abbey for their Spring Concert – A Tale of Two cities: Music from Vienna and Berlin on March 15th at 7.30pm
The programme will feature Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, Brahms Hungarian Dance No 5, the Richard Strauss Horn Concerto No 1 together with music by Beethoven. As with all our concerts, we will be playing music by a female composer and opening our concert with Fanny Mendelssohn’s Overture in C. Tickets, £12 adults, children free, are available through our website www.rwbo.org.uk
RWBO are pleased to welcome professional horn player, Charlotte Mann (Charlie), who will be performing the horn concerto. Charlie graduated from the University of Southampton with a BA(Hons) Music (Ist class) and an M.A. in International Music Management. She is a freelance classical and session French Horn player as well as a conductor and educator. Charlie tours the UK festival circuit with Symphonica Mr Switch, the Ibiza Orchestra Experience, and Symphonic Ibiza Productions. She plays regularly with The Fulltone Orchestra and with The International Film Orchestra on their Harry Potter and James Bond tours. Solo work includes appearances with Southampton University Symphony Orchestra, Southampton Youth Orchestra and Langtree Sinfonia. Recording work includes Don Broco ‘Live from the Royal Albert Hall’ and Faye Milton’s ‘Goddess’.
Charlie is also a keen conductor, with a particular passion for youth ensemble work. She has conducted Southampton University Symphonic Wind Orchestra, Southampton Youth Orchestra, Southampton Youth Concert Sinfonia and Per Piacere. She is delighted to have been appointed the new Musical Director of Pulse8 from September 2024. Charlie is also a brass peripatetic teacher visiting four schools in the Southampton area. She attributes her inspiration to become a professional musician to her own experience in a youth orchestra, so she is delighted to be working with the next generation of talented young musicians on a weekly basis.
Charlie commented, “I am really looking forward to playing in Malmesbury Abbey with its wonderful acoustics. Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto No 1 is an absolutely beautiful piece of music which really showcases all the different sides of the horn. The first movement is quite energetic. The contrasting second movement is lyrical and the third movement really takes off and is very exciting to listen to.”
Charlie has performed the concerto four times but it has, she says, “been with me for a very long time. I played the first movement for Grade 8 and to audition for the National Youth Orchestra and when I was at Southampton University I won the Concerto Competition with a performance of all three movements.”
RWB Orchestra was founded in 1982 and is now one of the longest established amateur orchestras in the area. We perform three concerts a year and a charity concert. We have vacancies in some sections of the orchestra. If you would like to join RWBO please get in touch through our website – www.rwbo.org.uk