The Concerts in Caversham Chamber Orchestra
Director – Tams Andras (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)
Emer McDonough - flute (RPO)
Ewan Millar - oboe (BBC Young Musician Finalist and Royal Overseas League Gold medalist)
James Beddoe – tenor
Concerts in Caversham’s hugely popular Christmas Concert - mulled wine and mince pies as usual and wonderful music for the season of Advent.
The programme will include:
Arias from Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio
Grieg’s Holberg Suite
Bach’s Double Concerto for oboe and violin
Pachelbel’s Canon
Bach’s Suite in B minor – flute and strings
… as well as carols, and so much more!
Hungarian violinist Tamás András graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was subsequently a prize winner of the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in Denmark and received third prize at the Joseph Szigeti International Violin Competition in Hungary. Tamás has appeared as a soloist with the Budapest Philharmonia Orchestra, the Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players among many others. He has been guest leader for many of the UK’s top orchestras and is currently co-leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Irish flautist Emer McDonough is principal flute of Britten Sinfonia and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and is also the flute player for the Haffner Wind Ensemble. She was previously principal flute of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Emer has performed, recorded and toured extensively with these and many other orchestras including Opera de Lyon, the Hallé, LPO, LSO, Philharmonia, BBCSO , RSNO, CBSO Bergen Philharmonic and many others. Emer’s solo career has included the British premiere of the Christopher Rouse Concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and concertos with Britten Sinfonia, RPO, BSO, HKPO and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. An enthusiastic teacher, Emer is a professor at The Royal College of Music and has also given masterclasses at the Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Oxford Flute Summer School.
Berkshire born oboist Ewan Millar, graduated from Oxford with first class honours before continuing his oboe studies at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2020 he won through to the Grand Final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year which led to a performance of Navarro’s “Legacy” Concerto - this was broadcast on the BBC. Ewan recently won the Royal Overseas League Competition Gold Medal which is leading to wonderful opportunities home and abroad and is currently on trial for numerous prestigious oboe positions. As a solo recitalist, he has performed at festivals throughout the UK; Cheltenham Festival, Windsor Festival and the Lake District Summer Music Festival and took part in the celebrated oboist, Nicholas Daniel’s 60th birthday celebrations at the Wigmore Hall in London. As well as playing the oboe, Ewan enjoys playing jazz piano/singing – gigging in Oxford as time allows.
English tenor James Beddoe hails from Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and is an Artist Masters graduate from Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has appeared as ‘Don Ramiro’ in La Cenerentola with Hurn Court Opera, ‘Manuel’ in a revival of Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s Dream Lovers with Stanley Arts, Cantata Dramatica for Mander’s The Dowager’s Oyster as ‘Christopher’, ‘Ernesto’ in Don Pasquale with Surrey Opera, and – on the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth — he was ‘Edward Ferrars’ in a new production of Sense and Sensibility by Neil Hampton and Jeffrey Haddow. Next year he will be performing ‘Ferrando’ in Così fan tutte for the first time. James regularly performs as an oratorio soloist and sings the Evangelist in the St Matthew and St John Passions by Bach. Recent performances have included Bruckner Te Deum at York Minster, the UK premiere of Lidarti Ester, Bach St John Passion and B Minor Mass, Puccini Messa di Gloria, Britten St Nicolas, Mendelssohn Elijah and Haydn Creation.
Box Office and bar open from 6.45pm.
Tickets: 16-24 £18; 25-59 £26; 60+ £24