March

Snow Day
I had a pleasant amble around the town crunching through the ice layer on the snow and sliding on the ice patches on the hills. Good fun and very invigorating. Not quite the right snow for my sledge unfortunately.

Cowes
I needed a stomp after snow day so walked along to Egypt Hill, then up it and along Baring Road to the Zigzag and down, detouring through Mornington Woods and back along Queens Road and the lane behind Trinity Theatre before heading through town once more. Along the route were two of Paul Sivell's magnificent tree carvings; dolphins on Egypt Hill and Owls and squirrels at Mornington Woods. Lunch, prior to the walk, was at Tiffins, Lovely bacon and brie baguette.


Lower entrance to Mornington Woods

Lymington

We had a family day out to Lymington, travelling on the Wightlink ferry "Wight Sky", and noticing the penguin on the harbour wall as we passed. We then got the train to Lymington town, and meandered up the High Street through the snow, looking at the market and a few (warm) shops. We then had a lovely lunch in Prezzo before returning to the Island.

Isle  of Wight Symphony Orchestra

Another fabulous concert, with the orchestra playing 'Norwegian Dances' by Greig, a cello concerto by  Walton (not keen) with a fabulous soloist, Jamal  Aliyev, and then Dvorak's Fourth Symphony. Lovely! A very pleasant way to spend an evening. 



Wild Nights Out...... May

Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra
This was, as ever, a glorious concert. The first piece was 'Danzon No. 2' by Marquez; this was lively and really set the bar for the rest of the evening. The next two pieces were written for recorder, and featured the extremely talented Miriam Nerval. Her first piece was a Recorder Concerto by David Bedford, and used every type of recorder, with orchestral accompaniment. The concerto began with bass recorder and gradually worked up through tenor, treble, descent and sopranino. I enjoyed the latter stages more than the start as the deeper recorders were harder to hear, however Miriam played extremely well, and at times was playing two recorders at once! Skills. The final recorder piece was Vivaldi's 'Recorder Concerto in G Major'. This was glorious. I have never seen anyone's fingers move so fast - the skills and techniques needed were extremely demanding, and Miriam did a superb job.

 

After the interval, the orchestra performed 'Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93' by Shostakovich. I wasn't so keen on this; it was played well, but went on for a long time and I got rather bored in the first part. The piece did improve on me later on and I was really enjoying it by the end. Another superb evening by IOW Symphony.

Medina College Hair show

Every year, the Hair and Beauty students of Medina College put on a show. I went for the first time this year and was really impressed by the skills of the students involved - I struggle to do even the basics with my hair, even now, and these students had made some really complex creations. The evening was also a fundraiser, and raised £1000 for 'Kissy Puppy', a local children's charity. Very well done to all involved.

Wild Nights out..... April

April Fool's Day ended with an enthusiastic and tuneful performance of Dvorak's 'Stabat Mater' at Medina Theatre. The members of Isle of Wight Cantata choir sang their hearts out, and were ably accompanied by a selection of musicians from the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra, as well as four choral soloists. Rachel Tweddle conducted everybody with great skill, as ever.

 

To bookend the month, I took the teenager to see 'The Queer Bash' at The Apollo Theatre; this was written and performed by members of Red Tie Theatre, and was performed with a great deal of skill. The theme was to explore issues surrounding the LGBTQ community and society as a whole, and had the audience running the full gamut of emotions throughout. I cried and laughed throughout. This was an extremely thought provoking production by young actors who had a lot to say, and a lot of talent to say it with. Coincidentally, one of the cast members had made the national headlines that day by calling out the local MP's views on homosexuality while he was visiting her politics class at school. He resigned. #whatesthersays

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/28/tory-mp-steps-down-after-telling-pupils-homosexuality-is-wrong

Wild Nights Out.... March

One of my challenges this year is to go out more of an evening. So far this month I have had two such expeditions. The first was to Shanklin Theatre to watch the hilarious Omid Djalili and his equally funny warm up man, Boothby Graffoe. The theatre was lovely and old fashioned, and the show was a hoot! The only downside was the lack of parking in Shanklin, but we found a side street with a parking space eventually.

Yesterday I attended the spring concert of the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra. This was sold out, as usual. The programme was music from Poulenc, Ravel, Franck, and Saint-Saens; the Ravel piece was 'Piano Concerto in G', with the soloist Viv McLean. This was performed beautifully, and Viv McLean's solo in the second part moved me to tears. Yes. Really. Wow, he was superb! I could see his face throughout and he was clearly enjoying every moment - a joy to watch and listen to. The concert ended with Saint-Saens 'Bacchanale from 'Samson and Delila'', which was played with skill and enthusiasm by the orchestra. Absolutely glorious.

Symphony Orchestra May 2016

On 21st May Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra put on another concert, so I went along as one of my challenges this year is to see more live music and I rather enjoy an orchestral concert. The programme consisted of three pieces:

• 'Beni Mora ' by Holst
• 'Piano Concerto in E flat' by Ireland
• 'Job: A Masque for Dancing' by Vaughan Williams

'Beni Mora' was an interesting piece consisting of three pieces of dance music reminiscent of Algerian music (as intended!), and caught and kept my attention throughout.

The 'Piano Concerto' by John Ireland was passionate, with extremely good piano solos provided by the talented Viv Maclean; he managed to keep the audience spellbound with his playing. He was well accompanied by the orchestra.

After the interval we heard 'Job' by Vaughan Williams. This was written as a score for a ballet but stood up on its own without the dancers. Illustrations from William Blake's 'Book of Job' were projected behind the orchestra throughout the performance; these illustrations were the inspiration behind the music, so it was an appropriate thing to do. Each scene was introduced by the conductor, Jonathan Butcher, before the orchestra continued playing. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece by Williams.

The Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra played extremely well throughout the concert, ably conducted by Mr Butcher. I left feeling that my money had been well spent on the ticket, and that I really should practice playing my violin. I've got as far as dusting the case....

Symphony Orchestra March 2016

Off to Medina Leisure Centre I went this evening, for a concert by Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra, arriving with about a minute to spare due to my poor timing. However, I had already bought a ticket and found my seat easily.  On my arrival the ticket checker asked 'Are you on your own?' to which I replied 'Yes', and received the reply 'Never mind dear, there's plenty of company inside'. I wasn't quite sure what to say! Surely plenty of people go to concerts on their own - I can't be that unusual! Most of the tickets had sold, but I had most of a small row to myself and was able to spread out. Bliss! I don't enjoy being cramped up with people I don't know.

The first half had two pieces of music; the first was 'Scherzo Fantastico' by Suk which I thoroughly enjoyed. Suk is not a well known composer apparently, but this was an interesting piece and kept me entertained throughout.  The second piece was 'Four Last Songs' by Strauss with the soloist Jane Streeton. This was performed well by the orchestra, and Ms Streeton had a beautiful voice, but it wasn't really my cup of tea.

After the interval, during which I ate a delicious Minghella ice cream, the orchestra played 'Symphony No. 3' by Rachmaninov. This was performed exceptionally well and I enjoyed every minute of it. I will endeavour to attend their next concert as I have enjoyed both concerts I have attended recently, and they are good value for money.

Symphony Orchestra

Today has been very wet and windy, so not really hiking weather for lightweights like me. My Mum had a spare ticket to the first concert of the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra's new season, so I joined her. It was the first of their concerts that I had attended, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The orchestra has a sizeable string section, a reasonably sized brass section and enough woodwind and percussion to make a difference. There were three compositions on the programme tonight:

• Overture: Portsmouth Point (Walton)
• Violin Concerto No. 1 (Bruch)
• Symphony No.1 (Mahler)

The overture was jolly, with a nice introduction by the conductor, Jonathan Butcher, who explained the difference between rhythm and metre to the audience. The orchestra then demonstrated exceedingly clearly during the performance. A good start!

The violin concerto was magnificent; the soloist was Alexander Sitkovetsky, who came in all in black, shirt untucked, with wild hair, and gave a spellbinding performance ably accompanied by the orchestra. My occasional feeble scratchings on my fiddle were put very much to shame. Superb.

After the interval (Minghella ice cream was consumed, of course), we were treated to the Mahler symphony. This had four movements, all of which were well performed. I was entranced by the oboists, who kept pointing their oboes up in the air during the more exciting parts.

All in all, a lovely way to spend a miserable November evening, and I shall certainly go to more of their concerts in future.