This week Meet the Artist will feature a pair of interviews with musicians who are paying tribute to the great Sir Thomas Beecham in a special concert of music by the composer he revered above all others – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The concert also marks the launch of a new orchestra.
The interviews are with composer, conductor and musicologist Alan Tongue (who successfully transcribed and edited Vaughan William’s A Cambridge Mass which he randomly found in Cambridge’s University Library); and Richard Friedman, first violin (co-leader) of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Richard’s father Leonard Friedman, a famous violinist himself and founder of the Scottish Baroque Ensemble, became the leader of a number of symphony orchestras in London and elsewhere, including an astonishing period as the co-leader of the Royal Philharmonic under Sir Thomas Beecham. Richard Friedman remembers meeting Beecham as a child – the great conductor told his father “your son has a very good ear“.
Alan Tongue and Richard Friedman have teamed up to found the Beecham Orchestra (of which Richard is also leader). The orchestra is launched at a debut concert at Cadogan Hall on 4th April 2017. Full details here
Discover more from MEET THE ARTIST
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
MEET THE ARTIST 