Dear All
I really enjoyed listening to the first half of BSO’s rehearsal on Wednesday, and so did the 22 students from Goldington! They concentrated hard, asked intelligent questions (including What does the conductor mean when he says “Go from O”?) and appreciated Bjorn talking to them in the interval.
There are three more rehearsals prior to the concert on 28th February:
Wednesday 25th February 7.30 - 9.30pm at BGI
Friday 27th February 7.30 - 9pm at BGI
Saturday 28th February 2.30 – 5.30pm (latest) at Bedford School Great Hall
Initial responses to the survey of Sinfonia members show that the following are prepared to pay £25 per concert for up to 3 concerts per year:
8 violins, 5 violas, 6 cellos, 2 basses, 1 horn, 1 bassoon, 1 clarinet and 2 oboes (neither of which is me!).
Some people have not yet responded so I’m copying below the email and link I sent out on 25th January. The survey will remain open until 28th February. Please respond by then if you are interested in playing in Bedford Sinfonia. There will be no further extensions of the deadline and the committee will make a decision on the future of Bedford Sinfonia when they meet on 4th March.
Copy of email sent out on 25th January to Sinfonia members:
Huge congratulations to those Sinfonia members who played in last night’s concert. It was a massive success musically and in terms of audience numbers. I loved joining you on cor anglais for the first half and really enjoyed being in the audience for the second half. Bravo!
As you are aware, discussions have been ongoing for some time about the shape and finances of Bedford Sinfonia in future. The decision has been taken that it should return to its roots as a small chamber orchestra. This will help with finances as well as distinguishing it from BSO.
Many of you attended the meeting last month when financing was discussed and I have received feedback from others who were not able to make that date. Generally, the feeling seems to be that players value Bedford Sinfonia, want it to continue, and are prepared to make a small financial contribution to help ensure that this happens. However, I am conscious that not everyone agrees with this approach.
In order to assist the committee in making a final decision, I would be grateful if you could complete a very short survey using the link below. Please be assured that your personal details and email address will only be used by Bedfordshire Orchestral Society’s committee members for the purposes of Bedford Sinfonia.
https://qualtricsxmmfmnshplv.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1LhHUX7gCitvWHI
If you have any concerns which you would like to discuss with me, please feel free to give me a call any time on 07966 410984.
Many thanks,
Karen x
Karen Mason
Chair
To reply: [email protected]
From the Committee:
BSO Information:
Rehearsals: NO REHEARSAL THIS WEEK - it’s half term!
Sinfonia Information:
Message from Ian:
For Sinfonia members playing in the Verdi Requiem with Bedford Choral Society on 21 March I have the music if you want to see it in advance of the first rehearsal. Just contact me.
Ian
Message from Ann for Publicity:
We still have 300+ tickets left to sell!
Top 3 selling points:
- The Brahms is particularly gorgeous!
- Jakob is an amazing violinist. The Sibelius is one of the most famous violin concertos ever plus Jakob is happy to do a “Meet and Greet” in the interval for our younger members of the audience
- Bedford School's Great Hall is a lovely venue: it's warm and the parking is pretty good!
My major challenge this week has been sourcing Terry’s Chocolate Oranges as B&M and Lidl seem to have run out! So, I’m having to order them online specially to reward our super sales team - YOU!
Sell your 10 tickets and one of the prized chocolate oranges is yours!
Note from Jo Ploszajski: If anyone would like to buy paper tickets prior to the rehearsal on the 25th February, they are welcome to collect them from me in Renhold MK41 0JL. Cash or via SumUp machine! Contact me via [email protected]
Looking forward to seeing my ticketsource dashboard blow up with sales this week. I get a ping every time a ticket is bought, so please use this half term week to get tickets sold.
I’ve been asked to send out a marketing email with only details about the BSO concert that can be easily forwarded to your friends and family.
Keep your eyes open for that in the next day or so…
The BSO Open Rehearsal for GCSE Music Students last week was a great success and was attended by 22 GCSE students from Goldington Academy! They absolutely loved it and sat with great focus and concentration for the whole hour before having a great discussion with Bjorn. They left very happy!
Thanks to everyone who helped to make it possible, especially Bjorn and the Committee. Thanks to Toby, our young violinist, who is also in the GCSE group at Goldington, who went out of his way to welcome his friends and teacher! Great job, Toby!
A special shout out to their teacher, Gareth King. To have 30+ GCSE Music students anyway is unheard of and to have 22 ready to come out to a rehearsal on a dark Wednesday night in February is impressive! Plus, tagging him on my Facebook post this week meant that we went "BOS viral" with 9000+ views! I've never seen so much online love. You're hired, Gareth!
The future of classical music is in good hands in Bedfordshire, thanks to all of our brilliant music teachers!
Young Composers’ Competition deadline is TODAY…
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mark Phillips, who is leading this initiative and helping me hugely behind the scenes. I'd also like to thank Dominic Mills and the Rotary Club who are supporting us too. Thanks to them we're able to hire a suitable space with a grand piano for the workshop for the winners.
Publicity Officer role on the Committee from Sept 2026
As Karen said in her message last week, I will be stepping down from the Committee and my Publicity role at the end of this season after the Out and About concerts in July.
In early Sept 2024, I promised Louise Radok that I would do the role for two seasons. This is a role that really benefits from regularly having a fresh pair eyes and new energy, plus it's now time for me to do other things!
Is this voluntary post for you?
I had no experience of marketing concerts beyond putting together a last minute flyer for a Christmas carol concert featuring a tiny church choir! So, experience is not required! I've just learnt to copy and paste what I see working for other orchestras and adapting it to our situation.
Most of the role is bringing the orchestras together to do their own marketing and sales to friends and family.
How you do that is up to you.
The market is always changing - I can see it's changing again right now (our family market seems to have plateaued in the last 6 months and an older demographic is coming back). Email reaches them quite well, which is a bonus for us!
By sitting on the Committee, you also get involved in all aspects of the Charity and have the chance to shape the coming seasons, which is very interesting.
If you love the work we do together at BOS and want to see it grow, this is your chance to contribute and shape the future.
Being creative is, of course, fun, but to be honest, the best part for me has been getting to know all of you better. Before starting, I'm ashamed to say that I barely knew everyone's name in BOS! Through this experience, I've made new friends for life.
If you’re tempted even a little bit, please feel free to have a chat with me or let Karen know.
With many thanks
Best wishes
Ann
PS to reply to me: [email protected]
From our friends:
From Lottie Bagnall: A great opportunity!
Mini Mozart: recruiting new leaders in Bedfordshire
Mini Mozart (running in Bedford since 2021) is an interactive classical music class for babies and toddlers aged 0-4 (and their parents). Each class features at least two professional musicians who lead the little ones through a story with sensory games and activities accompanied by 100% live music, and we are looking to expand our local team!
If you think you might enjoy working with the under-5s and are at least Grade 8 standard on at least one orchestral instrument, we would love to hear from you.
The Bedford class runs on a Friday morning in Putnoe, and there are also opportunities to deputise for the class on Tuesday mornings in Milton Keynes, as well as further afield in Hertfordshire and London.
If you would like to ask any questions about the role informally or if you'd like to come and observe a session to see if it's for you, please contact Lottie Bagnall (one of the leaders in Bedford) on [email protected]
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