After whetting the audiences appetite with a platterful of tunes, courtesy of Weber's oberon overture, the RPO offer the rare pleasure of a concerto for not one, but three instruments, in the form of Beethoven's magnificent Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano. Beethoven's biographer Anton Schindler claimed that it was written for Archduke Rudolf, one of Beethoven's pupils and an accomplished pianist, although the virtuosic violin and cello parts suggest that he was backed up by two extremely skilled professionals! All three of the brilliant young soloists certainly fall into that category: former BBC Young Musician of the year, violinst Rafal Zambrzycki-Payne, the exceptionally gifted young cellist Thomas Carroll and international prize-winning pianist Anthony Hewitt.

The second half of the programme is taken up with Elgar's orchestral masterpiece, the Enigma Variations. While the identity of some of the composer's friends portrayed in the variations remains a mystery, other, such as 'Nimrod', memorably captured in imperiously sweeping chords, have been rendered immortal by Elgar's glorious, sumptuous music.

PRE-CONCERT TALKS
Why not join music writer and critic James Day for fascinating and informative talks about the programme before each concert. Talk will take place at the Maple Suite, Crowne Plaza Hotel, 20 Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DT at 6.00pm.

Conductor: Jonathan Brett
Soloist: Freddy Kempf, Piano

Khachaturian Spartacus Suite
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 1 in C minor
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 4 in F Minor

The mighty Russian orchestras produce a quite distinctive and thrilling sound, and we are delighted to include two of them in this concert series. First off is the Moscow Philharmonic appearing under the dynamic English conductor Jonathan Brett, described by the Independent as 'brillantly exuberant'.

Their programme opens with Aram Khachaturian's best-loved work, his music for the ballet Spartacus, which juxtaposes glorious lyricism with frenetic drama. Now forever linked with the BBC TV series The Onedin Line, the work enjoys enormous popularity in its own right.

Having thrilled audiences with his reading of Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto in the last series, Freddy Kempf now tackles the composer's ultra-romantic Second Concerto (used to such atmospheric effect in David Lean's classic film Brief Encounter). Since winning the BBC Young of the Year Competition in 1992, Kempf has established himself as an outstanding pianist of international repute.

This concert comes to a barnstorming finale with Tchaikovsky's powerful Fourth Symphony. This gives the brass section plenty to do, not least in the resounding fanfare that opens the work and returns towards the end (incidentally, this featured as the theme tune to the 1970 mini-series Ivanhoe - just to complete the hat trick of film/TV theme tunes!). Another wonderful touch is the third movement scherzo, marked pizzicato ostinato, which gives the strings the chance to show their dexterity.

The Cambridge Early Music Concert Series 2008 are delighted to welcome back this vibrant young period-instrument chamber orchestra for a Christmas concert. This year they will play Bach's Concerto for 3 violins, Vivaldi's Concerto for 4 violins, Telemann's Concerto for 2 violas, and Graun's Harpsichord Concerto.

As part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of John Milton's birth, spearheaded by Christ's College, and in partnership with the Suffolk Villages Festival, the Cambridge Early Music Concert Series 2008 present this performance of a Handel masterpiece, sometimes known as "Merriment, Melancholy and Moderation". Milton's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" provide the text of the first two sections of this secular oratorio, while Handel's regular librettist Charles Jennens completed the set with "Il Moderato". Extolling the pleasures of the English countryside, this rarely-performed work contains some of Handel's most beautiful and memorable music.
There will be a pre-concert talk by Dr Jessica Martin, Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge, at 5.00pm in Trinity College Chapel. Admission to the talk is free.

On the 21st July the Cologne New Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra will perform a number of popular pieces including:

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - "Summer"

Mozart - Concerto for Horn and Orchestra in E Flat Major KV 447

Mendelssohn - Music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Purcell - "Pavane et Chaconne" for String Orchestra

Pachelbel - "Canon" for 3 Violins and basso continuo

Cambridge Philharmonic Society

Timothy Redmond: Conductor, Mark Simpson: Clarinet

Programme details
Wagner - Tristan and Isolde: Prelude

Magnus Lindberg - Clarinet Concerto

Mahler - Symphony No 1

"This was more than a performance; more than an interpretation, even ... this was simply great music-making by any standard"
So wrote music critic James Day after a performance of Mahler's Ninth symphony by the Cambridge Philharmonic Society in November 2002. The Cambridge Philharmonic Society: a group of nearly 200 members who play and sing music for the sheer love and art of it, aiming, always, at the highest possible standards of performance.

The Cambridge Philharmonic Society comprises a thriving choir and orchestra. Members come from all walks of life. The singers and players represent such diverse occupations as doctors and nurses, scientists and academics, writers and adminstrators, refrigeration engineers and engravers, teachers and students. They play up to eight concerts a year concentrating largely on the romantic repertoire. But they have also championed new works such as John Dankworth's Clarinet Concerto and George Lloyd's Symphonic Mass. They play Bach and Haydn too. Apart from venues in and around Cambridge they have given concerts in Ely, Peterborough and Norwich. In 2001 they travelled to Amersfoort in Holland for a performance of Haydn's Creation with the Amersfoort Choral Society, and in January 2004 they joined forces with the Brussels Choral Society for an all-Berlioz concert in Belgium.

  AltaiKAI
THROAT-SINGERS OF SACRED ALTAI
UK Tour July 2008

Amyr Akchin: kaichi throat-singer, epics, ikili fiddle, bayan accordion
Emil Terkishev: kaichi throat-singer, vocals, topshur lute
Sarymai Urchimaev: kaichi throat-singer, vocals, sound imitation, khomus jaw's harp, shoor end-blown flute, topshur lute
Solunai Sapysheva: kaichi throat-singer, vocals, shoor end-blown flute, tungur shamanic drum, khomus jaw's harp
Urmat Yntaev: founder, artistic director and kaichi throat-singer

AltaiKAI's music is deeply influenced by the mighty Altai Mountains, believed to be the ‘navel' of the universe and the mythical land of Shambala. Formed by Urmat Yntaev to counter threats to Altaian traditions and their sacred land, ‘kai' is Altai's own distinctive form of throat-singing (overtone-singing), a magical technique in which a single vocalist produces spectral overtones and undertones to form multiple melodies. Used in epic performance and in shamanic and Buddhist rituals, this is perhaps the oldest form of throat-singing. Combining kai with sounds of the natural world, a range of traditional instruments and their own songs, AltaiKAI evokes the heroes, spiritual beliefs and landscape of the herders and hunters of Altai. The group has been awarded a string of prizes in its homeland, in the Russian Federation and at international festivals (e.g. the UNESCO prize, Samarkand).

The great saxophonist Mornington Lockett appears at High Barn, The Bardfield Centre, CM7 4SL with the Jazznights Trio & Larraine Odell. Check www.high-barn.com.

Tenor saxophonist Mornington Lockett studied at Dartington College Of Arts before moving to London to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
As a member of the Ronnie Scott Sextet, Mornington worked extensively in Britain and abroad. He has recorded albums with Ronnie Scott, guitarist Jim Mullen, drummer Martin Drew, pianist Stan Tracey, and jazz singers Sarah Jane Morris, Claire Martin, Ian Shaw, and Lea Delaria.

In 1995 Mornington performed at the Barbican with Cuban trumpet supremo Arturo Sandoval and was subsequently asked to appear with the group at the Cork Jazz Festival. Mornington has also toured internationally with Oscar Peterson's long time sidemen, drummer Martin Drew and bassist Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and toured Europe in the summer of 2004 with the legendary hammond organist Jimmy Smith.

Mornington is currently involved with an extensive UK tour with the Stan Tracey Octet. He has worked in a number of different combinations with Stan over the last ten years, including the memorable 'Continental Drift' Band formed to celebrate Stan's 75th birthday, and the 'Ellingtonia' sextet. Other Tracey collaborations include the 'Under Milk Wood Suite', and Big Band concerts celebrating the centenary of the birth of Duke Ellington and Ellington's 'Sacred Music', recently performed at a packed Saint Paul's Cathedral in honour of Stan's own 80th Birthday.