Conductor says goodbye to the Cambridge Philharmonic

Concert ends with "most popular choral work of all time"
Ely cathedral is venue for farewell to "inspiring" conductor

Conductor Martin West will say goodbye to the Cambridge Philharmonic Society when he directs a concert of music by Schubert, Szymanowski and Mozart in Ely cathedral on Saturday July 16th. West is leaving the Society having been appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the San Francisco Ballet.

"The Cambridge Philharmonic owes a huge debt of gratitude to Martin", says publicity officer Angela Bennett. "In his seven years as our conductor his adventurous programming, attention to detail and inspiring presence on the podium has galvanised players, singers and audiences alike". West himself says that he is proudest of helping players and singers to outperform even their own high expectations. Of his new post in the USA, he says, "It is a huge honour to be invited by San Francisco Ballet. They are one of the greatest ballet companies in the world with a superb orchestra".

The Ely concert starts with Franz Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, a two-movement work that is universally loved, before continuing with a gorgeous masterwork by one of the twentieth century's most unjustly neglected composers, Karol Szymanowski. His Stabat Mater, which he wrote to describe a "profound inner experience", is based on Polish chants and other religious music and is according to the French critic André Coeuroy, "one of the most original religious compositions ever written". The concert ends with the profoundly moving Requiem of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a piece that has never failed to capture the hearts of all who listen to it.

The soloists in the Ely concert are Lucy Crowe, a graduate of Royal Academy Opera course, who is rapidly making a name for herself and Emma Selway, a multi-prize winning performer, noted for her roles with English National Opera, Opera North, Welsh National Opera and Glyndebourne Opera. Both have sung with the Cambridge Philharmonic Society before and are back by popular acclaim. Huw Rhys-Evans, equally at home on the opera stage and in concert (having sung at Carnegie Hall and in France, Germany Italy, the Netherlands and Singapore), joins Lucy and Emma, as does Adrian Power, a singer with an international reputation who has been a soloist with (amongst others) the Darmstadt Hofkapelle, the Hallé, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.

Meanwhile, the Cambridge Philharmonic are in the process of appointing a successor to Martin West. "We had a magnificent response to our advertisement for a conductor", says secretary Jan Moore, "and we will be announcing the successful applicant from a very strong field in the very near future".

Tickets for the concert (which starts at 7.30pm) can be obtained from the Cambridge Arts Theatre Box Office (01223 503333) or the Ely Cathedral Box Office (01353 660349).

Poster available for download

Notes for editors

For further information including biographies please see our web site, www.cam-phil.org.uk.
If you would like any interviews for your publication please contact publicity@cam-phil.org.uk, giving as much notice as possible.