BRUNEL 200 CELEBRATIONS

The Brunel Sinfonia was afforded a great opportunity to raise its profile as a result of the 2006 being the anniversary year of Brunel's birth. We were involved in various events around Bristol - read on for more!

Burgon Commission

In support of the Brunel 200 celebrations, the Brunel Sinfonia, with the support of Burges Salmon LLP, commissioned a Brunel-themed orchestral work from the highly regarded composer Geoffrey Burgon. Entitled "Industrial Dreams", the new piece focuses on Brunel's four major fields of achievement: trains, tunnels, bridges and ships. Geoffrey Burgon is well-known both for his concert hall works and his numerous television and film scores, two of which have won BAFTA awards. The work was premiered by the Brunel Sinfonia at their Summer Concert on 10 June 2006.

Community Work

This work was also the central feature of a drive to bring music to the local community. The project focused on the creative process, including how composers find inspiration and how they turn those ideas into a finished piece of music. Musicians from the orchestra have visited numerous local schools, offering children the opportunity to see how instruments work and to ask questions about music in general. Geoffrey Burgon has also visited the City Academy to work with a class of GCSE students, offering them a rare chance to seek the advice of a professional composer. The highlight of this programme was a concert at the City Academy by orchestra. This took place at lunchtime on 29th June, following up on the creative music workshops of 9th June and 27th June. The event was an enormous success as the children's reactions showed!!

Closing Ceremony

The June concert was greeted with critical acclaim in the national press, and the Brunel Sinfonia was soon approached to perform at the Closing Ceremony of the Brunel 200 Celebrations. This performance, held in Temple Meads Station on 16th September, was a fantastic opportunity for the Brunel Sinfonia to showcase its skills and the orchestra performed the opening movement of Industrial Dreams along with Pomp and Circumstance Number One (Elgar). The Sinfonia dipped into its past repertoire to perform Mozart's Marriage of Figaro Overture, and flexed its emotional muscle with the Greensleeves Aria. It was a wonderful occassion and a fitting way to conclude our involvement with a celebration of Bristol's greatest citizen.