Orchestra Director Brita Fray and the Doha Community Orchestra with soprano Patricia Sands on the left. PICTURE: Nasar TK
By Fran Gillespie/Doha
Almost 80 musicians took to the stage of the American School in Doha (ASD) on Saturday evening to perform in front of a delighted audience.
The Doha Community Orchestra (DCO), founded only eight years ago with just ten string players, rapidly grew so large that three years ago it split into two sections and now incorporates the Doha Community Wind Symphony.
Musicians range from semi-professionals and professionals, including the occasional ‘loan’ from the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, to amateurs ranging in age from 10 to those nearing retirement - all united in their passion for music.
It seems that at every concert the orchestra achieves new heights, and Saturday’s performance was no exception.
The programme, beginning with Beethoven’s ‘Overture’ to the play ‘Egmont’, featured composers from many different countries, reflecting the multinational character of the orchestra.
This was followed by the lyrical romantic song ‘Sogno’ (Dream) by the hugely popular 19th century Italian-British composer Francesco Tosti.
It was sung by soprano Patricia Sands accompanied by the orchestra. Sands, who is the theatre director at ASD, has performed in many countries world-wide and her superb performance received enthusiastic applause.
The romantic theme continued with Edward Grieg’s ‘Norwegian Dance’, based on folktunes from the composer’s native country, and then it was time for ‘something completely different’ with the musicians snapping their fingers as well as playing away for dear life in Doug Spata’s sizzling and stylish ‘Maharaja’, with the audience invited to join in the finger-snapping by conductor Brita Fray.
Combining rhythms and motifs from Southeast Asian music with a powerful beat and exciting melodies, this very recent composition is as much fun to play as it is to listen to, and the DCO did it full justice.
More fusion of east and west followed, with ‘Variations on a Korean Folk Song’ by John B Chance, a challenging composition requiring a very high standard of performance from the musicians, and finally a set of Cuban dances ending with a fast-paced mambo that had some of the younger members of the audience jigging in their seats!
Contrary to what one might have expected, Brita Fray, talking to Gulf Times in the interval, said that the Beethoven was the most challenging piece to play, and not least because it is so well known and the audience mentally compare it with other live or recorded performances they have heard.
The musicians meet once a week for rehearsals and began practising for the concert only three months ago. “With each performance we continue to expand our boundaries,” she said, “and are ready to take on the next challenge.”
In the second half of Saturday’s concert, it was the turn of the Wind Symphony, directed by Jim Kulpa who, like Brita Fray, teaches music at ASD.
‘The March of the Belgian Paratroopers’ by Leemans, which took the composer two World Wars to complete, is an easy-paced, jaunty and light-hearted march tune, intended to conjure up a vision of troops marching from a distance, stopping to play, and then marching on.
The performance, which was enthusiastically applauded by the audience, preceded a very different and much quieter piece, ‘Canterbury Chorale’ by Van der Roost, which seemed rather out of keeping with the rest of the evening’s programme.
There is no doubt that an average Doha audience seems to prefer rousing and cheerful music!
A lively ‘Russian Sailors Dance’ was well received, followed by a complicated series of variations on well-known Japanese folk tunes, such as the wistful, haunting ‘Sakura’, ending with a loud and aggressive, frenetically fast-paced finale abruptly terminating in a shout from the orchestra. This was met with much applause and an encore was called for.
Information on the DCO can be found on the website www.dohaorchestra.com. The orchestra’s main sponsor is Conoco Phillips.
Director Brita Fray and members of the orchestra with Concertmaster and First Violinist Katrina Elliman (standing).
