Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), will present a variety of popular music in a concert called Night of the Proms/British Festival tomorrow.
The concert takes place at 7.30pm at the Ceremonial Court in Education City.
Scottish conductor Bob Ross will return to Qatar to direct works from the UK and other parts of the world in the genres of Opera, Operetta, Broadway and film music. Soprano Felicitas Fuchs and Philharmonic cellist Kirill Bogatyrev will perform as soloists.
The British Council is sponsoring the concert under the banner of its British Festival, a month-long celebration of activities promoting Britain in Qatar and cross-cultural relations.
Night of the Proms is modelled on the similarly titled Last Night of the Proms, a programme that closes each season of the renowned BBC Proms Festival at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Last September, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra performed at the 2014 Proms, in the 67th concert of this “greatest festival in classical music”, a few days before Last Night of the Proms.
The closing concert is immensely popular, not only in the UK but across the world, for its combination of lighter classics and patriotic British encores such as Rule Britannia by Thomas Arne and Land of Hope and Glory, also known as Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 by Edward Elgar.
The Doha concert will open with music by Emmerich K?lm?n from The Gypsy Princess, continue through George Frideric Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba from Solomon, and offer three works by George Gershwin: Summertime, The Man I Love and I Got Rhythm. Other highlights include Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter by John Williams and music from West Side Story and Candide by Leonard Bernstein.
Ross has conducted the QPO on numerous occasions. He plays the horn with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and is an established conductor and entertainer as well as the founder of the Blechschaden Ensemble.
Starting off as no more than a hobby, the ensemble has since become one of the most successful of brass bands, playing nearly 50 concerts per year.
Concerts of Blechschaden are known for their mixture of classical and light music and for the humour and wit of Ross.
Ross and his musicians were honoured by ECHO Klassik Awards twice for their recordings Brassomania and Blechschaden in Blech.
More information is available at qatarphilharmonicorchestra.org
Tickets are available at QR100 and QR150 for tomorrow’s performance through Virgin Megastore’s Villaggio and Landmark stores and online at tickets.virginmegastore.me
The Philharmonic’s next concert, Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony, will feature conductor Fawzi Haimor on April 11 at Katara Opera House.
