Sinfonietta Reunion Concert – Sunday 9th June

Dear Sinfonietta Alumnus,

You are warmly invited to the Sinfonietta Reunion Concert and informal reception on Sunday 9th June with conductors Daniel Capps and Bill Carslake! We will perform the Harry Woolhouse Trust commission for Sinfo’s 25th anniversary: Carrownagappul, written by our current MD, Bill Carslake, conducted by Daniel Capps, and we would love you to play with us. We will also say farewell to Bill after his 12 years with the orchestra. We hope you will celebrate the amazing Sinfo community with us! 

Please join us for an informal reception, 1pm-2:45pm outside Great Hall on the lawns (and under the gazebos if it rains). Then play in and/or listen to the concert at 7pm. There will be a ceilidh after the concert. 

Sinfo is going strong, 27 years after its inception, and we’re delighted that Daniel is returning to conduct Carrownagappul. We need your help to pull it off! Bill has written dedicated parts for alumni players. You’ll receive your part in advance – it won’t be hard! – and there will be two optional 45-min Zoom rehearsals in advance where Bill can introduce you to your part and the piece. We would also love you to play Sibelius’ Karelia Suite with us to round off the concert. The first half of the programme will feature Sinfo current members in Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with Jason Bae – one of our first violins – as soloist, and the first movement of Ida Moberg’s Sunrise Orchestral Suite, continuing the Finland and nature themes.

We will send you your parts in advance for both Karelia Suite and Carrownagappul. These two pieces will only be rehearsed in person on the day, straight after the informal reception. See timings below. 

A note from Bill: 

Carrownagappul is inspired by a week of fieldwork at Carrownagappul raised bog in Co. Galway, Ireland in summer 2023. Peat bogs are essential wildernesses. They account for c. 3% of the earth’s land and they store twice as much carbon as all the forests (UN Environment Programme article). They ‘rise’/grow/deepen at a rate of c.1mm per year. Dig in them, and you’re digging in time. Which is what we’ll do, musically…! I’m delighted that the Harry Woolhouse Trust came up with this commission idea. I’ve written a part for an alumni ensemble – an ‘Echo Band’ – to evoke peat’s profound sense of memory and time-travel. And that’s where you come in!! I can’t wait to celebrate with Daniel and with you. I hope so much to see lots of people who I haven’t seen for years – and to meet many of you from before 2012. I look forward to a fantastic, memorable day.

So, whether you come to play, or just to listen and reminisce, we would LOVE to see you! Concert tickets will be available at a reduced price for alumni, and the informal reception will be free – we just need to know who is coming!

Here are the details:

Sunday 9th June

1pm-2:45pm Informal reception on the lawn/under the gazebos outside Sherfield Building
3pm-5pm Rehearsal for Carrownagappul and Karelia Suite, Great Hall, Sherfield Building
7pm Concert, Great Hall

Optional online intro sessions on Zoom for Carrownagappul
Sunday 12th May 6pm-6:45pm  
Sunday 19th May 6pm-6:45pm 

Please fill out this form to indicate your interest in and availability for the informal reception and for playing in the concert. 

And please spread the word far and wide! We want to make sure that absolutely everyone receives this invitation. 

Yours in music, 

Bryony Lanigan
Chair, Sinfonietta 2023/4
Bill Carslake
Conductor, 2012-2024

Haven’t heard from us or Imperial Alumni Office about the event? 

Many apologies to those of you who filled in our registration form and haven’t heard from us. Please consider yourself booked, with our warm gratitude, and if you haven’t already heard from us, you will very shortly! 

You may also have heard from Imperial College Alumni Office, directing you to the same registration form. The alumni office team sent a large mail-shot to the 325 alumni on record who have links to Sinfonietta. If you haven’t heard from the Alumni Office and would like to hear from them in the future, please update your email address and opt into future communications from them via this link. The alumni office team are being brilliantly helpful.

In the meantime, to register for the event, please fill in this form and you will hear from us shortly.   

Any further queries please email Bill at billcarslake@gmail.com and Sinfonietta at sinfonietta@imperial.ac.uk

Tickets! 

Returning alumni playing in the concert: free
Returning alumni listening to the concert: £6.99 (same as student price)
Children under 10: free 
Current student price: £6.99
All other guests: £11.99