OU Orchestra and Chamber Music Club Committee
Meeting
Tuesday 19th February, 2008, 1:00 – 2:00
Present
Bill, Laurence (chair), Tim, Stephen, Ian, Sarah, Jane, David, Tessa, Elaine
(secretary).
Apologies
June, Clare, Debbie, Mike.
1. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
The Schedule document has been prepared and put on the website.
The new timpani store was now ready and would be formally christened after Friday’s
rehearsal.
Action brought forward
Register on the website
New members document
Action: David, Bill, Tim
Action : Tessa, Tim
2. Finance
Stephen presented a statement of the Club finances and emphasised that although
money could be vired from one heading to another, it was important to keep within
the budget. A number of members had not yet paid their subscription and had been
sent reminders.
The committee was asked to think about whether a sum for timpani repair should be
included in the bid for next year’s funding as a decision about this was needed soon.
3. Publicity
Jane circulated a comprehensive schedule of dates for publicity-related tasks. This
was gratefully accepted by the committee and Jane thanked for doing such a good job
on this.
It was agreed the schedule should go on the website.
Action: Tim
4. Music for the May Concert
The date of the Workshop on Dvořak’s Eighth was confirmed as Sunday, April 27th as
more Orchestra members were available this day and there was a better spread of
available people. Clare has booked the Church and Recital Room for this day.
Bill and Laurence would arrange instrumental specialists to lead the workshop.
Action: Bill, Laurence.
Brahms Academic Overture and Hungarian Dances had been suggested as suitable
pieces to accompany Dvořak’s Eighth. The Orchestra would play through both pieces
at the rehearsal on 29th February and would then be given a week to state their
preference.
It was necessary to determine exactly which players would be playing in the concert
so that appropriate extra players could be found.
5 October Concert
Bill had spoken to Angela Caesar who was keen to perform with the Orchestra but
due to her commitment to the ENO was not available on 24th October. At present she
was available on 10th and 17th October but was waiting to see if she was needed by
ENO on these dates.
It was agreed to wait until March to see if she had further news on these dates. 17th
October was agreed as the provisional date for the concert.
Should Angela not be available, it was suggested that the October concert consist of a
suite of non-symphonic pieces e.g. dances, programmatic pieces. Film music was
suggested.
Angela would then be contacted about the possibility of performing with the
Orchestra the following May.
It would be helpful if people suggesting music for the orchestra could check a
catalogue to see what the line-up of instruments was and whether it fitted the
Orchestra.
6. Committee Meetings for 2008
The OU choir was contacted but does not arrange its committee meetings more than
one in advance. A list of dates that suited both Bill and Laurence was circulated, but
there were several months without mutually convenient dates.
It was agreed that the next committee meeting would be on 4th March.
The main items would be the October concert and the filler piece for May.
The dates for May and June were fixed as 20th May and 10th June.
7. Open Day 2009/40th Anniversary
It was too late to commission anything for the 40th anniversary. The possibility of
repeating the May concert or reviving pieces played previously for Open Day was
considered. However the 40th Anniversary celebrations are going to spread over
several weeks and it would be possible to label the May 2009 concert a 40th
Anniversary one. This was considered a better option.