Classical Music Special: Classic Provision
Classical music in and around Hastings is burgeoning. But for some reason and for some people it has been a secondary interest compared to the rockier, jazzier, more raucous genres. How many people know that we have our own professional symphony orchestra – the Hastings Philharmonic – led by maestro Marco da Silva?
They claim to be the first fully professional orchestra in Hastings since the 1930s when the Hastings Municipal Orchestra was based at the White Rock Theatre, itself a national centre for classical music and favourite recording studio for the Decca Records. This year the HPO have at least one concert a month at either the White Rock Theatre or Christ Church in St Leonards.
Perhaps slightly more on the radar is the biennial Hastings Piano Concerto Competition. Next month sees a special Prizewinners’ Gala Concert at the White Rock with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Shunta Morimoto and Mariamna Sherling return having thrilled the capacity audience with their performances in the final of the 16th Hastings International last year.
The Competition evolved from the of Hastings Music Festival in the 1930s. It has become internationally-renowned for young concert pianists. Of last year’s 360 applicants from global auditions, more than 40 came to compete in Hastings. Their prize: the opportunity to perform with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the two-night final, and a first prize of £15,000. Plans are already in hand for the 2024 Competition.
As part of the Piano Concerto Competition the indefatigable Sarah Kovitz provides space at her ‘stately’ home, Fairlight Hall for regular recitals. As she says: “I think we are blessed with choice for a regional location where 50 per cent of our potential audience is the sea! The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the iconic London orchestras, has taken Hastings to its heart and comes now as a regular visitor to a town that for 40 years was a classical music desert.”
Opera is also very much part of the Hastings’ scene. Barefoot Opera strive to make it accessible, and elsewhere on this page we carry a piece from their director Jenny Miller on her philosophy. But Barefoot do not have a monopoly: there’s also Opera South East, based in Hastings, and one of the few companies in the region that regularly performs opera with full chorus and orchestra.
They attract established singers and musicians as well as young professional performers at the start of their career. At their heart is a chorus of enthusiastic and friendly amateur singers under professional music and artistic direction.
Other events are also much in evidence, including the upcoming Hastings Musical Festival with its greater emphasis on young people. The Young Instrumentalist of the year competition is in mid March.
Also in this special section, Victoria Kingham reviews a recent concert by the Fritz Brothers and the multi-talented violinist Max Baillie – who is also the inspiration behind the regular St Leonard’s Concerts, an eclectic mix of classical Jazz and electronic genres.
So then, no shortage of ‘serious’ music available locally; and if you can get tickets, don’t miss the Gala Concert at the White Rock, when last year’s competition winners will play Beethoven’s dramatic and complex 4th concerto and Rachmaninov’s heartrending Variations on a Theme By Paganini. This promises to be an unmissable evening.
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