Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Royal Wedding Music

I am delighted to learn that the new music director of the Charlotte Symphony (of which I was Assistant Principal Cellist from 2004 to 2008) will be conducting the London Chamber Orchestra at the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey on April 29. I played under Christopher Warren-Green's direction in 2005 when he first guest conducted in Charlotte and recognized him from having seen him on TV conducting the orchestra at the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall a few weeks earlier. Mr Warren-Green is a great musician and it is a wonderful coup for Charlotte to have landed him as music director. Congratulations to Mr Warren-Green and my former colleagues in Charlotte!

I am also pleased that in eschewing pop stars in favour of classical sacred music, William & Kate have demonstrated that for all their "modern-ness" (and I'm sure that as private individuals they probably do have some more contemporary tastes and outlooks than die-hard monarchists like me), they understand the importance of tradition and quality at solemn, major events such as their marriage.

1 comment:

Dianne Stewart 's Plog - PR In's and Out's said...

Charlotte seems to have always had a "Royal Connection" being named after King George III's German wife, Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was also known by JC Bach and WA Mozart as a patron of the arts. We even have a bible from George VI at Queens University.
By the way, the plant Strelizia, a native flower of South Africa, was also named after her. Some may know it as the Bird of Paradise - but it real name is a Strelizia.
Funny that I should end up here!