Worthing Symphony Orchestra in concert

Spokeswoman Jennie Osborne said: “Celtic Connections on Sunday, March 26 at Worthing Assembly Hall, features Irish, Scottish and Welsh composers alongside a relatively obscure English composer although his work is Scottish in theme and a local Sussex composer writing a concerto especially for a Scottish soloist – to be performed live for the first time on the day.

“WSO music director John Gibbons is a great advocate of British music and is vice-president of the British Music Society, He has worked alongside the renowned Welsh composer Karl Jenkins whose string work Palladio opens the concert. It is a piece that will be familiar to many through its use on the Debeers diamond TV advertisement.

“The orchestral music of William Wordsworth – not the famous poet but the 20th century composer – has enjoyed a renaissance of interest thanks to the on-going series of recordings by John Gibbons and the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra in Latvia. Wordsworth’s Variations on a Scottish Theme is based on the very popular Scottish song The Hundred Pipers which commemorates the fall of Carlisle to Bonnie Prince Charlie.

“The Londonderry Air fascinated Percy Grainger throughout his life and there exist many takes by Grainger on this popular theme. The composer was great friends with Frederick Delius whose On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring is justifiably popular. E J Moeran collected folksongs in his native Norfolk and his bucolic Whythorne’s Shadow is based on a Tudor melody by Elizabethan composer Thomas Whythorne, who wrote some of the first secular songs to be printed in England.”

Jennie added: “Scottish-born clarinettist, Ian Scott has been WSO Principal Clarinet for many years as well as being Guest Principal for the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

“Born in Perth, Scotland, Ian has recorded a number of CDs of British Clarinet Concertos, and it was while listening to one of these while in Tauranga, New Zealand, that Brighton-born composer Paul Lewis was inspired to write his Tauranga Concerto. This remarkable 20-minute work brings the concert to a close as it reflects the beauty of the Kaimai mountains and the local nature reserve. Its finale however is inspired by a jitterbug dance number and results in a jazzy movement reminiscent of the swing music of the 1920s and 30s.”

The concert starts at 2.45pm and tickets are available online at wtm.uk or call the box office on 01903 206206.

Jennie added: “Under the directorship of John Gibbons, WSO has established itself as one of the leading municipal orchestras in the country.”