Concert Reports

Woking Leisure Centre 19th July 2008

Silent Movie - Organist Organist Dennis James USA

We were delighted to welcome Dennis James from the United States on Saturday 19^th July. Internationally well known for his dedication throughout his professional career to the continuation of the theatrical traditions of organ performance, Dennis expertly accompanied one of the best known and most highly acclaimed silent films - Charlie Chaplin's the Gold Rush.

Converting a sports hall into a movie palace isn't easy, but with suggestions from Dennis, changes to the layout, decorations and lighting rig, and of course two vintage projectors the temporary transformation was completed. For this movie presentations, we used a genuine hand loaded slide projector and 16mm cine film projector. All of this was very kindly supplied by Alan Willmott – a specialist in cine film and its projection equipment, who has a major collection of transport and travel films.

The event started with an thrilling musical welcome to Hollywood accompanying a 35mm slide sequence – Len Rawle deftly operating the hand loaded slide projector. Then with the evocative sound of the sprocket hole noise that only a vintage projector can provide, Alan brought into action the cine film to the thrilling organ accompaniment.

Both during the interval and following the performance a large queue of audience members waited to talk to Dennis and learn more about the Wurlitzer and the art of accompanying including such things as highly accurate timing, special effects, dynamics and much more! In spite of such energetic continuous playing Dennis took almost no interval break - instead talking to the many members of the audience who came to the console. A wonderful way to further public interest in the theatre pipe organ.

The audience really enjoyed the outstanding performance which made all the efforts to get the exact atmosphere to do the event justice well worthwhile. 

Woking Leisure Centre 28th June 2008

Organist Kevin Morgan

Kevin from the North of England made a welcome return visit to Woking on the evening of Saturday 28^th June. Kevin is a teacher of piano and organ at a school in the North of England and for obvious reasons, organ clubs and societies are only able to book him out of term times. Kevin is an extremely popular player, and as luck would have it our chapter was amongst the first of his bookings following the end of the School year. The evening opened with the march from King Kong, and a wide selection of music chosen by Kevin to commemorate composers anniversaries. The programme included a selection from Schubert's Lilac Time, a little heard piece by Helmsberger, and the most appropriately named radios theme tune by Marshall Ross – Marching Strings. It was a wonderful evenings entertainment.

Woking Leisure Centre 17th May 2008

Organists - Ian Gough & Michael Baron.

Our Organists on the evening of 17^th May Michael Baron and Ian Gough journeyed from the North of England where they are well known on the organ circuit. Amongst their regular Northern venues is the Peel Green Centre and Hope-Jones Museum created by the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust. Ian is a recent First Prize winner of the ATOS adult competition, and Michael a classical organist and pianist. Both quite independently learned of former ABC organist Joyce Alldred's music school and became her pupils. Many members will know that Joyce has been a teacher for many years and continues a busy teaching schedule following her recent retirement after almost fifty years as a professional organist.

Both players covered a wide repertoire and were extremely well received by our audience. The Yamaha Clavinova is now in regular use at our Woking events, and in another first, the concert concluded with two piano /organ duets to rapturous applause.

Woking Leisure Centre 8th March 2008

Organist Donald MacKenzie.

Donald started his theatre organ career as a direct entry into the International Young Theatre Organist of the Year Competition which took place at the convention in San Francisco in 1991. He came away from there the winner of the senior competition and has gone on to great things since then. He is at present the principle organist at London´s Premier Cinema The Odeon Leicester Square where he has played for numerous Royal Film Performances, including four in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. Donald has always be prominent on the theatre organ scene but recently reports have suggested that he was reaching even greater heights.

So we were very pleased to welcome him to our 3 manual 19 rank Wurlitzer at Woking. Believe me we were not disappointed. We had a well constructed programme of music coupled with confidently, and beautifully registered sounds played with great mastery and musicianship. At the end the audience were ecstatic and it took quite a time for our MC to quiet them in order to thank Donald for his stunning performance. Of course we had to have the demanded encore. This was certainly a concert not to be missed.

Woking Leisure Centre 12th January 2008

Organist Christian Cartwright.

The new year of concerts started off with a bang as our chapter welcomed for the first time Christian Cartwright. Christian is well known in the North of England for his regular performances at "Pipes in the Peaks". He gave a highly enjoyable concert to a full house with a wide variety of styles and tempos. His programme contained a lively selection of music from the shows and novelty items - very much something for everyone. One piece called for imitation bagpipes and despite having little enough time to time to become familiar with the full tonal range of our 19 rank Wurlitzer, Christian registered an amazing imitation and showed great mastery of our instrument.

After a thrilling finale and a very well received and demanded encore, there was just enough time for restoration enthusiasts to chat to Christian and his brother Christopher who are enthusiastically rebuilding their own Christie theatre organ. Using the latest technology they were able to share recent photos with us, taken with a mobile phone - a nice touch.

Woking Leisure Centre 15th December 2007

Len Rawle Christmas Show.

The year's highlight at Woking came on 15th December, when driven by the efforts and enthusiasm of Len Rawle we once again staged two Christmas concerts. Len's guests this year included grand-daughter Rebecca Pickford - Flute, Sandie Stefanetti - Compare/ Soprano, the Chobham St. Lawrence Bell Ringers - leader Tim Willetts and the Bedfordshire Police Choir, conducted by Mark Edmonds, and accompanist Richard Heyes.

Setting up for Christmas is always a challenge with additional video, lighting and sound equipment plus festive decorations! Our volunteers always manage to transform a spartan sports hall into a welcoming attractive venue. Both performances were to full and enthusiastic houses, ensuring the continued success of these events.

Woking Leisure Centre 17th November 2007

Organist Michael Wooldridge.

Michael who is well known on both the theatre and electronic organ scene was at the console of our 3/19 Wurlitzer. he is a very versatile artiste and brought his Yamaha stage piano with him on this occasion, and surprised our audience by asking for a volunteer to play a duet with him. Luckily, Musical Advisor, Technical Team Leader and International Theatre Organist Len Rawle was on hand and came forward. Several lively Jazz and big band duets.  followed to great acclaim from the audience. The evening went down very well with the large audience, leaving no doubt that Michael will be enthusiastically welcomed back to Woking in the future.