THREE years ago young conductor Tom Newall breezed into the lives of the players of Paddock Orchestra.
Tom, who was born in Leeds, had always had a passion for music and couldn’t wait to conduct his very own symphony orchestra.
The little matter of travelling from Durham to Paddock for weekly rehearsals didn’t faze him at all. The orchestra worried about the mileage. Tom didn’t. He thought it worth the hour and a half’s journey, usually by car, sometimes by train.
Tom is a bass-baritone and is studying for a music degree at Durham University.
Now that he is about to finish those studies, the relationship with Paddock Orchestra is about to end and as Tom moves on to other things, the orchestra will be getting a new conductor.
So there’s something extra special about a concert on June 21 when Paddock Orchestra plays at St Thomas’s Church, Longroyd Bridge conducted for the last time by Tom.
It will be a celebratory affair, a concert full of the admiration and respect which flows both ways between a young conductor and an orchestra he has worked hard with for three years and committed much to.
The concert programme will be typically adventurous with the programme opening with the overture from Rossini’s opera, The Barber of Seville.
The orchestra will then play Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and they are delighted to have as their soloist, professional musician Richard Hewitt who actually plays first oboe with the Orchestra of Opera North but is equally at home playing violin.
To round off what promises to be an exciting musical finale for Tom, the orchestra will play Beethoven’s Fifth.
Doubtless he will be pleased to know that the orchestra will continue to be in safe hands after his departure. Barbara Bancroft, currently Tom’s deputy, has agreed to take on the conductor’s role.
Tickets for the Longroyd Bridge concert, which begins at 7.30pm, are available on the door or from Mrs Jean Gooden on 01484 661196.
