Reviews

Review: TPS July Concert – Treading the Boards

Review of Tonbridge Philharmonic Society Concert – 1st July 2023 The Tonbridge Phil concert on 1st July was entitled ‘Treading the Boards: Theatrical Music Across the ages from Shakespeare to Sondheim'. This included music from the 16th century to the 1980’s. It was an evening combining real favourites and some less familiar music in a thoughtful programme. I was advised it would make us laugh...

Review: TPS May Concert – Copland, Gershwin and Price

Review of Tonbridge Philharmonic Society Concert – 20th May 2023 It’s always an immense pleasure attending a ‘Tonbridge Phil’ concert, with or without the choir: tonight was no exception. They are always well rehearsed and deliver a polished and thrilling performance. Music from three turn-of-the-century American composers took us from the Great Plains and what could have been a John Wayne...

Review: TPS March Concert – Handel, Mendelssohn and Mozart

Review of Tonbridge Philharmonic Society Concert – 25th March 2023 From reading the Chairman’s preface in the handsomely produced programme booklet one could detect something of the frustration and sense of impoverishment for the performing arts caused by the restrictions in force during lockdown – an acute sense of deprivation for singers and players, the musical equivalent of ‘nil by mouth’,...

Review: Orchestral Concert 18th February – Holst The Planets

I am never disappointed by the superb output of Tonbridge Philharmonic Society and last Saturday’s concert was no exception. We were taken on a musical journey beginning on the wild tempestuous coast of Cornwall, to the country idyll of Norfolk, the bustling court of Elizabethan England, to the serene beauty of Bonnie Scotland, the crowded streets of London and finally up, up into very space...

Review: Verdi Requiem

The very well-produced programme for the Tonbridge Philharmonic Society’s performance of the Verdi Requiem on Saturday 19th November 2022 in Tonbridge School Chapel contained some interesting memories from Joanna Mace on the last 75 years of the Society. Although now in its 77th season, this concert was intended to be a 75th anniversary celebration, postponed for obvious reasons. This...

Review: Summer Concert – a programme of American Classics

You cannot say that Tonbridge Philharmonic Society’s programming is anything other than challenging! Last nights offerings were no exception. An interesting, if a little unexpected, evening was another triumph for this wonderful musical society. The final concert of the season began with aplomb with a lesser known, yet charmingly lighthearted Overture from Primrose by Ira and George Gershwin....

REVIEW: Orchestral Concert – Nielsen, Rota and Sibelius

21 May 2022 Nielsen, Rota and Sibelius Tonbridge Philharmonic Orchestra St Peter & St Paul Church, Tonbridge Review by Sara Kemsley My opportunities to review a concert by the always-impressive Tonbridge Philharmonic Society seem mostly to have coincided with the opening season of a new conductor. There have been a few in recent years through circumstance not carelessness on the part of...

Verdi Requiem Workshop hosted by TPS and the Royal Philharmonic Society

Tonbridge Philharmonic Society and the Royal Philharmonic Society hosted a very enjoyable Verdi Requiem Workshop on Saturday 14 May. Verdi’s Requiem is probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed since the compilation of Mozart’s Requiem, and has been described...

REVIEW: Duruflé Requiem and Serenade to Music

Review 1 It was a welcome return for the combined forces of the Tonbridge Philharmonic choir and orchestra after a two and a half year absence, in a challenging programme of choral music both a cappella and with orchestral accompaniment. The European flavour to the concert was set from the opening motet Abendlied by Rheinberger which was performed with a warm firm sound by the choir, with lots...

REVIEW: Tailleferre/ Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Suite No.2/ Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2

For the first concert of their 2022 season, the Tonbridge Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Naomi Butcher focused on Russian Romantics, with red-blooded works from Prokofiev and Rachmaninov drawing a capacity audience to the Chapel of St Augustine. They began with a rarity, the Ouverture of 1931 from Germaine Tailleferre, the only female member of the celebrated group of French composers...