West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Saturday 24 May, 7.30pm
Rouzbeh Parsa Concerto for Kamancheh and Orchestra
Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra
Jonathan Dove Odyssey
Performed by:
Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra
Cambridge Philharmonic Chorus
Harry Sever Conductor
Rouzbeh Parsa Kamancheh
Francesca Chiejina Soprano
John Gyeantey Tenor
There will be a 20 minute pre-concert talk, starting at 7pm with Harry Sever, Johnathan Brigg, Christopher Wykes and Rouzbeh Parasa. All ticketholders welcome.
A trio of works exploring the theme of sanctuary in this special concert to celebrate Cambridge’s refugee community, featuring the world premiere of a new Concerto for Kamancheh and Orchestra by Iranian composer and virtuoso Rouzbeh Parsa. This new work has been commissioned thanks to the generosity of local sponsors, arranged and orchestrated by Cambridge-based composer Jonathan Brigg, supported by Harry Sever our Music Director.
Rouzbeh writes:
‘The Kamancheh is one of the oldest traditional instruments in Iranian music, and I’ve always wanted to write a concerto for Kamancheh and orchestra. I’m excited about blending Iranian music with other traditions. I listen to composers like Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Arvo Pärt – I feel such a connection to them and their folk roots. I loved working with the Cambridge Philharmonic last year. It opened a new imagination in my mind, it was very inspiring for me. I felt so welcomed, and everyone was so supportive. I can’t wait to work with them again on this project.’
Jonathan Dove’s powerful cantata Odyssey celebrates the extraordinary bravery and resilience of refugees fleeing from persecution and suffering. While the Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók , himself a refugee, is a joyful, energetic and always brilliant work.
This concert will be supporting the work of Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign by raising funds to support their work in our local community.
There will be a 20 minute pre-concert talk, starting at 7pm with Harry Sever, Johnathan Brigg, Christopher Wykes and Rouzbeh Parasa. All ticketholders welcome.
Soloists
Francesca Chiejina – Soprano
Nigerian-American soprano Francesca Chiejina is a graduate of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where her roles included Countess Ceprano Rigoletto, Lady-in-Waiting Macbeth, Voice from Heaven Don Carlo, and Ines Il trovatore. She also sang Micaëla La tragédie de Carmen at Wilton’s Music Hall, and Melantho/Love The Return of Ulysses at the Roundhouse. She is the winner of the 2023 UK Critics’ Circle Young Talent (Voice) Award.
Highlights in the 2024/ 2025 season include the New Year’s concert with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the reprisal of her role as the soprano soloist in Crystal Pite’s ‘Light of Passage’ with the Royal Ballet.
Recent operatic highlights include: Jo Ann New Year with Birmingham Opera Company; title role Semele with Blackheath Opera; High Priestess Aida at Royal Opera House; Lauretta Il Trittico with Scottish Opera Mimì La bohème (Nevill Holt Opera, English Touring Opera); Melissa Amadigi (English Touring Opera); Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw (OperaGlass Works); the title role in English Touring Opera’s film of Elena Langer and Glyn Maxwell’s Ariadne; Freia RhineGold (Birmingham Opera Company); Anne Trulove The Rake’s Progress (Blackheath Halls Opera); her debut with Capella Cracoviensis as Aldimira Sigismondo; her house and role debut as Clara Porgy and Bess at Grange Park Opera; and her debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (Serena Porgy and Bess).
On the concert platform she has recently sung Strauss Orchesterlieder with the Orchestra of Opera North and the BBC Philharmonic, Berg’s Seven Early Songs with the Sinfonia of London and John Wilson at the BBC Proms, Mozart’s Requiem with Crouch End Festival Chorus, Bach’s St John Passion with Huddersfield Choral Society and Manchester Camerata, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the BBC Philharmonic and with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at the Sage Gateshead; Handel’s Messiah with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall; Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music at the Last Night of the BBC Proms; and Schubert’s Winterreise in recital at Blackheath Halls.
Chiejina has participated in masterclasses with Martin Katz, Kamal Khan, Gianna Rolandi, Joyce DiDonato, Brigitte Fassbänder, Edith Wiens and Felicity Lott. Competition successes include reaching the finals of the inaugural Glyndebourne Opera Cup in 2018, the semi-finals in the National Mozart Competition and winning the GSMD English Song Prize, the GSMD Aria Prize, as well as second prize in the Classical Singer Competition. She was also a finalist in the 2017 Kathleen Ferrier Awards.
She is featured on the critically acclaimed recordings ‘Transfigured’ with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective (Chandos), ‘Our Indifferent Century’ (Delphian) and ‘Carousel’ with John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London (Chandos).
Chiejina studied at the University of Michigan with Martha Sheil and James Paterson, and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Sue McCulloch.
John Gyeantey – Tenor
British tenor John Gyeantey is steadily gaining a reputation as a fine exponent of the bel canto repertoire. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Accademia Rossiniana, Pesaro, where he worked closely with Alberto Zedda, and began his training at the Royal College of Music and then the National Opera Studio as a Peter Moores Foundation Major Scholar.
On the concert platform, he is sought after as a sensitive and versatile artist with performances taking him across the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
Appearances include the title roles in Acis and Galatea (The Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace) and Thomas Arne’s Judgment of Paris (Wigmore Hall), Carmina Burana, Messiah, St Matthew Passion for Spanish TV, Mozart Requiem (RAH), Mahler Das Klagende Lied with the LPO under Vladimir Jurowski (RFH), Haydn Creation (Cairo Opera House) and Haydn Stabat Mater recorded for Luxembourg Radio. His Rossini roles include Ramiro La Cenerentola (Oper Schloss Hallwyl, covers for Glyndebourne and Opera North); Ruodi Guillaume Tell and Aronne Mosé in Egitto (covers for Welsh National Opera); Comte Ory Le Comte Ory (Opera South); Count Almaviva Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Festival Musique Cordiale, Diva Opera and Welsh National Opera); Zefirino Il viaggio a Reims, Adelberto (cover) Adelaide di Borgogna (both for the Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro); Alberto L’occasione fa il ladro (OperaMinima); Gernando/Ubaldo Armida (St. John’s, Smith Square); Norfolc Elisabetta Regina d’Inghilterra (English Touring Opera). Also for ETO, he has sung Belmonte Abduction from the Seraglio, Tigrane Radamisto, Arnalta The Coronation of Poppea, Egeus Jason by Cavalli, Arbace Idomeneo, Ghino Pia de Tolomei by Donizetti, Pylade Iphigénie en Tauride, Eumeus Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, and Evangelist the St Matthew and St John Passions.
Other roles include Don Ottavio Don Giovanni (Mid-Wales Opera); Judge in Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane, recorded for Virgin/EMI with the LPO; Camille de Rosillon The Merry Widow (Scottish Opera); Romeo Romeo et Juliette; Mime RhineGold (Birmingham Opera Company); and most recently Nemorino L’elisir d’amore (West Green House Opera and Anghiari Festival, Tuscany) and Police Buddy Blue for English National Opera.
tickets
Tickets: £15, £20, £25, £30. Student concessions available. NOTE that balcony tickets will not be on sale for this concert.
Please note that tickets are purchased on a non-refundable basis.
Access: The building is fully accessible to wheelchair users, with wheelchair / companion seating ramps and accessible toilet facilities.
Click HERE to find out more.
If you require a free carer’s ticket or have additional access requirements, please get in touch tickets@cam-phil.org.uk
Recruiting A refugee Choir!
Have you found refuge in the Cambridge area?Do you enjoy singing? Would you like to sing in a concert in Cambridge with a large choir and orchestra, the Cambridge Philharmonic?
Here is your chance!
You don’t need a professional voice, just enthusiasm for singing with other people.
We invite adults (over 18) who are refugees (new to the UK or settled) from other countries to sing in our concert. The music is called Odyssey and it is a piece by a British composer, Jonathan Dove. You will be part of the Community Chorus and sing in the concert with our regular chorus and orchestra. We are also premiering a new Concerto for Kamancheh and Orchestra by Iranian composer and virtuoso Rouzbeh Parsa.
The concert is on May 24th at 7.30pm in West Road concert hall, West Road, Cambridge.
The first two rehearsals on April 23rd and April 30th will be held at Clare College (central Cambridge) from 7.30-9pm. Venue and details of later rehearsals will be confirmed to those who come to the first two rehearsals.
Final rehearsals in the week of the concert will be on Tuesday 20th May and Saturday 24th May (details to follow).
We will provide the music, someone to teach you, and experienced singers to help you learn.
Please contact Anne info@cam-phil.org.uk to sign up or find out more or just turn up at the first rehearsal on 23rd April, watch this space for venue and times!
Help is available for travel costs to get to rehearsals if you need it.
This project was generously supported by Cambridge City Council
Raising funds for the Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign
This concert is proudly raising funds for the Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign.
Cambridge has always been ready and willing to welcome refugees in times of crisis, and there have rarely been more people fleeing persecution and war.
Offering sanctuary is a proud Cambridge tradition. We’re good at it, we always have been.
The Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign (CRRC) is a group of volunteers, initially set up by Citizens UK, that works with other organisations in Cambridge to welcome refugees and those seeking asylum. They aim to build positive public opinion about refugees, and to enable the people of Cambridgeshire to volunteer to help those newly arrived in the area.
CRRC works with local authorities, landlords, refugees, asylum-seekers, and other local groups and service providers to support their beneficiaries.
You can find out more about the charity and its work HERE
You can also make a direct donation HERE.
Alternatively there’s an option to make a donation to the charity when you purchase your concert ticket or at our bucket collection after the performance.
Thank you for your support.
Rouzbeh Parsa is a Kamancheh player who graduated from Tehran University of Art and Architecture.
He has attended numerous festivals and has won awards for his exceptional skills as a Kamancheh player. He is also known for writing two critically acclaimed books on Kamancheh history and traditions.
This will be a highly unique performance, from a virtuoso of this exquisite instrument, so revered that it has a poetic name: ‘Zendegi’, the Persian word for ‘life’.
TRAVEL & PARKING
West Road Concert Hall is situated on the University’s Sidgwick Site, only a few minutes’ walk west of the famous Cambridge Backs and King’s College, West Road Concert Hall is easily accessible on foot, by bike, on public transport, or by car.
For further information click HERE
The address is 11 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DP