New life will be breathed into music that was once at risk of being consigned to history, as well as timeless classics, when Ipswich City Symphony Orchestra presents The Romance of the Movies.
The performance is at 7.30pm on 27 April at Ipswich Civic Centre.
It will celebrate music from some of history’s most-loved romantic movies and be a tribute to the orchestra’s founder, Gemma Daubbonett, who passed away last year.
Chief conductor Patrick Burns said audiences were in for a special show.
“It was an idea of Gemma and I had about 18 months ago; a lot of professional symphony orchestras are now playing music from films,” he said.
“A lot of this type of music was actually in danger of being lost because film studios decided once they had finished the movies that it was taking up space, they didn’t want to store it and it was no longer needed, so they just burned the sheet music.
“A lot of it only existed in rare, handwritten scribbled parts or because someone has recreated it by listening and painstakingly working it out and writing it down.
“Not all of the music we will perform fits into that category but some of it does.”
Music from Dances with Wolves, Romeo and Juliet, Cinema Paradiso, The Warsaw Concerto from Dangerous Moonlight and the title theme to Lawrence of Arabia will be among that performed.
Mr Burns said a strong sense of community existed among members and supporters of the Ipswich City Symphony Orchestra thanks in no small part to the example set by Mrs Daubbonett.
“Gemma’s legacy is exceptionally far reaching, and through her involvement in the artistic community she touched the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people,” she said.
“She was extremely passionate about the arts and in particular the arts in Ipswich.
“I first met Gemma as a young conductor and I recall her telling me that the orchestra is not here just to hire people in, it is here to promote Ipswich and talent in Ipswich.
“The Ipswich arts community is first class, it’s really not lauded enough. Gemma was always passionate about giving local people the opportunity to play professionally.”
Guest artists Tim McCallum, Hannah Dahlenburg and Troy Castle will join with the orchestra for the show, as well as several of Mrs Daubbonett’s former vocal and instrumental students.
Mr Burns, who came to conducting after starting his music career with the classical French horn, is passionate about sharing the joy of music.
He hopes Ipswich residents will share in that joy for The Romance of the Movies.
“The big thing with music that is different to the other art forms is if it doesn’t get played it doesn’t exist,” he said.
“You can take a painting and lock it away in a cupboard and it will sit there, and of course you can keep sheet music but for music to actually exist someone has to play it.”
Book for The Romance of the Movies here.
Patrick Burns in action.
