APO gears up for #APOauferstehung on Saturday 15th October

We’ll round off our contribution to the Reading 2016 Year of Culture by teaming up with one of the town’s best choirs, Tamesis Chamber Choir. We’ll perform Mahler’s epic Symphony No.2, ‘Auferstehung’ or ‘Resurrection’, on Saturday 15th October, 7.30pm, at The Great Hall, University of Reading, London Road Campus.

APO started the Reading 2016 Year of Culture by collaborating with jelly on the #APOpictures project in January, explored the theme of friendship with its #APOfriends concert in May, before making its debut at the Reading Fringe Festival in July with #mozartunwrapped.

“Those were big projects, but #APOauferstehung is on a different scale altogether”, says APO’s Music Director, Andrew Taylor. “The ‘auferstehung’ calls for an enormous ensemble; we’ll have over 100 players in the orchestra and nearly 50 in the choir, with our singers joining forces with Louise Rapple Moore’s fabulous Tamesis Chamber Choir. Mahler uses these forces to create a world of emotions, from hushed tranquility, through pain and anger to one of the most exciting and uplifting choral finales of any piece. The sound and the experience will be quite incredible.”

The piece also calls for two soloists. One of these, local mezzo-soprano Harriet Kirk, came to the attention of APO through a Twitter conversation about the Reading 2016 Year of Culture with BBC Radio Berkshire: “Andrew spotted the conversation and got in touch, seeing that I was a professional singer. After he heard me sing he asked whether I’d like to take on the beautiful mezzo solos in the Mahler and I jumped at the opportunity. It’s another great example of how the Reading 2016 Year of Culture has brought together artists in the Reading area.”

Here’s some (poor sound quality) footage from rehearsals, from the conductor’s perspective!