Performances with Soloists

The committee aims to include one concerto performance with a soloist in its Spring concert each year, providing members of the orchestra with the important experience of accompanying solo performers.  Recent soloists have included the following.

Ben Gregor-Smith - 'Cello

The Endcliffe Orchestra performed the Elgar 'Cello Concerto with Ben in May 2007.  Ben began the cello at the age of seven and in his early years won the “Outstanding Performance Award” four times in the “Music for Youth festival” with his quartet. The quartet also performed in the Royal Albert Hall as part of the School Prom as well as in many other respected venues such as the Purcell room in London and the crucible theatre in Sheffield. Subsequently Ben has studied with Sue Lowe and Nicholas Trygstadt in the Junior section of the Royal Northern School of Music.

Ben has played in master classes given by Johannes Goritzki and Karine Georgian, and has played in many of the Master classes in the Prades, Pablo Casals Festival where he was taught by Arto Noras. Ben has also studied with Alexander Baillie who wrote of him “He is blessed with a rare natural talent”. In recent years Ben has performed the J.C Bach Concerto, the Elgar cello concerto and Haydn C major concertos with the Sheffield Hallam Sinfonia Orchestra. He has also performed the Haydn C major concerto with the RNCM Junior school Orchestra and has partaken in many music club concerts throughout the country, in France and in Italy.

Ben was chosen to represent the Junior RNCM in the Schumann and Brahms Festival which took place in 2004 in the RNCM. Ben was offered scholarships to two of the major Colleges in England and is currently learning with Hannah Roberts at the RNCM. In 2005 Ben performed in the Lindsay’s farewell weekend where he played the Mendelssohn Octet with the Lindsays and other family members in the crucible theatre.

Ben loves chamber music and participated in last year's Soviet Festival in college where he played the Shostakovich 14^th Quartet and he is due to take part in this year's Slavonic festival playing a contemporary work by Petr Eben.

Ingrid Clement - Violin

The Endcliffe Orchestra performed the Kabalevsky Violin Concerto in concert with Ingrid when she was 15 years old and a pupil at King Edward VII School. Ingrid showed an exceptional musical talent from an early age. She began playing the piano at the age of 3 and the violin at the age of 5. She is currently studying the piano with Peter Hill and the violin with Nina Martin. She has competed in the Hallam Music Festival and she is the current holder of the overall winner trophy. She has also performed as a soloist in school concerts, for the Beauchief Ladies Charity and in a ‘Concerto Grosso’ concert under the direction of Nina Martin. She plays with the ‘Highly Strung’ group under the direction of Martin Cropper as part of the ‘Music in the Round’youth project. She is a member of the City of Sheffield Youth Orchestra.

Though his family intended that he go into mathematics or economics (fields in which his father worked), Dmitri Kabalevsky showed early artistic talent, both in painting and music. He continued to paint all his life, but it was music that became his profession. He aimed at first to become a pianist and a piano teacher and wrote his first compositions as little pieces for his pupils. Kabalevsky was always a politically conscious composer (having joined the Communist party in 1940), and that meant, during Stalin's regime, close adherence to a particular musical style, one that considered concert music to be intended for the broadest possible audience and insisted that music should be tuneful (often using folk tunes) and end in a major key.   In 1948, Kabalevsky produced his sunny and tuneful Violin Concerto, the first of three concertos (the others were for cello and piano) written between 1948 and 1952 for young virtuosi. Its directness and lively charm have made it a repertory work ever since.

Wendy Allbutt - Piano

The Endcliffe Orchestra performed Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" in concert with Wendy in May 2006.  Wendy was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She was awarded the Guildhall's Piano Prize and a British Council award to study with the pianist Louis Kentner. Wendy has given recitals in Israel and Greece. She currently teaches and plays in Sheffield.

Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. The composition was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé three times, in 1924, in 1926, and finally in 1942. The piece received its première in a concert entitled An Experiment in Modern Music, which was held on 12 February 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band with Gershwin playing the piano. In the version for piano and symphony orchestra made by Ferde Grofé in 1942, it has become one of the most popular American concert works.  As the most famous classical composition by Gershwin, it established his reputation as a serious composer.