The Surrey Mozart Players, under the baton of talented conductor, Alvin Arumugam, are excited to present three utterly enchanting gems for orchestra – all stylistically very distinctive, spanning the centuries and continents but similar in their gentle beauty.

The concert starts with Copland’s extremely moving ‘Quiet City’. This short piece evokes a cityscape at night with haunting melodies on solo trumpet (Steve Dawes), cor anglais (Jennie Burtsell) and strings.

Moving back in time to 18^th century, two more instruments take centre stage with Mozart’s gorgeous Flute and Harp Concerto. Beautifully crafted and highly tuneful, this is an example of Mozart at his glorious best and features harpist Sally Pryce and flautist Nick Cartledge.

In the second half of the concert, we are back in the 20^th century with Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. Tableaux from ancient French fairy tales are brought to life through Ravel’s absolutely exquisite impressionist music. There are solos galore from every corner of the orchestra and we will hear more cor anglais, harp, flute and strings as well as an array of percussion and even contra bassoon.

Alvin Arumugam is the Music Director of the Musicians’ Initiative (Singapore). His international engagements have resulted in notable appointments in the last three years including Music Director of the South Asian Symphony Orchestra (South Asia) and Nimrod Orchestra (London). From 2005 to 2021, he also served as resident conductor at several award-winning wind orchestras in Singapore.

Alvin is a graduate of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (NUS) with a degree in Masters of Music (Conducting). He is currently pursuing a Masters’ degree in Performance (Orchestral Conducting) at the Royal College of Music, London which has consistently ranked as the top conservatoire globally. During his time at the Royal College of Music, Alvin regularly conducts the college orchestra and has assisted visiting conductors such as Martyn Brabbins, Antonio Pappano, Jac Van Steen and Rafael Payare.

In 2016, he was one of two conductors selected to represent Singapore in the World Music Contest Conducting Masterclass and Competition to be held in 2017. As of 2017, he was appointed the Music Director of the Musicians’ Initiative which has developed into one of the leading orchestras with innovative and bold programming that continues to challenge the conventional music-loving public. In 2021, Alvin was appointed as the Music Director of the South Asian Symphony Orchestra (SASO) by the former foreign secretary of India, Ambassador Nirupama Rao. In 2022, Alvin assumed directorship of the Nimrod Orchestra that is composed of the top student musicians located in Greater London.

Alvin was the assistant to Toby Purser, Head of Conducting (Royal College of Music) for the 2022 production of Cosi Fan Tutte at the Vienna Opera Academy. In 2018 and 2019, he conducted the Musicians’ Initiative in its collaboration with The Opera People in staging Il Re Pastore and Der Zwerg respectively. Alvin made his debut as assistant conductor to Darrell Ang with Manila Symphony Orchestra in its 2015 production of La Cenerentola. Alvin has collaborated with outstanding artists such as Kanon Matsuda (Deutsche Grammophon)

and Neil Varon (Eastman School of Music).

Venue Location

The concert takes place in the Millmead Centre – Guildford Baptist Church’s award-winning new building set on the River Wey in the heart of Guildford.

Guildford Baptist Church
Millmead
GUILDFORD
Surrey
GU2 4BE

By Train

Seven minutes walk from Guildford Station.

Parking

Please use one of the Guildford town centre car parks.

Accessibility

Information can be found here. Please contact us on surreymozartplayers@gmail.com if you have any specific requirements.

Refreshments

The foyer cafe will be closed during the concert.

Drinks will be served before the concert (from 7.00 pm) and during the interval.

Drinks are not permitted in the auditorium.