Unique because, for the first time ever, the Halle and the Philharmonic performed together at the Bridgewater Hall in a special concert for the DEC Tsunami Appeal fund. More than 2,000 people turned up to witness this special musical event, paying up to £30 to listen to a varied programme which included Verdi's Overture and Jupiter from Holst's The Planets. The Halle's Chief Executive John Summers explained how it came about. "I was actually looking through the orchestra's schedule for this month, and I noticed we were rehearsing in the Hall for the afternoon and the evening, and that we had the Hall hired and I suddenly thought: If we turn that into a concert, we could make quite a lot of money for the appeal." All of the players, conductors, singers and the soloist gave their services free of charge. However, getting two full orchestras on stage actually proved impossible - as BBC Phil violinist Julian Gregory explained: "With the strings - cellos, violins, double basses and violas - we've just packed on as many as we can so we've got huge string sections, extra horns and trumpets, things like that. But you can't actually get two lots on. It would be 180 to 200 musicians on stage, and there just isn't room."
But with members of the Hallé Choir and Youth Choir also taking part, there were more than 300 performers on the platform in the end. The programme for the evening included: Verdi‘s Overture: La Forza del Destino Wagner’s Prelude to Act One from Parsifal and Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde, Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Brahms’s Wie lieblich Elgar’s Troyte, WN and Nimrod from the Enigma Variations and Jupiter from Holst’s The Planets. Additional concert The Northern Chamber Orchestra is also performing a fundraising concert for victims of the disaster. The concert features Amanda Roocroft and takes place at 3pm on 6th February at Tatton Park. Please ring 0161 247 2220. All proceeds to the Oxfam crisis appeal.
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