News & Events

What's On?

Plymouth Summer Festival 2008

PMA Members' events will form part of this year's wide-ranging Plymouth Summer Festival for which the curtain-raiser will be the Transat yacht race in May

PMA Seeks Treasurer

Owing to her work commitments, the current PMA Treasurer has decided to stand down. Accordingly we now seek a new Treasurer. The duties are not onerous and might suit a retired person with some experience of bookkeeping or financial accounts. If you might be interested please contact PMA Chairman Ivan Sidgreaves for an informal discussion: telephone 01822 853701

Composers' Concert

The last in the 2007/8 series of Plymouth Museum & Art Gallery International Lunchtime Concerts, on Thursay April 17, was a rather special affair.

All the works played were by local composers, who were joined in performing their works by Jake Loewendahl - violin, Olivia Lowendahl - cello, and Douglas Clarkson - clarinet & saxophone.

Philip Buttall, Terry Higgins and Clive Jenkins all played the piano in their own works for mixed forces, whilst Marsha Head played four of her own solo piano pieces plus one by John Preece.

The venue for this concert was again the Sherwell United Church which provided a friendly and pleasant ambience, albeit subject to traffic noise. The 2008/9 series returns to the Museum & Art Gallery on 25 September with a recital by violinist Sulki Yu.

Back row: Jake Loewendahl, Philip Buttall. Terry Higgins, Clive Jenkins, Douglas Clarkson and John Preece
Back row: Jake Loewendahl, Philip Buttall. Terry Higgins, Clive Jenkins, Douglas Clarkson and John Preece
Front: Marsha Head and Olivia Loewendahl

Opera South West

Plymouth Music Accord has learnt that Opera South West has dissolved. OSW was the last amateur musical organisation to use the Theatre Royal for its performances, and the cost of mounting shows and employing an orchestra, combined with the difficulty of finding talented singers for opera, has led to the decision not to continue.

The PMA is sad both to lose one of its members and for the audiences who will no longer benefit from its excellence.

Plymouth Philharmonic Choir

seeks young singers

The Plymouth Philharmonic Choir, one of the largest in the region, is looking for young singers to join its ranks. Would anyone interested please contact the membership secretary Jan Millward on 01752 402256

Concert DiaryPlymouth Music Accord Concert Diary

Plymouth Music Accord publishes a printed concert diary with details of all the concerts promoted by members of the Accord. This is distributed to all members, and to local music shops and tourist and information outlets. The Autumn 2007/ Spring 2008 issue runs until end February. If you do not have your own copy you may download it here
(113K pdf file - use
Acrobat reader to view and print) Get Acrobat Reader

The Spring / Summer 2007 issue will be distributed during February; copy date is yet to be determined but will probably be late January.

What's On This Month ..... Next Month

The online concert diary Plymouth Classical Music Concert Diary includes the latest information on the Accord's and most other concerts in Plymouth and surrounding area. This site also provides a general resource for music-lovers, with links to music websites and organisations.

Please note that the Web Address of the Plymouth Classical Music Concert Diary has now changed to www.plyclassical.co.uk because of problems with the ic24 service provider.

Local CDs Now On Sale

Plymouth Music Accord is now distributing CDs for its member organisations, and the following are now available from the Plymouth Museum & Art Gallery shop, and from the Barbican and Crabtree Tourist Information Centres:

  • "South West Sinfonietta in Concert No.2" featuring a large number of soloists with whom the orchestra has performed in recent years including a brand new piece for violin and orchestra by John Dankworth. These recordings were made at St Andrew's Church. Price £10
  • "Tales from the City", a recording produced by Plymouth Museum & Art Gallery which contains highlights of the very successful cabaret-cantata about life in Plymouth during the last 100 years written by John Bartlett and Clive Jenkins. Price £10
  • Plymouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ann Kimber perform two very colourful orchestral pieces by local composer Judy Whitlock - one describes the recent eclipse and the other the annual Ten Tors event. These were recorded in Plymouth Guildhall. Price £7.50

Support your local musicians - seek out these CDs soon!