Cheers For The Orchestra

It's an indication of how well everything has gone when performers and the audience smile broadly, shake hands, hug and pat each other on the back at the end of a concert.

Everyone appeared to have some sort of glow on their faces after being fed with nearly two hours of sacred music.

Symphonic music has its own audience everywhere and the British Council Hall in Accra was almost full before 7.OOp.m last Thursday when the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) was due to start a performance of excerpts from oratorios by Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn.

Guest conductor, Roy Wales, was applauded when he came on to introduce the two-part programme and announced that an excerpt from Vivaldi's Four Seasons was also to be performed.

Sounding like a preacher at certain stages, Wales gave very upbeat and pictorial descriptions of each piece before its rendition. The repertoire for the night was selected to showcase the artistry and versatility of the different categories of performers.

Vocal soloists Margarete Ferguson, Eddie Gaisie and Kweku Yeboah had spots to shine just like bassist Slim Bright Amoako and his two colleagues and cellist Isaac Annor who took over the conductor?s baton for a piece from Messiah. Guest violinist Peter Kovats was the centre of attention with his brilliant solo work on the excerpt from Four Seasons.

The conductor?s role is significant in an orchestral setting and Wales was inspirational in front of the orchestra and the accompanying choirs. His body language suggested that he was enjoying every moment at the show. He has performed a few other times with the NSO and his bubbly attitude last Thursday sprung from his view that the NSO has been improving each year.

?I?m thrilled with the way they have developed. They have made particularly good progress from last year. The oratorios are all wonderful bible stories. Some of them are pretty difficult to handle but I?m thrilled the orchestra played everything so well.?

Prof J.H. Nketiah was in the audience and he told Graphic Entertainment that he was happy with the standard exhibited by the NSO and the fact also that a greater part of the audience were Ghanaians.

?The orchestra has really moved ahead. We are blessed to have such a thing. Very few African countries have an orchestra like that. I hope our composers can be inspired to write beautiful music for the orchestra so we can also contribute something to the world?s stock of symphonic music. We need to do more to create the audience for art music.?