Friday Night LIVE with ESO

Kenneth Woods, conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra, trades baton for cello on the 22nd of November when he teams up with the ESO’s popular Leader, violinist Zoë Beyers and actor Ben Humphrey for an evening of musical storytelling as part of the Royal Porcelain Works’ Friday Night Live series in The Hall. The new concert series has quickly established itself as one of Worcester’s most popular cultural offerings, with short, informal and entertaining concerts punctuated by a generous interval for socialising.

The idea for the programme grew out of Woods’ experience playing in the string trio Ensemble Epomeo, which used to perform regular children’s concerts under the brand of Auricolae – Music and Storytelling Troupe. “We would go on tour as Epomeo and visit schools as Auricolae, but as the years went on, we developed a body of storytelling works that were more and more sophisticated. Eventually, we started programming the storytelling pieces on our Epomeo concerts alongside Beethoven and Mozart, and the reaction of our ‘grown up’ audiences was amazing. Once we saw how rich a vein this was, we started looking beyond children’s stories and began commissioning narrated works for all audiences. It’s been one of the most popular things I’ve been involved in, and I’m so excited to bring some of these favourite pieces to our Friday Night Live audience.”

Taking up the primary role of storyteller for the evening is Ben Humphrey, the Artistic Director of Worcester Rep, whose production of The Tempest in Huntingdon Hall wowed Worcester audiences in September. Humphrey has a long association with the ESO, having hosted and narrated works like Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale, Walton’s Façade and a number of popular family concerts.


“A concert like this is both a gift and a challenge for an actor because it allows requires me to find so many voices and accents, and to portray so many different characters. I only ask that Ken and any other Americans in the audience are tolerant of my attempts at a Brooklyn accent.”

Ben Humphrey, the Artistic Director of Worcester Rep

Humphrey’s newly-cultivated Brooklyn brogue is required for two Klezmer-tinged works by David Yang. Lubin, from Chelm is a hilarious re-telling of the tradition English folk tale Lazy Jack, in which a low-achieving young man is driven into the workplace by his mother’s relentless nagging with tragicomic effect. The concert concludes The Matzoh Ball Man in which the animated dumpling, taking the role originally given to a gingerbread biscuit, leaves a trail of frustration and chaos across the Shtetl before meeting his end as an afternoon snack.

Also striking a decidedly humorous note is Andrew Waggoner’s take on The Emperor’s New Clothes, a tale more relevant than ever in today’s fraught political climate.

Turning away from folk and fairy tales, Gerald Levinson’s Fables are based on witty and enigmatic poems by the great American poet, Robert Lax. “I love Levinsons’ Fables,” says Woods. “They represent a true synthesis of really outstanding music and literature. They’re both funny and incredibly profound, full of mischief and deep wisdom, and musically sophisticated and mesmerising.”

The most dramatic work on the programme is also the one with the most ancient roots. Jay Reise’s The Warrior Violinist is based on one of the world’s oldest-surviving folk tales, one which can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Egypt. In Reise’s re-telling of the story, a poor young violinist falls in love with a beautiful princess. Convinced she could never love a penniless dreamer, he sets out to become a hero worthy of her affection, a journey which ends up being as unexpected as it is poignant.

Bringing the sounds of the violin-playing protagonist to life is Zoë Beyers, who says of the piece “Jay’s piece has an epic quality, and the music ranges from incredible tenderness to rather shocking violence. It really shows how much music and narrative can feed off each other to make something greater than the sum of its parts.”

To find out more and book your tickets, contact Royal Porcelain Works 01905 677399 or visit www.royalporcelainworks.co.uk 


Review of The Beethoven Experience

“Last Friday evening, 6 September, could prove to be a seminal moment in the journey of the Royal Porcelain Works towards becoming established as a new and vibrant cultural and performing arts centre for Worcester. A memorable performance of Beethoven’s iconic Fifth Symphony, conducted by the hugely talented Keith Slade, provided the material for the inaugural Friday Night Live concert in the Royal Porcelain Works beautifully restored and refurbished Henry Sandon Hall. However, this was a concert like no other”.

The Friday Night LIVE season opened with 'The Beethoven Experience', the first ever 'Immersive Orchestral Experience' delivered by Royal Porcelain Works' Musical Director, Keith Slade.

“Slade, a professional clarinetist who recently moved to Worcester to establish the city as his base, currently divides his working week between orchestral conducting and teaching woodwind in one of the top independent schools in the Midlands.  As musical director of the Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra, he is becoming increasingly well known for pushing the boundaries of tradition in order to provide unique up close and personal experiences for his audiences.  For Slade, listening to live classical music performances is only part of the story – to really experience the full power of music he believes that his audiences also have to feel it.  And, as the recently installed Musical Director at the Royal Porcelain Works, that is the guiding principle behind his Friday Night Live series of concerts.

“Over the next few months, the Hall at Royal Porcelain Works will welcome a succession of nationally and internationally renowned musicians as guest performers in the series, all of whom have a gift for connecting with their audiences in new and exciting ways.  And this was most certainly the case last Friday for The Beethoven Experience, the first ever ‘Immersive Orchestral Experiences’ to be seen – or heard.

“The evening started with an instantly engaging 15 minute masterclass from Slade, in which he described the feelings that Beethoven was seeking to evoke in his Fifth Symphony, illustrated by short excerpts of themes from each of the movements played by various sections of the orchestra.  The Royal Porcelain Sinfonia then went on to thrill the sell-out audience to a truly unique and intimate performance, in which the ticket holders were all seated within the orchestra, rather than in a conventional theatre-style layout.

“This revolutionary approach took the concept of theatre in the round to the ultimate level, completely eliminating any separation between performers and audience and enabling everyone present to experience how it sounds – and, more importantly, how it feels – to be part of an orchestra during a live concert performance.  And for Slade, it required a completely novel methodology in which he was positioned centrally within a combined ellipse of musicians and audience, requiring him to conduct without a score whilst employing a 360 degrees rotational style that was equally as captivating as it was impressive.

“As soon as the strings announced the famous four note ‘fate’ motif – which Slade described as arguably the most instantly recognisable start to a piece of music in the entire classical repertoire – the anticipation and excitement in the room was tangible.  The delightfully expressive second movement, performed with great sensitivity by the orchestra, provided a welcome break from the tenseness of Beethoven’s raw emotions caused by his increasing deafness. And finally, the build up to the transition from the third movement’s mysterious Scherzo to the brilliant brassy fanfare that marks the start of the fourth movement was nothing short of exhilarating.  At this point it also felt as if the members of the orchestra, who had played beautifully throughout, yet perhaps slightly tentatively and within themselves at times, were liberated by the sound of the triumphant and much-heralded entrance of the trombones and instantly raised their energy levels to new heights.

“In many ways, the spontaneous standing ovation at the end of the performance was the most surreal part of the evening.  By tradition, at the end of an orchestral concert, performers will stand to recognise the audience’s applause under the guidance of their conductor; on this occasion the audience rose to their feet in unison to applaud and cheer and the performers, remaining seated amongst them, looked elated – yet slightly bewildered – by what they had just achieved.

“As we filed out of the Hall, only one question could repeatedly be heard over the excited buzz of conversation: “Does anyone know when Keith’s next ‘Immersive Orchestral Experience’ concert is happening?”” Paul West – Attendee

“Welcome to the very first season of Friday Night Live at Royal Porcelain Works. We will introduce soloists and groups of local, national and international repute, with concerts available for all musical tastes. We welcome all ages to our concerts, particularly young people and those who haven’t come along to concerts before. We hope you will be rewarded by a musical experience that will stay with you forever.”

Keith Slade, Music Director for Royal Porcelain Works

The next installment in the Friday Night LIVE will feature international pianist Viv McLean at Royal Porcelain Works on Friday 4th October. For further details please visit https://www.royalporcelainworks.co.uk/friday-night-live/.

Sara Matthews, General Manager of the Royal Porcelain Works said: “What an incredible start to our live music season. The Beethoven Experience was the first of it’s kind, showcasing a brand new concept never before seen in a concert environment. ‘Immersive Orchestral Experiences’ are something completely unique that we hope to bring more of to Royal Porcelain Works”.

“Throughout the Friday Night LIVE season we have a host of extremely talented and renowned musicians and we look forward to bringing something new and exciting to the city of Worcester”.

For further information please contact the Royal Porcelain Works on 01905 677399 or email enquiries@royalporcelainworks.co.uk.


Friday Night LIVE Music Events

Worcester’s leading new centre for art and culture has announced it will be launching a series of Friday night live music concerts.

The Royal Porcelain Works – which has been developed to showcase the county’s artistry and craftsmanship – will host the events on the first Friday of every month beginning on Friday 6 September.

As part of this latest initiative, Royal Porcelain Works has appointed its own Director of Music, Keith Slade, to oversee the events.

Keith – who was born in the West Midlands – began his musical journey learning the clarinet from the age of ten.  After reaching the final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Woodwind Category, Keith graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music where he was awarded the Hilda Collens’ Prize.

He furthered his studies under the guidance of Angela Malsbury and Nicholas Rodwell studying for a post graduate degree at the Royal College of Music supported by the Countess of Munster Trust.

At the Royal Academy of Music, Keith was awarded the Dorothy Grindstead Memorial Prize for the most outstanding postgraduate, the John Solomon Woodwind and Brass Prize and the Morgensterns’ Award.

“Welcome to the very first season of Friday Night Live at Royal Porcelain Works. We will introduce soloists and groups of local, national and international repute, with concerts available for all musical tastes. We welcome all ages to our concerts, particularly young people and those who haven’t come along to concerts before. We hope you will be rewarded by a musical experience that will stay with you forever.”

Keith Slade, Music Director for Royal Porcelain Works

The first event will welcome The Beethoven Experience; for further events please visit https://www.royalporcelainworks.co.uk/friday-night-live/.

Sara Matthews, General Manager of the Royal Porcelain Works said: “We kick off the season of Friday Night Live with a concert with a difference. We will invite you, the audience, to be part of the performance. Come and be immersed within the Royal Porcelain Sinfonia to experience the power of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, as you are seated amongst the playing orchestra in this never-been-seen-before set-up. This is such a seminal work in the Classical repertoire, and promises to be a concert that the orchestra and audience will never forget.”

For further information please contact the Royal Porcelain Works on 01905 677399 or email enquiries@royalporcelainworks.co.uk.