Children's Classic Concerts,
46a Fortrose Street,
Glasgow,
G11 5LP UK
Telephone:
0141 334 8500

Email:
ccc@childrensclassicconcerts.co.uk

The young audience for the

Children’s Classic Concert on

Saturday strained to see who

– or rather what – was heading

for the stage … writes Melanie

Bonn (Perthshire Advertiser, 27th May 2016)

For this celebration of Roald Dahl’s

100th birthday the orchestra bounced

into view, dressed in costumes ranging

from a crocodile to an Oompa Loompa.

A cello was in the hands of a grinning

ladybird and we even had a portly tuba

player dressed as Miss Trunchball

from Matilda.

The concert’s presenter Olly Cox

came as Willie Wonka and his partner

in music, Owen Gunnell sported a comic beard, announcing he’d come as

one of The Twits. Clearly this was going

to be a bit of fun.

Tiny people don’t generally behave

if you try to take them anywhere

near a classical performance, but

the enthusiastic team had bashful

dads on their feet doing disco moves

to Shostakovich and toddlers riding

in their seats cowboy-style to the

terrifically lively William Tell Overture.

A big chunk for the show focused on the drama of the Three Little Pigs taken

from Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes.

The brass section of the mini

orchestra gamely donned animal

heads and raced among the delighted

audience while the tale was given a

suitable backdrop with music by Paul

Patterson.

The Concert Hall had the

atmosphere of the Christmas Panto

with plenty of boos for the cunning fox.

Sandwiched around the piggy action were some well-chosen snippets

designed to keep the wee ones from

scribbling on their programmes.

The Musiques des Automates from

Coppélia, the Dance of the Sugar Plum

Fairy from the Nutcracker, Mozart’s

Horn Concerto No 4 and Dance

Macabre by Saint-Saëns were all a hit.

Professional musicians Olly and

Owen have just the right touch

for sharing classical music with

children, providing simple, amusing

explanations for each piece. The pair of

madcap percussionists have appeared

in Perthshire several times before and

they clearly loved seeing the response

the concert got at this year’s PerthFestival of the Arts.

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