A Celebration of Puccini – Sussex Symphony Orchestra

For their 25th birthday the Sussex Symphony Orchestra pulled out all the stops. Narrator Sally Taylor and Richard Hawley as Puccini himself (delivering excellent ad-libs in a risible cod-Italian accent) followed the Maestro’s career from the early, unfamiliar ‘Preludio Sinfonico’ to Turandot’s victory paean. The orchestra could have been playing in 19th century Lucca with its sobbing strings, plaintive woodwind and enthusiastic brass. Joanna Appleby and Claire Pendleton (sopranos) and tenor John Pierce gave polished, slightly amplified renditions of our favourite arias generating high-spirited excitement and ovations. Bravo to the orchestra and its intrepid founder and conductor, Mark Andrew James!