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The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis and accompanied by Claire Sweeney.
Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the Dunsfold Park concert is a mix of classic and popular scores which express the emotion and story of the Battle of Britain, culminating in a flypast and fireworks.
More information on the Saturday night line-up is as follows:
Carl Davis
Carl describes his career for Strings & Wings.
 "I was born in New York in 1936. Pre-birth, my mother went to a lot of concerts and my reaction was quite passionate! After, she played piano and I imitated her. My first lessons were at 7. I sacked my first teacher when, after seeing Disney’s Fantasia, I insisted on studying Bach’s Toccata and Fugue and he refused. I kept playing though, driven by curiosity – pop to Parsifal. We had good public libraries in Brooklyn with fairly comprehensive music sections and I devoured scores. My mission was to be able to sight-read and sing operas, text and all. I went on to orchestral scores, helped by New York’s two classical music radio stations. I was equally attracted by dance. After all, New York was home to American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Russe, The New York City Centre Ballet and Martha Graham. In my teens I widened my circle with singers and musicians. There were opera workshops, choirs, chamber music and Leider to play. My first professional engagements were at Tanglewood, touring with the Robert Shaw Chorale and The New York City Opera and at 18, composition. A choice had to be made and I chose composition and London.
Helped by Diversions, a revue written at college, that had won Off-Broadway prizes, my colleague, Steven Vinaver, who had joined me in London, the revue Twists was produced at the Edinburgh Festival and then the Arts Theatre in the West End. An encouraging review from Richard Buckle led to my first radio work and television. There were strong collaborators: Jack Gold, Ronald Eyre and Patrick Garland. The breakthrough came in 1969 with Alan Bennett’s Forty Years On. Jonathan Miller took me to The National Theatre and Ron to the RSC. A collaboration with John Wells produced three full length musicals for stage: Alice in Wonderland, Peace (Aristophenes) and The Projector for Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop. There I met my future wife, Jean Boht and began a family: two daughters, Hannah and Jessie and currently 3 grandchildren.
In the 1970’s, Jeremy Isaacs commissioned The World at War TV Series and the BBC commissioned scores for classic serials, including: The Snow Goose, Our Mutual Friend and The Mayor of Casterbridge. The decade ended working with Producer, David Gill and film-maker and historian, Kevin Brownlow on the 13 Part Series Hollywood. In 1980 this led to a landmark performance with orchestra of Kevin Brownlow’s restoration of the 5 hour epic Napoleon: live cinema was re-born. Channel 4 continued this development with a chain of restorations of the major silent films featuring Garbo, Gish, Fairbanks and the three great clowns: Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd, as well as epics like Ben Hur and Intolerance. Orchestras were now keen to mount these films and I fancied myself a conductor climaxing in an 8 year run in a series of popular concerts in Big Top on The King’s Dock in Liverpool! This helped me develop a unique performance style involving costumes and a rapport with my audience.
The 1990’s opened with a collaboration with Paul McCartney: The Liverpool Oratorio, and then there was ballet. First, Gillian Lynne’s A Simple Man for The BBC’s Omnibus and Northern Ballet Theatre. Then, A Picture of Dorian Grey for The Sadler’s Wells ballet, choreographed by Derek Deane, followed by Fire and Ice, a television ballet for LWT for Torvill and Dean. The Millenium brought forth A Christmas Carol for NBT; Aladdin for Scottish Ballet and an Alice in Wonderland ballet, again for Derek(now Artistic Director of The English National Ballet). A new collaboration began with choreographer David Bintley when I was invited to compose a new score for his Cyrano ballet. This was followed by a revival of Aladdin with new choreography by David Bintley for The National Ballet of Japan. Recently, created was a ballet based on The Lady of the Camellias for the Croatian National Ballet with choreography by Derek Deane.
As we moved into the new century, my older daughter Hannah and her husband Dave began to produce, direct, write and act in feature films involving Jean and myself (Jean, in the mid-1980’s had triumphed in the role of Mrs Boswell in Carla Lane’s Bread and is now a major star). We all participated in helping make their two feature films – Mothers and Daughters and The Understudy. Hannah and Dave are now in Hollywood, further developing their careers. Jessie, after a phenomenal start in Television Production, produced 3 fabulous grandchildren and is now helping the further development of Threefold Music. Hitting 70 running, Jean and I together with record executive Charles Padley, formed the Carl Davis Collection with the aim of continuing the flow."
For further information on Carl Davis visit: www.carldaviscollection.com.
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The Philharmonia Orchestra
 The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the world’s great orchestras. Acknowledged as the UK’s foremost musical pioneer, with an extraordinary recording legacy, the Philharmonia leads the field for its quality of playing, and for its innovative approach to audience development, residencies, music education and the use of new technologies in reaching a global audience. Together with its relationships with the world’s most sought-after artists, most importantly its Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonia Orchestra is at the heart of Britishmusical life.
Today, the Philharmonia has the greatest claim of any orchestra to be the UK’s National Orchestra. It is committed to presenting the same quality, live music-making in venues throughout the country as it brings to London and the great concert halls of the world. In 2008/09 the Orchestra performed more than 200 concerts, as well as presenting chamber performances by the Soloists of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and recording scores for films, CDs and computer games. For more than 13 years now the Orchestra’s work has been underpinned by its much admired UK and International Residency Programme, which began in 1995 with the launch of its residencies at the Bedford Corn Exchange and London’s Southbank Centre.
During 2008/09 the Orchestra not only performed more than 45 concerts at Southbank Centre’s refurbished Royal Festival Hall, but also celebrated its 12th year as Resident Orchestra of De Montfort Hall in Leicester, its ninth year as Orchestra in Partnership at the Anvil in Basingstoke and the second year of a new residency in Kent and the Thames Gateway, based in Canterbury. The Orchestra’s extensive touring schedule last season also included performances in more than 40 of the finest international concert halls in Europe and the Far East, many of them as part of Salonen’smajor project, City of Dreams, exploring the music and culture of Vienna between 1900 and 1935.
Throughout its history, the Philharmonia Orchestra has been committed to finding new ways to bring its top quality live performance to audiences worldwide, and to using new technologies to achieve this. Many millions of people since 1945 have enjoyed their first experience of classical music through a Philharmonia recording, and in 2008/9 audiences were able to engage with the Orchestra through webcasts, podcasts, downloads, computer games and film scores as well as through its unique interactive music education website launched in 2005, The Sound Exchange (www.philharmonia.co.uk/thesoundexchange), which is now visited by almost 2 million people a year.
In 2005 the Philharmonia became the first ever classical music organisation to be shortlisted for a BT DigitalMusic Award, and in the same year the Orchestra presented the first ever concert webcast. Now more than 3500 people a month download free monthly Philharmonia video podcasts, which include artist interviews and features on repertoire and projects; these films are also watched by more than 60,000 people on YouTube. Recording and broadcasting both continue to play a significant part in the Orchestra’s activities: since 2003 the Philharmonia has enjoyed a major partnership with Classic FM, as The Classic FM Orchestra on Tour, as well as continuing to broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
For further information on The Philharmonia Orchestra visit: www.philharmonia.co.uk.
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Claire Sweeney
Very few performers are equally highly acclaimed as actors and singers. Even fewer successfully switch between presenting prime-time TV and serious drama. Claire Sweeney has done it all.
Born in Walton, Liverpool in 1971, as children, Claire and her brother, Shaun, would help their dad, Ken, in his butcher’s shop. By the time she was 11 she’d already appeared on stage in The Sound of Music, and Oliver. She joined the full-time Elliot-Clarke stage school and at 16, left to train at London’s Italia Conti Academy.
Professionally, Sweeney started out singing with Jimmy Tarbuck in Southport and performed in cabaret nationwide with classic entertainers, Norman Wisdom, Ken Dodd and Tom O’Connor. Then, at 19, she decided to literally broaden her horizons by working the cruise ships.
Claire's first foray on to the small screen saw her appear on British TV as lesbian gangster, Lindsey Corkhill, in Liverpool based soap, Brookside. After a stint in Celebrity Big Brother in 2001, where Claire was voted in second place, her career and life changed overnight. A “dream come true” stint as Roxie Hart in Chicago, another part in Fosse, a tour of the country as Brooklyn stripper, Adelaide in Guys and Dolls with Patrick Swayze, and loads of opportunities to present high profile entertainment shows on TV followed.
She has also modelled for M&S, became the Forces’ Sweetheart, appeared in commercials and released an album, as well as playing a beatenhousewife in Clocking Off and a hard-nosed cop in Merseybeat. In 2004 she participated in Series One of the BBC One pro-celebrity ballroom dancing competition Strictly Come Dancing.
In December 2009 she starred as Carrion the Wicked Fairy in Sleeping Beauty alongside comedian Kev Orkian at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley.
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Support acts
Jive Connection started in the summer of 1995 as a result of one man's passion for a particular style of dance with its roots in the late 1930's and early 1940's. A selection of dancers from Jive connection, lead by royal Ballet School Trained IDTA and AISTD dance instructor Nick Kirby and his partner Alison, perform a variety of Jitterbug & Boogie Woogie style swing dancing to some classic war time and big band tunes.
To find out more about Jive Connection visit their website.
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Gates open at 5.30pm for picnics, support acts begin at 7.00pm and the main act commences with a flypast at 8pm, concluding at 10.20pm with a fireworks finale.
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