Richard Smith Concert Conducting
This is me 'en route' to present 'Silent Cinema' at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Southport
The
Jazzmen come home...Myself
at the piano
Far
right: The famous Kenny Ball
Second
right standing: International Variety Artist Billy 'Uke' Scott
In
kitchen: Kenny balls Jazzmen eating Lamb chops.
Underneath
the piano: Kenny Balls pianist who had just had all his teeth out and
was consoling himself with a bottle of Whiskey!!
An extract from the Gala '68. A large annual production featuring every type of artistic endeavor in the Southport area. To this I always added a return from the Mid-day Concerts which had proved to be outstanding. The artist in question was Kiri te Kanawa who at this time was still a student at the London Opera Centre. Her fee on this occasion...£5!
Students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) performing the Caucasian Chalk Circle by Brecht, at the Little Theatre, Southport.
Drama and Opera companies (sometimes accompanied by the full Orchestra) were accommodated in Southport by the Southport Recital Hostess Society, nearly 200 strong, which I formed to make possible events that would otherwise have been too costly for our very slender Budget.
I still believe, that the man on the gibbet was a dummy!
My late wife turning the pages whilst I scan the score of John McCabe's Piano Concerto which I commissioned for the Centenary of Southport as a Borough. The work is now in the repertoire of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Far
right: The famous Professor Heinz Schroter with the famous Piano trio.
Professor
Schroter stayed with me at home when he brought students from the Cologne
Conservatoire to play in the Southport Wednesday Mid-day Concerts. I quote
from my Visitors book in which Professor Schroter wrote:
'We all thank you very much for your great hospitality and the arrangement of our Concert'.
When Professor Schroter went home, he left behind a treasured Legacy...a pair of his socks! To wear these socks, is to give a memorable performance, somewhat comparable to King Arthur's Excalibur! Should the hem of my trousers reveal the 'Schroter socks' during a concert, one can hear the awe-inspired gasps of the audience!
I had the honour of meeting Ursula Morton, Principle of the Royal Ballet School in London. I asked if we could have, in Southport, a Company of her dancers. The technical problems and the logistics simply melted away. An extract, tailor made especially for us from their annual production (in this case Sleeping Beauty) was simply breathtaking and turned out to be of memorable importance.
Take a close look at the picture. It is obvious that they are all beautiful and talented young people, but what we were unable to know at that time was that, this particular 'crop' of students would belong to a Vintage year.
Third from right (standing): The now famous dancer and Choreographer, Wayne Sleep. At a later date he wrote on the back of this picture, the details of each Artists success.
Fifth for right (standing): Warren de Maria. To become Director of the Australian Ballet Company.
All dancers would enter Ballet Companies such as the Royal Ballet, the Festival Ballet, the Royal Ballet Touring Company, Pact Ballet Company in Johannesburg, Stuttgart Ballet and so on. The picture was posed for, quite informally, tot he call of, 'Okay, let's have a picture!'
To me, it looks like a work of Art.
A children's Mid-day Concert: 'Clowns'. The faces of the children say it all!
Why my 'so-called' friends take a delight in making rude remarks about the similarity between myself, and the Character second left, I will never know!
As the Concerts developed in Southport, it became, more and more the practice for me to explore, and, if you like, exploit, special places that exist in our area and to 'marry' them to suitable events. Take, for instance, 'The Elizabethans', presented in historic, Rufford Old Hall. A Tudor house, in which it was said Shakespeare once played as part of a group of strolling players.
The picture I show you here, is taken in Meols Hall, the Manor house of old Southport. The event was, Haydn Piano Trios, performed by the David Gwilt Trio. David stands on the extreme right, between myself and my late wife. Lady Mary Hesketh is fifth from the left and her husband, Major Roger Fleetwood-Hesketh stands next-but-one to her right. The audience was limited to 100. They were welcomed into the Hall with Sherry, and after the Concert, served with Champagne and chocolate Eclairs...which was nice!
Concert giving, in a provincial town has got to proceed by inventing ones way out of difficulties. In a word, improvisation.
In this picture, you can see the Southport's Floral Hall, which was mainly used for Ballroom dancing. It was the nearest thing we had to a concert hall at that time. As it stood, it would have meant trying to get the whole Orchestra behind the Proscenium Arch. Even if it could accommodate a Symphony Orchestra, which it could not, it would mean that the Strings would be entirely overcome by the Brass. The solution was that the Borough Engineer's Department made a series of box-like structures which, when fixed side-by-side, in front on the arch, made a successful Apron on which to put the Strings. The acoustical effect in the Hall, was really successful.
The picture shows a Symphony Orchestra in action and also shows something else. There is not ONE empty seat! One member of Publicity and Attractions Committee (who will remain nameless) said to me, that if my committee ( the Library and Arts) brought a Symphony Orchestra to Southport, there wouldn't be three people in the audience. Following the concert, which was a sell-out, I remarked to him that he was quite right. Those three people he had in mind could not be found seats!