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James O'Neil

Hanger Farm Arts Centre, Totton, Southampton - Fri 16th Sept 2011 - 8pm
Tickets: £8 (members and concessions £6), available from Hanger Farm, from WeGotTickets or at society meetings

Last year Southampton Classical Guitar Society kicked off its new "Young Artists Concert Series", aimed at giving support to some of the excellent guitarists who have recently graduated from the UK's top music colleges.

The next features James O'Neil, a member of Southampton Classical Guitar Society from the age of 12 while studying locally with Michael Hulmes. At eighteen he won a place at the Royal College of Music to study with Gary Ryan and Chris Stell.

In 2011 he was announced as the winner of the 2011 Royal College of Music Guitar Prize.

Having graduated this summer we are delighted to see this excellent young man back performing for the society where he has frequently entertained us with the occasional piece or two at our meetings over the past decade.

We are hoping his programme will include a duet with his first teacher, Michael Hulmes, also a long-standing SGS member)

This is also our first concert at this wonderful new venue in Totton. Hanger Farm Arts Centre is a beautifully restored barn with excellent acoustics and facilities. There is parking on site. Directions can be found here.

Please come along and enjoy the concert.

Programme

Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) - Variations on a Theme of Handel

Nikita Koshkin (b. 1956) - The Prince's Toys Suite

(Interval)

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) - Andante from Concerto in G Major (duo with Michael Hulmes)

Erik Satie (1866-1925) - Gnossienne No 2 and No 3 (duo with Michael Hulmes)

Federico Morrono Torroba (1891-1982) - Sonatina in A (1st movement)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - Prelude, Fugue & Allegro (BWV 998)

Roland Dyens - Dressing Room Waltz

[Encore: Lennon & McCartney (arr. Takemitsu) - Here, There & Everywhere]

Review

There were three undoubted winners at this concert: the venue, the artist and the society. A great evening all round.

This was the first time Southampton Classical Guitar Centre had used Hanger Farm Arts Centre, a recently rejuvenated 18th century barn, beautifully restored by the local council and run as part of the local college. This superb facility sits in the middle of the community from where the volunteer ushers and bar staff come. Speaking to them they are clearly very proud of their arts centre. Rightly so and if only there were more of them like this one. Check out their website and try and pay them a visit soon. It will be well worth it.

James O'Neil celebrated his 23rd birthday the day before the concert after recently graduating from the Royal College of Music. Before starting at college, James had been a member of the society since he was just 12 years old so we were delighted to hear of his success and especially that he won the prestigious RCM Guitar Prize. He now starts a two year Masters degree course.

Having given several short recitals, this was James' first ever full-length concert, another cause for the society to be proud. James however was understandably nervous. How many people would bother to buy a ticket to come and watch this unknown young guitarist? He need not have worried. This intimate little venue was three-quarters full.

Composing himself well prior to the first piece, one could see his hands shaking from the front row (possibly even the back row?). He pressed on regardless and the hours of practice paid off well. The Giuliani Variations on a Theme by Handel went well. It was a mistake to leave out the repeats in an attempt to get the piece down to about 5 minutes rather than 7 and I wonder if he didn't miss out a section in error as it was actually barely three minutes in the end. If he did miss out something, he didn't let it show.

Next came The Prince's Toys by Nikita Koshkin. This was the one programming error of the night. For a mixed audience it may have been better to play a few extracts rather than the whole suite and to have placed it after the interval. The audience listened in respectful silence but it was clear a few were growing restless towards the end. Having said that, James put in a competent performance and executed the extended techniques well. I think with a few more years concert experience he would make a very good job of this.

As the first half ended it was clear that James nerves had caused him to race ahead with some of his tempos, finishing a good 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Isn't it strange that musicians play faster when they are nervous, thus increasing their risk of a 'fall'.

Following the interval James was joined by his former tutor, Michael Hulmes (also an SCGS member), for a couple of duos. Firstly the Andante from Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major and then two of Erik Satie's Gnossiennes, Nos 3 & 2. These were both beautifully played and certainly got any wavering members of the audience back on side, though James was playing a somewhat secondary role in them. Nevertheless, James was now playing with much more confidence; his nerves settled.

James excelled himself from here on in and won over all the audience with his choice of music and his playing. The first movement from Moreno Torroba's beautiful Sonatina was lovely and my only criticism is that we didn't get to hear the rest. This, for me, could certainly have been added at the expense of some of the Koshkin.

Next came Bach's famous Prelude, Fugue and Allegro. I was completely absorbed by this very convincing performance. It brought back memories of other occasions when I have heard this played well in the past. We may have been approaching the end of the concert but I felt the audience were completely relaxed at this point.

An almost mandatory programme change came next and James announced it like an experienced professional. Replaying the Dyens arrangement of Felicidade was one of his own compositions. New to me was Dressing Room Waltz, allegedly written backstage during the interval of a concert. This was both a surprise and a highlight of the concert for me. Very nice!

Deservedly, James was invited back and persuaded to play an encore. He chose well, playing Takemitsu's arrangement of The Beatles classic, Here,There and Everywhere. It was a lovely, gentle end to an excellent evening my a young guitarist playing his first professional concert in a wonderful new venue.

And so the third winner of the evening was the society itself. This was our 2nd in an occasional series of 'Young Artists Concerts' aimed at helping recently graduated guitarists with their new professional concert careers. The hope is that, one day, we can promote 3 such concerts each year in 'satellite' venues around the region we support. I am sure we will be back to Hanger Farm again. Maybe this time next year?

© Wayne Lines, 18th Sept 2011