On Sunday 18 April the Raglan Town Hall hosted a Rusty Player event. The event was promoted and sponsored by Orchestras Central Trust, an organisation that delivers orchestral music experiences in the Waikato through the Trust Waikato Symphony Orchestra, Rusty Players, Youth Orchestras Waikato and OCT Ensemble.
About 35 players turned up on the day, a few locals, Hamiltonians and others from as far away as Morrinsville and Paeroa. They came together in the morning to practice the music in their orchestral sections of strings and wind. Some players mentioned they felt “rusty” at first, but supported by the old hands, the development (and the musicians’ enjoyment) over the two practice sessions was obvious even to an untutored ear.
During the early afternoon the whole orchestra came together under the baton of Catherine Polglase and eventually an audience of around 25 was treated to three well-known pieces: Suite no 2 from The Water Music by Handel, the Adagio from Spartacus by Khachaturian (the theme from the 1980’s television drama series The Onedin Line) and an arrangement of Rod Stewart’s iconic song Sailing.
The out-of-towners in the orchestra were flattering about our lovely town hall, and enjoyed the Wharf fish n chip lunch too (30+ separate parcels!). A highlight for one young man who was there with his family, was an invitation to join in as the cymbal player. After the practices, he ended up hitting the cymbal at exactly the right place in Theme from The Onedin Line. Rusty Players Orchestra is a sometime regular event around the Waikato, further information from their Facebook page and website: www.orchestras.org.nz. This looked like very good fun indeed – I wished I had a dusty instrument in my cupboard.
WD
