Music in the afternoon
Enjoy fun pieces including Funiculi Funicula
featuring Helen Skelton on flute and recorder
Directed by our conductor Ros Asher
Saturday 16th November
2pm - 4pm
St Peter's Church
St Peter's Street, St Albans AL1 3HG
£12 / £10 pre-booked
phoenixmandos@gmail.com
to pre book your tickets
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Not as windy as last year! Great sound with our recorder/flute player Helen Skelton! Encouraging children from the nearby playground were interested in our playing, possibly future mandolin players in the making
Playing again to a full house, meaning more money raised for Rennie Grove Hospice Care! Our performances are going from strength with our inspirational new conductor Tim Smith. Some feedback from the audience - "That was a lovely programme of beautifully played great music at lunchtime. Very therapeutic to step away from our troubled world and have an hour of calming music and contemplation - thank you! Please pass on my appreciation to all your fellow musicians - the flautist / recorder player especially. I'd like to know what was happening in 1685 - that one year produced Vivaldi, JS Bach and Handel!". Be sure to look out for us again next year!
A small group of us participated in this years BMG Federation Festival. Great fun playing awesome music, listening to excellent music and learning from from the best plucked string experts in the UK! We entered a competition, the Francis Day & Hunter trophy for small ensembles and got 1st place, was a pleasant surprise as it was the first time competing as a group! Also made a small performance and recieved good feedback which will help us move forward.
Was a great concert with a good turnout and an appreciative audience. Thanks again to Helen Skelton on flute and recorder, very much enjoyed performing with her and looking forward to further performances in the New Year! Was the last performance for conductor Vlad Bourceanu after a year with our group we wish him all the best! Raised over £250 for charity Refugee Tales who was also highly appreciative of the amount. Some great feedback - "Friends who came to the concert on Sunday all enjoyed it. I thought the variety of the programme was particularly good, each number being quite different from the previous one.", "I did not know that mandolins could make such different sounds."
Playing to a full house reflecting just how many lives Frank had touched through his work! Raising over £350 for Sue Ryder who was highly appreciative of the amount. Huge thanks to the Kerntiff family, who gave us permission to honor Frank and perform his arranged music as well as helping with the organisation and running of the concert. Was very poignant hearing the thank yous from the Kerntiff family at the end of the concert. First debut of our new conductor Vlad Bourceanu who has helped bring our playing to another level. Great feedback especially for our more complex and thought provoking pieces.
We are a voluntary community group comprised of plucked string instruments mandolins, mandolas, guitars and bass based in St. Albans.
Our group is a result of the merging of the last two remaining mandolin groups north of London, Hatfield Banjo Mandolin Guitar Group (circa 1970s) and Watford Plectra Orchestra (circa 1930s)
We aim to keep the tradition of music for plucked strings alive north of London by encouraging new players to the instruments and encouraging involvement in our concerts
We have a wide range of repetoire from tango, to waltzes, baroque, to folk. We welcome any mandolin and guitar players of any level. Interested? Contact us at phoenixmandos@gmail.com for further details.
Ros Asher is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music (RAM), where she studied piano, clarinet and singing. Whilst there, she won the York Bowen and Henry Ellis Lees prizes and, in 1990, was awarded an Associate of the RAM for her significant contribution to the music profession.
Ros has wide-ranging experience as performer, musical director, conductor, workshop leader and coach. Collaborative work with professional orchestras and composers has included residencies with schools, youth orchestras and community groups. Media work has included music projects with the BBC, Channel 4, publishing and film. She has led school music departments, taught in universities, been head of North Herts Music School, music adviser for Enfield, Warwickshire and Harrow local authorities, and held senior posts in local government and government departments.
Ros is passionate about the power of music to change and enrich lives. She was a founder Trustee of ‘Music for Life’, which provides creative music programmes for people living with dementia, and a Trustee of the New Mozart Orchestra, which takes live music into schools. She is a member of the Independent Society of Musicians’ specialist education group and the Cultural Learning Alliance’s advisory panel.
She particularly enjoys music coaching and conducting with youth and community groups and is delighted to be making music with Phoenix Mandolins.
Helen Skelton returned to playing the flute and various recorders in 2018 after a very long break to focus on her family and Civil Service career. Under the guidance of her recorder teacher, Andrew Collis and flute teacher, Ya-Zheng (Judy) Chen MA, RAM she achieved distinction in the Advanced Certificate for recorder and also for flute. She plays with Camden Light Orchestra and attends the North London Society of Recorder Players. She lives in Finchley with her long suffering family and two cats.
Check us out in the news!
Herts Advertiser 8th November 2023
Herts Advertiser 10th August 2021
If you have missed our radio interview in Dereck Staines Saturday Music Show you can download the full interview below.
Thanks to Dereck Staines and Radio Verulam for playing our music and helping us spread the word on our October 3rd concert!
Here is a sample of our latest recordings taken in concert! Like what you hear and want join in the fun? Contact us at phoenixmandos@gmail.com for further details.
LUNCHTIME CONCERT ST PETERS 2024
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger Arr Anna Langley Concertino in D 1st movement
Antonio Vivaldi Arr Andy Boden and Nima Ranjbar Flute Concerto in F Major, RV 433 (La tempesta di mare)
CONCERT FOR FRANK (1955-2022)
Primo Quaia Arr Stuart McGowan Mosella
Trad Arr Frank Kerntiff Down by the Sally Gardens
We recommend these teachers to get started on the mandolin or guitar in St Albans.
After a few lessons, contact us at phoenixmandos@gmail.com to join us and put in pratice your knowledge and technique.
Nigel Woodhouse has many years experience as a professional musician and he has played in a diverse range of ensembles, both small and large. Unusually for his chosen instruments, (guitar, mandolin and tenor banjo) much of his work has been in various orchestral settings. Nigel has taken part in many concerts with all of the UK's leading orchestras, including numerous appearances at the BBC Proms, as well as recordings and international tours. He has played many onstage parts in the worlds of opera, ballet and theatre, and he is regularly invited to play at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden and English National Opera. In recent years he has been invited to play with the Bergen Philharmonic, as well as touring with the Royal Ballet, playing shows in Shanghai, Washington, Chicago, Tokyo and Yokohama.