Beauchamp Sinfonietta, Celebration of Six Women Composers, Conductor, Lauren Wasynczuk, Holy Trinity Church, Sunday 26 January, 2025

Beauchamp Sinfonietta’s contract coup of the season, Conductor, Lauren Wasynczuk, led a celebration of works by six women composers with precision and agility; her players responding with fluent, full-blooded spontaneity. At six foot six, this native of Los Angeles is blessed with a  dignified, striking poise and elegant dress sense.  Manchester-based for the time being, having had a long-association with Royal Northern College of Music, Beauchamp would welcome her back without hesitation.

In recent years, Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn has, at last, received the international recognition she deserves. Her Overture in C major, an iconic work full of evocative orchestrations and highly representative of her style, was given a buzzing outing by Beauchamp. Anna Appleby’s Bridges Suite - a love-letter to her native Newcastle - introduced new technologies to the afternoon with the use of an electronic track to the third part of the work, The Millenium Bridge, thus creating a luscious susurration, supported by ‘tremelo’ strings playing. Part one, The High Level Bridge required all players to produce pencils to add percussive effects; part two, The Tyne Bridge inspired the most muscular playing of this work.

Beauchamp dedicated Florence Price’s Adoration to percussionist Hugh Thomas who died overnight. Matters of race and gender prevented her works achieving the recognition they deserved during her life – they do now!! Doreen Carwithen took a break from her Korngold-model existence of building her reputation and earning remuneration from composing film scores, to compose her unpretentious Suffolk Suite - oboist, Aoife Dudley delivering a fine solo.

Another oboist and trailblazer for women in the arts, Ruth Gipps, composed Ambarvalia, a quintessentially British-sounding work in 1988,  an uncomplicated work fully employing the intelligent wind section with Bob Ramskil recreating the celeste at the keyboard.

Sixth and last of the women composers was Louise Farrenc whose Symphony No 3 in G minor, composed in 1874, brought this inventive initiative to a close with a rousing four movement display of pleasing clarinet, bassoon, horn and oboe playing, delightfully supported by pizzicato-playing strings. During a lively last movement, Lauren Wasynczuk showed why she has such a big future with an illustration of significant leadership skills needed to succeed.