David Childs thrills at the BBC Proms
BBC Young Musician celebrated its 40th birthday at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday evening as the 3rd Prom of this year’s season. The concert featured illustrious past winners and finalists, including Nicola Benedetti, Freddy Kempf, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and euphonium virtuoso David Childs.
The programme featured popular works by by Ravel and Saint-Saëns, as well as brand new pieces written specially for the occasion. ‘Gershwinicity’, a fantasia based on five Gershwin songs by Iain Farrington, was just one of the World Premiere performances of the night. Strong jazz elements infused the music and the solo writing had an improvisatory quality. Following solo contributions from trumpet and saxophone the euphonium plays a sassy blues version of ‘A Foggy Day in London’ before handing back the soloist spot to the clarinet and saxophone. David Childs was clearly at the top of his game for this performance, making the euphonium sound very much at home with the more traditional jazz instruments featured in the piece. The work closed the first half of the concert to a fantastic reception from the capacity audience.
Speaking about his part in the Prom David commented, “What a thrill to be part of this special BBC Proms concert celebrating 40 years of the BBC Young Musician. So inspirational to witness the remarkable talents of today's young stars, and a genuine honour to share the stage with so many world class soloists, the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor, Andrew Gourlay. A truly unforgettable experience.”
David’s performance is available to watch on BBC iPlayer via the following link:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p06crnk8/bbc-proms-2018-iain-farrington-gershwinicity-prom-3
