Artwork

Talented artists have been painting and drawing Rehearsal Orchestra from the very earliest days. Work is for sale to help support the orchestra's activity. You can also purchase postcards of the artwork on course days.

Shostakovich - Martinů Rehearsal Triptych, Edinburgh 2012 (detail). Oil on gesso panels. By Adele Wagstaff.

Adele Wagstaff

Adele Wagstaff is an artist and teacher who has been sketching and painting Rehearsal Orchestra in London and Edinburgh for a number of years and whose artwork of RO is for sale to benefit the orchestra.

Adele’s work featuring Rehearsal Orchestra was exhibited at St John’s Church, Waterloo, in 2014, at Putney School of Art during our 60th anniversary year in May 2017 and in the grade II* listed Chapel at Brompton Cemetery in June 2023.

Adele studied painting at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and at the Slade School of Fine Art with Norman Norris and Euan Uglow. Since her graduation from the Slade Adele divides her time between the studio, where she focuses on working from the human figure, portrait and still life and teaching a number of drawing and painting courses. She has taught in Germany, Italy and throughout the UK including West Dean College, Putney School of Art and Slade School of Fine Art. Adele has been shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize, the BP Portrait Award and her work has been exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Discerning Eye, Royal West of England Academy, the Canadian Portrait Academy and continues to exhibit regularly in London and throughout the UK. Her book ‘Still Life Painting in Oils’ was published in 2012 and ‘Painting the Nude in Oils’ early in 2015, both for The Crowood Press. She also contributes regularly to a number of art publications. Since being shortlisted for the BP Travel Award in 2006, Adele has been making regular visits to Luxor, Egypt where she has continued to work on a series of portraits within a small community on the edge of the town.

You can see more examples from Adele’s portfolio on her website.

A wide-angle view in three parts of the front desks of the strings and a conductors's stand, with stylised shapes of the rest of the orchestra beyond. In tones of ochre, gold, blues and greys.

Shostakovich - Martinů Rehearsal Triptych, Edinburgh 2012. Oil on gesso panels. By Adele Wagstaff.

The central panel of a wide-angle view in three parts of the front desks of the strings and a conductors's stand, with stylised shapes of the rest of the orchestra beyond. This panel shows the Second Violins and Violas plus the conductor's stand. In tones of ochre, gold, blues and greys.

Shostakovich - Martinů Rehearsal Triptych, Edinburgh 2012 (detail). Oil on gesso panels. By Adele Wagstaff.

A graphite drawing of a cellist playing, on an off-white background.

Mark, Edinburgh 2017. Graphite on board, 20x30cm. By Adele Wagstaff.

RO Leader Peter Nall depicted playing his violin, bow upright, with another player sketched out to his side. Multiple hand positions create a sense of movement.

Edinburgh First Violin sectional. Oil on panel, 30x24cm. By Adele Wagstaff.

A graphite drawing of two cellists playing, and the outline of another behind them, on an off-white background.

Cello front desk, Edinburgh. Graphite on gesso panel, 24x18cm. By Adele Wagstaff.

A blue-and-ochre toned view of a section of violins playing, seen at an angle from behind .

At the back of the First Violins, Edinburgh 2016. Oil on panel, 30x24cm (32x26cm framed). By Adele Wagstaff.

A graphite drawing of two violinists playing, their bows upright, on an off-white background.

Front desk, First Violins, Edinburgh. Graphite on gesso panel, 13x18cm. By Adele Wagstaff.

RO Leader Peter Nall depicted playing his violin, bow upright, in tones of blues, ochre and browns.

Peter, Edinburgh 2017. Oil on panel, 30x24cm. By Adele Wagstaff.

A graphite drawing of two violinists playing, their bows upright and with a music stand in front of them, on an off-white background.

First Violins, Edinburgh. Graphite on gesso panel, 13x18cm. By Adele Wagstaff.

A graphite drawing of a violinist playing, his bow upright, on an off-white background.

Richard, Principal Second Violin, Edinburgh. Graphite on gesso panel, 13x18cm. By Adele Wagstaff.

A partial view of the orchestra at work in a large hall, with a conductor perched on a stool on a podium at the front. In the foreground, viewed from behind, is artist Adele Wagstaff, working on an oil sketch of the cello section on an easel in front of her. She has a fine long brush in her right and is holding a palette in her left. She has long brown hair, and is wearing a black shirt.

Adele Wagstaff at work, Edinburgh 2019.

Painting by Mary Shillabeer. 1958.

Mary Shillabeer

Mary (1904-1992) sketched and painted Rehearsal Orchestra in Edinburgh for many years and also brought along some of her wonderful puppets for memorable performances of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Poulenc’s L’Histoire de Babar with the orchestra and narrators.

Mary trained as an artist and illustrator at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and moved to Edinburgh in 1942. Known largely as an illustrator of children’s books, she started making and manipulating marionettes in her 70s, some of which are now housed in the collection of the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh, the Purves Puppets Little Theatre in Biggar, near Edinburgh, and Ian Turbitt Puppets in Glasgow.

A number of Mary’s originals were exhibited in the foyer of the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh during our 50th anniversary summer.

A vibrant ink and watercolour/gouache painting of the orchestra at work. Harry Legge is conducting sat on a stool on the podium, wearing his trademark red short-sleeved shirt. Striking blues and blacks give a sense of movement and energy.

Painting by Mary Shillabeer. 1958.

A mixed-technique artwork of the orchestra in rehearsal in a school hall which is divided by two iron pillars. Double basses are in the foreground, with Harry Legge conducting further away on the left.

Painting by Mary Shillabeer. 1962.

A colourful mixed-technique artwork (in oil pastels and watercolours, perhaps), of the orchestra in rehearsal in a large hall with Gothic windows and a gallery, from which colourful blankets and and rugs have been hung. Harry Legge is conducting sat on a stool, wearing a red short-sleeved shirt.

Rehearsal Hall at the University Men's Union in Edinburgh, hung with blankets and rugs to dampen the sound. By Mary Shillabeer, c. 1958.

A coppery-toned watercolour and ink sketch centred on Harry Legge - in his trademark red short-sleeved shirt - on the podium with Angela Rubini sining next to him, in an updo and shawl, hand upturned in a dramatic gesture. They are surrounded by stylised figures of orchestra players.

Angela Rubini sings Italian arias. Painting by Mary Shillabeer.

A dark-toned pastel drawing of the orchestra in rehearsal, viewed through a window.

By Mary Shillabeer.

The orchestra in rehearsal, viewed from a high angle, with Harry Legge conducting in his red short-sleeved shirt. Sir Lennox Berkeley, dressed in a suite, listens sat behind a desk in the bottom-left corner.

Sir Lennox Berkeley listens. Painting by Mary Shillabeer.

A colourful oil sketch of three percussionists, one playing the timpani, another a hanging cymbal, and the third the xylophone, their eyes keened on the conductor and their parts.

Susan Esterman, Stuart Green, Alan Cumberland. Painting by Mary Shillabeer, 1968. Stuart Green went on to become Principal Viola of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Colourful oil painting of the young Susan Tomes rehearsing with the orchestra in a large rooom. She is sat at the black grand piano, with its lid raised, in the foreground. Her left hand is crossing over her right on the keyboard. She is dressed in a bright red skirt and a white shirt. Behind her and the instrument is the orchestra, with Harry Legge conducting. Strings and bassoons can be made out among the the stylised instruments.

Susan Tomes, aged 14, playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rehearsal Orchestra in 1968. Painting by Mary Shillabeer.

Artwork

Adele Wagstaff

Mary Shillabeer

Join our mailing list