Welcoming Roger Coull
Our June double-bill of Maconchy’s Proud Thames overture and Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 6 will be our first collaboration with conductor and violinist Roger Coull. We caught up with him for a mini interview to get to know him better.
We’re looking forward to seeing you in London next month. What have you been doing lately, musically and otherwise?
Over the past three months I have been working with the Beauchamp Sinfonietta (a Leamington Spa based orchestra) and conducted two concerts with them, with programmes featuring Malcolm Arnold, John Ireland, Honegger and Mendelssohn’s First Symphony, and most recently I played a Mozart concerto with them.
I am presently conducting rehearsals with the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra for their June concert, with a wonderful programme of Vaughan Williams, Holst, Bruch and Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2.
With the Coull Quartet we are preparing for a concert in Stoneleigh Abbey very soon.
In addition to this, I do some regular teaching, which includes working with gifted students as part of the Beares Chamber Music Series in London.
Your favourite thing about either of the pieces?
I have really enjoyed studying the score for the Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 6, which is so different from the Fifth Symphony, and indeed any of the other symphonies. There is an underlying turbulence to it which finds its resolution in the last movement.
Any less-expected must-have objects on your stand when you’re rehearsing?
Not particularly, but amusingly, I remember from my youth orchestra days that the conductor used to fling his baton in the audience quite regularly (not on purpose!), so he had a selection of about five or six spare batons on his stand. I just keep a timepiece close by as I am aware of the importance of giving the players regular breaks.
Which one of June’s composers would you rather be shipwrecked on a desert island with and why?
Well, it would have to be Vaughan Williams. I used to do a regular walk in a place where skylarks were plentiful and I couldn’t help but have The Lark Ascending swirling around my head. The simplicity and beauty are second to none.
