Bartók:
The Wooden Prince Suite
Henry Wood Hall, Trinity Church Square, London SE1 4HU
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Non student£44
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Student£25
Bartók wrote The Wooden Prince as a one-act pantomime ballet (1914–1916) to a scenario by Béla Balázs. Bartók described the ballet as “a kind of elaborate symphonic poem to be danced to”. Despite a successful premiere in 1917, he came to realise that there was much musical padding in the ballet (for which he blamed Balázs). Over the following fifteen years he made many cuts in the stage version, and produced two leaner orchestra suites.
Set in an enchanted forest, The Wooden Prince is based on a fairy tale-like libretto featuring a prince and princess. The two are subjected to various trials, but at the end of the ballet they are allowed to come together and live, we assume, happily ever after. The score’s first few minutes are dazzling, a folk-tinged re-tread of Das Rheingold’s opening, the ensuing music blending ardent romanticism with the grotesque.
Applications are invited for all sections of the orchestra from players at Grade 8-plus, or equivalent.
The nearest stations to Henry Wood Hall are Borough, Elephant and Castle, and London Bridge. There is free parking in the surrounding streets on Sundays (and parking on the forecourt for large instruments).
Please note that while the hall is in the central London congestion charge zone (fee £15, payable online), it only operates on Sundays only if you’re driving through the zone between 12.00 and 18.00, which should mean players are not affected.
(The London Ultra Low Emission Zone applies all day, every day. Check here to see if your vehicle is affected.)
Explore more Courses
All course fees are subsidised by our fundraising activities and fees are further reduced for students. Some bursary funding is available: please enquire when applying for courses. In addition to the general full and part bursaries we offer, we have two specific bursary schemes:
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Co-Principal Strings Student Bursary scheme
If you are currently studying full-time at a UK conservatoire and would appreciate the opportunity to work intensively on large-scale symphonic repertoire with professional conductors, without the pressure of public performance, at the same time as benefiting directly from the experience of our professional string principals, why not apply for the Co-Principal Strings Student bursary scheme? Successful applicants will be offered a bursary-funded place on one of our London weekend courses as co-principal first or second violin, viola, cello or double bass. A modest contribution to travel costs is available to participants studying outside London.
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Play ON bursary programme
Our newest bursary programme, Play ON, initiated in 2022 by a grant from the Victoria Wood Foundation, enables us to offer a number of bursary-funded places on London weekend courses to current conservatoire students and recent graduates across all sections of the orchestra, particularly those who studied and/or graduated during the Covid pandemic. A contribution to travel costs is available to all participants.
To apply for these schemes, please email admin@rehearsal-orchestra.org with your CV.