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Cecil James
Cecil Edwin James (10 April 1913 – 13 January 1999) was a prominent English bassoonist born in London to a musical family. His father Wilfred (1878-1941) was a bassoonist in the Queen's Hall Orchestra and professor at the Royal College of Music. His uncle Edwin (1861-1921), also a fine bassoonist, was a founding member of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1904. His uncle Frank was second trumpet with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Cecil studied with his father, won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. There, in 1933, he performed the Mozart Concerto with Orchestra and shortly after was appointed to the London Symphony Orchestra. It was there he met oboist Natalie Caine whom he married in 1938. During the war, he played with the Royal Air Force Central Band alongside Gareth Morris, Leonard Brain, Dennis Brain, Norman Del Mar, Harry Blech, Fred Grinke, Leonard Hirsch, Jim Merrett and James Whitehead. When demobbed, he joined the New Symphony, then in 1951 was appointe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen's Hall Orchestra
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts ("The Proms") founded by Robert Newman together with Henry Wood. The hall had drab decor and cramped seating but superb acoustics. It became known as the "musical centre of the ritishEmpire", and several of the leading musicians and composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries performed there, including Claude Debussy, Edward Elgar, Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss. In the 1930s, the hall became the main London base of two new orchestras, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. These two ensembles raised the standards of orchestral playing in London to new heights, and the hall's resident orchestra, founded in 1893, was eclipsed and it disbanded in 1930. The new orc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
