10th November 2003

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Renowned violinist Marianne Olyver and pianist Geoffrey Pratley are set to delight audiences at the University of Ulster next week.

Marianne Olyver was the first girl to lead the National Youth Orchestra at the age of seventeen.

She studied in London and Geneva with Max Rostal, Alfredo Campoli and Emanuel Hurwitz CBE. Inspired by the audience reaction at concert encores to the kind of light music that used to be heard in grand hotels and tea houses in the first half of the 20th century she gathered together some like minded friends and established Marianne Olyver and her Salon Orchestra.

Since her debut as director and principal soloist of the Orchestra at St Martin in the Fields, London in 1990 Marianne Olyver has gone on to establish herself as the leading Light Music exponent of her generation.

The Orchestra has made its mark with Classic FM and Radio 2. Marianne regularly broadcasts on BBC Radio 2’s Richard Baker’s Melodies for You, Friday Night is Music Night, and Desmond Carrington’s All Time Greats, BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, Brian Kay’s Light Programme and Classic FM.

Geoffrey Pratley is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of Music, London and one of the most distinguished accompanists of his generation. For over twenty years he was a regular partner to the mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker, the French cellist Paul Tortelier, and the British violinist Ralph Holmes.

The programme for the concerts in the University will include Beethoven’s Sonata Op 12 No. I., Elgar’s Serenade and a selection of other souvenirs of a golden age of violin showpieces, bringing the music of a bygone era back to life.

Marianne Olyver and Geoffrey Pratley will perform in the University of Ulster’s Lunchtime Concert Series on Monday 17 November in the Octagon, Coleraine, and on Tuesday 18 November in the Great Hall, on the Magee campus

Tickets for the concert are £3.00 and can be purchased at the door on the day or in advance in the Cashier’s Office, University of Ulster, Coleraine for the Coleraine concert. For further information contact the Cultural Development Office, Coleraine on 028 7032 4683 or Magee on 028 7137 5658.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk