Classical fan Natsumi, 17, plays at choir’s next concert

A seventeen-year-old girl will play Bruch in the November concert given by Billingshurst Choral Society.

Natsumi Hatada, who is a pupil at The Rikkyo School near Rudgwick, has been playing the violin since she was seven and has won a first prize and medals at Reigate Festival.

BCS’s Musical Director, George Jones, is a retired headmaster and still works extensively with young choral groups, encouraging them to make music.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When he attended a concert at The Rikkyo School where the head of music is a BCS member, he was impressed by Natsumi’s playing and invited her to perform at the choir’s upcoming concert.

Natsumi has been at The Rikkyo School for twenty months, where she has won her class at the Reigate Festival and played at Saint John’s Smith Square and other local venues. She comes from a musical background; her mother plays piano and her father, classical guitar.

While she loves her music, Natsumi hopes to pursue a career in psychology, helping solve social problems.

Naturally, as a teenager, Natsumi enjoys pop and rock, though her favourite music is classical, with Ravel as her favourite composer and Saint-Saens, Rachmaninov, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky in her list of top choices.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When asked about the UK, Natsumi said: “Nature in the UK is so beautiful. It makes me composed and inspires me. People say my music makes people imagine views and I think that’s because I take some hint for the music from the UK’s landscape.”

She added: “The people are so kind, so my life is comfortable.”

At the BCS concert, she will play the slow movement of Bruch’s Violin Concert No 1, surely most people’s favourite part of a well-loved concerto.

The main work is generally thought to be Johannes Brahms’ best choral work, his German Requiem, full of melody, drama, emotion and gentle consolation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

All of the works to be performed will be accompanied by Sinfonia of Arun whose lead trumpet, Jonathan Yates, will treat people to the exuberant brilliance of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto.

This programme takes place at 7.30pm on Saturday, November 16, in the Billingshurst Leisure Centre.

Tickets are available at just £12 from Henry Adams Estate Agents in Billingshurst High Street, from the Ticket Secretary on 01798 813726 or online at tickets@billingshurstchoral society.org.

Related topics: