Charming Czardas

Description

Loreta Fin

Notes by the composer: “I have known Stephen Chin for more than 30 years. We have played together in String Quartets and collaborated over many epic student festivals and concerts.
I also know that he loves a good Czárdás, so this one is for him. It opens with a slow D minor introduction, which leads into a moderately fast melody, featuring string crossings and is shared around the ensemble. The celli take the melody, accompanied by pizzicato in the other sections. The melody then returns to the upper strings, before a second slow lament.
Finally, the dance returns, starting moderately, then accelerating continuously right through to the final bars. The piano part is optional.”

Duration: 3’45”
Grade: 2.5
Key: D minor

Loreta Fin (A.Mus.A., L.Mus.A., ATCL) studied violin at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, with Faina Krel, and before that, with Sr Margaret Short OSU and Emily Finn (former SSO violinist). Loreta was a first violinist with the Sydney Youth Senior Symphony Orchestra, and later tutored and conducted several of the groups within the Sydney Youth Orchestra Association. She taught at Sydney Grammar School before moving to Brisbane in 1988. At present, she is Director of Strings and Instrumental Music at Somerville House Girls’ School, a full-time position she has held since 1993. Loreta conducts and oversees the school’s 6 String Orchestras and smaller ensembles. There are over 500 students in the instrumental music program, which includes more than 200 string players from Years 3 to 12. All of the string ensembles have been successful in competitions over the years, having gained first places in various eisteddfods for several years running. In the last 10 years, Loreta’s ensembles have consistently received Platinum Awards at all levels – and the senior group, Somerville Strings, was the winner of the Orchestra Australia Award for Excellence in school orchestral music.