Page 28 - Coverage Book_Aurora Orchestra Autumn 2020

Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 - Nicholas Collon, Aurora Orchestra
West Handyside Canopy, Kings Cross (Photo Monika S Jakubowska/Kings Place)

Aurora Orchestra is resident at Kings Place, and someone had the bright idea of transporting the
performance across the road to the West Handyside Canopy which runs between Waitrose and the
new development which houses Central St Martin's. This is a large public space, but it is rainproof. So
there we were, seated on socially distanced chairs with people coming and going to Waitrose on one
side, and passers by walking through Handyside Gardens on the other, though it was interesting to
see how many stopped to listen. Noises off included the rather disturbing sound of supermarket
trollies running over cobbles, as well as more general, but overall there was a sense of occasion.

So on Monday 9 September 2020, Nicholas Collon conducted Aurora Orchestra in
Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 under the West Handyside Canopy at King's Cross (a roof
built in 1888 to provide a covered area for unloading fish and perishable goods from
railway carriages for distribution around London, and now a space used for markets and
events). The symphony was given entirely from memory with the orchestra (largely)
standing up, and all suitably distanced. There was amplification which was admirable,
though there were some details of balance (the prominence of the double basses) which
I was uncertain whether they were due to Collon's preferences in Beethoven's textures
or to the vagaries of amplifying the ensemble.