Ten Tors Orchestra celebrates the life of Charles Darwin

“It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes...” Charles Darwin, The Origin of the Species The renowned Ten Tors Orchestra is set to perform a concert in celebration of the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the anniversary of the publication of The Origin of the Species . Entitled Darwin’s Finches, the event will be staged at the University of Plymouth by Peninsula Arts, and will feature four pieces that explore the musical inspiration drawn by well-known composers from birdsong. These composers include Darwin’s great nephew, Vaughan Williams, whose piece The Lark Ascending will be performed by the Ten Tors Orchestra. Conducted by Simon Ible, they will also perform: Ill Gardellino -The Goldfinch by Vivaldi; Michael Stimpson’s An Entangled Bank ; and Haydn’s Symphony No. 83 , nicknamed ‘The Hen’. Simon Ible, who is also the Director of Peninsula Arts at the University of Plymouth, said: “Sometimes it is good to attach a theme to a concert although for me it is the pure beauty of the music that makes this such an attractive programme. "I am delighted that Michael Stimpson will attend the concert. He describes his An Entangled Bank as very much in the romantic tradition and reflects the style of Mendelssohn who was born the same year as Charles Darwin – 1809. Michael takes his themes from the songs of the thirteen species of finch Darwin noted on the Galapagos Islands.”