Last week, the Arabian Youth Orchestra conducted by Peter Currie performed Pam Wedgwood’s orchestral work ‘The Captain & the Purple Lady‘.
Whilst on holiday in Cornwall, Pam spied a wooden bench looking out to the sea with the inscription:
“To the Captain and the Purple Lady. The sun is always over the yardarm”
Perhaps the Captain must have gone down with his boat “The Purple Lady”?
Inspired by this, Pam composed a piece for full orchestra using this title – a journey on the high seas. The piece is written especially for youth orchestras at about grade 6+ level.
The Arabian Youth Orchestra (AYO) offers an exciting opportunity for talented young orchestral musicians from the region who would like to experience playing in an ensemble of the highest calibre.
The work by Pam Wedgwood called The Captain and The Purple Lady has just caught my attention. As a piano teacher, I have used her books for years. It seems Ms Wedgwood was interested in the origins of the seat with this inscription. The Purple Lady was my sister who ALWAYS dressed in shades of mauve and purple – and The Captain was my brother in law. They had a long association with Cornwall. The Captain was no seafarer, but he died in 1999, and my sister, The Purple Lady, followed him in 2005. Our whole family was there on a beautiful summer day in 2006, when the seat Treyarnon was consecrated, inaugurated, committed – or what you will – to them.