A POPULAR musical director will be conducting his swansong concert with the Royal Forest of Dean Orchestra this Saturday (July 2).

Jack Lovell, 25, who has recently had a spell as assistant conductor at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, will be saying goodbye to the Dean with a popular programme featuring two Forest flautists performing Cimarosa’s Concerto for Two Flutes.

“The concerts that I have conducted with the Royal Forest of Dean Orchestra have been some of the most fulfilling and rewarding of my life,” said Jack, who was appointed conductor two years ago.

“This orchestra is a wonderful organisation, bringing high-quality and accessible music making to the Forest of Dean. Long may it thrive.”

His growing number of other conducting commitments are pulling him away from the Dean. Jack is currently musical director for Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra, Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, Stafford Sinfonia and Opera’r Ddraig (Cardiff), as well as chorus director for Spires Philharmonic Chorus (Coventry).

But on Saturday evening he will be enjoying his Forest finale with soloists Fiona Crawley, who runs the ForestFlute Choir, and 18-year-old Laura Hosford, from Coleford.

The programme will begin with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll – composed for his wife’s birthday after the birth of their son Siegfried. And it will end with Beethoven’s energetically cheerful Symphony No. 2, which belies the fact that he had just discovered he was going deaf.

A retiring collection will be held in aid of Music Space, a local charity providing music therapy for all ages. Tickets to the concert at Newland’s All Saints’ Church are available on the door at 7.30pm.