The Prize Racket
After a brief and disastrous Resident Poet episode, Stockwell Park Orchestra is invited to take part in a TV competition for classical music. For a £50,000 prize some competitors are tempted to stretch the genre to ‘crossover’ and beyond.
Can a full concert orchestra compete with jazz bands, horn quartets, harp ensembles, and Mrs Ford-Hughes singing in Portuguese with nine cellos? Or will the competition be derailed by the poet’s return, this time sporting live Ambient Sounds? The TV producers aren’t worried: they know a good fight means great ratings.
What was supposed to be a quirky diversion threatens to take over the orchestra’s rehearsals for their own concert, but discovering a voting scam means they must fix things in the TV studio first.
Book details
- Format
- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9781788423991
- Published
- 28 January 2022
- Pages
- 272
- Duration
- Dimensions
- 129 x 198 mm
- Genre
- Social Comedy
- Imprint
- Farrago
Reviews
'A witty and irreverent musical romp, full of characters'
'With its retro humour bordering on farce, this offers an escape into the turbulent (and bonkers) world of the orchestra'
'I was charmed... a very enjoyable read'
'Life, Death and Cellos is that rare thing – a funny music book. Rogers knows the world intimately, and portrays it with warmth, accuracy and a poetic turn of phrase. Sharp, witty and richly entertaining'
'Dodgy post-rehearsal curries, friendly insults between musicians, sacrosanct coffee-and-biscuit breaks, tedious committee meetings: welcome to the world of the amateur orchestra. Throw in a stolen Stradivarius, an unexpected fatality and the odd illicit affair and you have Life, Death and Cellos, the first in a new series by Isabel Rogers'
'... a very funny tale of musical shenanigans set in the febrile atmosphere of the Stockwell Park Orchestra'
