Latest News

Happy New Year everyone! Rehearsals have started again for 2012, and the Wessex Concert Orchestra is looking ahead to an exciting year.

Among the highlights coming up:

A spring concert of celebratory music, featuring Elgar's magnificent 1st symphony
A trip up to Wirral in January for many of us to join the Wirral Symphony Orchestra in a playday of Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony
Lots of orchestra members will be joining the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for a playday tackling Dvorak's beautiful 8th symphony
Many more of us will be returning to Liverpool later in the year for the Liverpool Philharmonic's Superorchestra
We'll be hoping for less 'exciting' weather for this year's summer Proms concert
August brings the annual trip to Giggleswick for many of us - for the M4P Summer School of Music
Our winter concert is a little later this year to allow us to bring a Christmas theme to our music

Sound like fun? We've got vacancies in the strings and the lower brass at the moment, so if you're interested in in joining us for a fantastic year of music, why not get in touch?

Our two performances of The Battle of the Somme played to packed audiences, who were lucky enough to hear introductory presentations from both Laura Rossi (composer) and Dr Toby Haggith (Imperial War Museum). Audience members described the event as "enthralling, moving and compelling". Performing the soundtrack to this important historical film proved to be a magical and emotional experience for the orchestra, and we're very grateful to both Laura Rossi and the Imperial War Museum for making it happen.

Read more about the tour on the official Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Battle-of-the-Somme-Tour/259041990798132

With less than 2 weeks to go until our performance of the Battle of the Somme in collaboration with the Imperial War Museum, tickets are selling fast. Due to the popular appeal of this special musical event, we will be offering two performances: a matinee performance at 3:30pm and an evening performance at 7:30om. Both performances will begin with a talk from Dr Toby Haggith of the Imperial War Museum and the composer, Laura Rossi. This promises to be a very powerful experience of film and music - book your tickets today to ensure you don't miss out.

Music hasn't stopped for the summer at WCO. 11 members of the orchestra enjoyed a fabulous week at the Music 4 People summer school in Yorkshire. Other orchestra members have attended summers schools at the Sherborne Summer of School of Music and the Ellesmere Orchestral Weekend. Back home in Wiltshire, our summer programme has included chamber music and an orchestral workshop.

We're now gearing up for our autumn term and the challenge of performing the soundtrack to the Battle of the Somme alongside a live screening of the film. Along the way we're looking forward to an inspiring orchestra workshop with Aidan Broadbridge.

Interested in joining in? Take a look at the Join Us page for more details.

On Thursday 30th June, WCO appeared on Radio 3 as part of the Light Fantastic festival of British light music. Our performance of Alford's Colonel Bogey was broadcast at the end of the evening concert. Being chosen for broadcast was the culmination of a fantastic experience for the orchestra. Back in May we travelled to Cardiff and spent a morning working with BBC producers at the Millennium Centre. The recording session gave us the opportunity for several takes, balancing up our sound and fine-tuning our performance to create a recording we were delighted with.

Click here to listen to our recording as broadcast on BBC Radio 3

21 members of the Wessex Concert Orchestra this weekend were privileged to take part in the Liverpool Philharmonic's SuperOrchestra event, perfoming on stage with the orchestra and conducted by Vasily Petrenko.

After a morning of sectional rehearsals with RPLO players, our players joined with the RLPO members for a 3 hour rehearsal led by Petrenko. The day culminated with a perfomance to a packed Philharmonic Hall.

Orchestra leader Nicola Ashton said: "This was a fantastic opportunity for us to play alongside some of the finest orchestral musicians in the country. We all learnt a huge amount. Rehearsing and performing with Vasily Petrenko was a huge privilege and we're all waiting eagerly for the chance to return again next year."

On May 22nd, WCO travelled to Cardiff to record at the BBC's Millennium Centre. During an hour-long recording session, the orchestra worked with Radio 3 producers to rehearse and record Alford's Colonel Bogey. The recording was part of the BBC's Light Fantastic festival of British Light Music. Musical Director Andrew Baatz said: "The piece we chose reflects both the orchestra's long tradition of light music, and our beginnings 70 years ago during the war. The recording was a great experience for the orchestra, and the opportunity to work with BBC producers to create a recording was extremely valuable."

The Light Fantastic festival will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in late June. We hope to make our recording available on this website after that date.

In collaboration with the Imperial War Museum a double screening of the British silent film Battle of the Somme (1916) will be given at the Corn Exchange, Devizes, Wiltshire on 20th November, one week after Remembrance Sunday. The Wessex Concert Orchestra will play Laura Rossi's accompanying music composed in 2006 for the official 90th anniversary.

WCO is delighted to have been selected to record a track for the BBC as part of their "Light Fantastic" celebration of British light music. The recording will take place in Cardiff on 22nd May - more details on broadcast date will follow once we have them.

The Wessex Concert Orchestra features in the february edition of Wiltsire Life - read more here

The Wessex Concert Orchestra featured in the Gazette and Herald on Thursday 21st October, with an article looking at our 70 years of history. You can see the article here: http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/gazettecommunity/nostalgia/8467766.Hitting_the_right_note/

WCO is now on Twitter - you can keep up with the latest news here.

We're delighted to have arranged for Nicola Long to lead a woodwind sectional in November during the run up to our 70th birthday concert. Nicola is an inspirational teacher as well as a fantastically talented musician, and the woodwind are looking forward to what should be a very useful session.

Nicola Long studied with John Cushing at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. In her last year she won the Governor’s Competition Prize for Chamber Music and was awarded the Mary D. Hammond Prize for Excellence in Chamber Music. She successfully auditioned for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra's apprenticeship's position and was specially selected to perform with the London Sinfonietta during their last RSAMD concert series. She has also recently enjoyed playing with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Bryn Terfel. Although in demand as a soloist, chamber music remains at the heart of her career; she plays and records regularly with the Scottish Clarinet Quartet and is a founder member of the Scottish Chamber Music Players and the Auricle Ensemble.

The orchestra would like to thank Simon Chalk (Orchestra of the Swan, Welsh National Opera) for leading the strings in an inspiring, entertaining and challenging workshop! This continues the excellent link with the Orchestra of the Swan developed since our joint concert in 2008

A very positive review of our spring concert appeared in the Gazette and Herald on 2nd April. Find out more in our reviews section.

We are pleased to announce an exciting line up for 2009. This will include:

Beethoven's 4th Symphony and the Mozart Horn Concerto in March
A repeat visit by talented solo violinist Diana Galvydyte in November
A mix of venues across Wiltshire
A Proms-style concert in Keevil

For more details on next season's programme, please see the future programme page.