Annual General Meeting 2025 We will be holding our AGM at the Clarke Foley Centre at 2pm on Friday 14th of February. That is the first of 6 Fridays under the baton of Tony Robson, and hopefully the meeting will take less than half an hour.
Conductors and Music
Tony Robson, who will take up the baton after the AGM on 14th February, has chosen the following music:
Beethoven: Symphony no. 1
Beethoven: Prometheus Overture
Schubert: Symphony no. 5
The 2025 season started on 3rd January and we are rehearsing
Mendelssohn: Symphonie No. 4
Brahms: Variations on a theme by Haydn
Vaughn Williams: Fantasia on Greensleeves
Alwyn: Suite of Scottish Dances
Jo will be conducting us until 7th February. Then we will have Tony Robson for six weeks, from 14th February to 21st March. After that we welcome back Elaine Levene, taking us to the end of term, and beyond. That is 28th March to 25th April, excluding 18th April which is Good Friday.
History - last year, 2024
We started our rehearsals this year, on 5th January. We were conducted for the first five weeks by Jo. She chose the following music:
Prokofiev: Symphony no 1 in D major
Mozart: Horn concerto no 4
Wagner: Rienzi overture
Peter Young: Rondino
After Jo, we were conducted by Tony Robson, starting on 9th February. He chose:
Beethoven: Symphony no 2
Mozart: Impressario Overture
Schubert Rosamunde Ballet Music
Sullivan Iolanthe overture
Then Barry Sugden took up the baton. His chose
Beethoven: Symphony No 3 "Eroica"
Eric Coates: The Dambusters and/or Calling All Workers
Wagner: Mastersingers Overture
Strauss: Der Rosencavalier Waltz
Strauss: Die Fledermaus Overture
On the 12th of April, Elaine Levene took over. She chose
Arriaga: Symphony in D major
Auber: Zanetta overture
Berlioz: Les Franc Juges overture
Coates: "From the countryside" suite
German: Four dances from "Merrie England"
Mozart: Overture to Don Giovanni
Ravel: Pavane
Rossini arr Britten: Soirees Musicales
After Elaine, we were conducted by Patricia Brierley. Her music was:
Beethoven: Symphony 1
Sullivan: Second Selection
Strauss: Die Fledermaus Overture and Selection
Suppe: Morning Noon and Night In Vienna Overture
Andrew conducted a different symphony each week. These were
Beethoven 5
Haydn 102
Mendelssohn 4 (“Italian”)
Mozart 35 (“Haffner”)
His other music was:
Verdi: Sicilian Vespers
Brahms: Academic Festival Overture
Borodin: In The Steppes Of Central Asia
Suppe: Poet and Peasant Overture
Oklahoma Selection
Butterworth: The Banks of Green Willow
Conductors for the spring term
Jo Richardson: Jan 5, 12, 19, 26 Feb 2
Tony Robson: Feb 9, 16, 23, Mar 1
Barry Sugden: Mar 8, 15, 22, Apr 5
Elaine Levene: Apr 12, 19, 26, May 3)
There was no meeting on 29 March - this was Good Friday.
Tony Robson was the first conductor for the autumn term. He was with us for six weeks and rehearsed
Beethoven: 6th symphony
Faure: Pavane
Mozart: Magic Flute Overture
Mozart: Don Juan Overture
After Tony we were conducted by Barry Sugden for 5 weeks.
Barry chose
Brahms: 3rd Symphony
Bizet: Carmen Selection
Beethoven: Leonora No 3 Overture
Massenet: Meditation
We struggled with the Brahms. This was (partly) because key members were absent from the orchestra, including the leaders of both violin sections. So Barry kindly offered to change our music for the last three rehearsals. He suggested a more manageable programme including the following pieces :-
Strauss: Die Fledermaus Selection
Schubert: Symphony No 8 (The unfinished).
A selection of light popular classics (to be advised)
Patricia conducted us for our Christmas Concert on 20th December.
Our Christmas music was
Christmas 'Pop' (T.M.Lally)
Merry Christmas (arr. David Dawson)
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Christmas Tree Fantasy
Christmas clog dance (Peter Young)
Reindeer Rondo (Chris Irvin)
Lullaby (Eric Banks)
A selection of carols.
More history
Autumn 2023 Our first conductor for the Autumn term was Philippa. She chose the following music:
Glinka: Rusland and Ludmilla Overture
Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave)
Haydn: Symphony 101 (The Clock)
Then, on 29th September, Andrew took up the baton (No, it is not a relay race). He guided us through
Mozart: Magic Flute overture
Haydn: Symphony 194
Mendelssohn: Ruy Blas overture
Beethoven: Prometheus overture
Dvorak: Humoreske
Rossini: Thieving magpie overture
Strauss: Annen Polka
Music for the Christmas Concert
David Dawson: Christmas Pops No 1
John Ireland: The Holy Boy
Leroy Anderson: A Christmas Festival
Johann Strauss: Radetsky March
Peter Young: Christmas Clog Dance no 2
Assorted Christmas carols
Conductors
Sept 1,8,15,22 Philippa
Sept 29, Oct 6,13,20 Andrew
Oct 27, Nov 3,10,17 Patricia
Nov 24, Dec 1,8,15,22 Peter Young
Our Christmas concert was on 22nd December and was conducted by Peter Young who wrote a piece specially for it!