Woking Symphony Orchestra

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NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS
             
Sat. 17th Jan. 2009

H.G.Wells - 3:30 pm (Family Concert)        

Arnold           Tam O'Shanter
Bruch             Violin Concerto
                        - 3rd Movement
Tchaikovsky    Nutcracker Suite

Bliss               Things to Come - March

Sat. 28th Mar. 2009

H.G.Wells - 7:30 pm      
(pre-concert talk at 6:45pm)

Butterworth      A Shropshire Lad
Britten              4 Sea Interludes
Debussy            Danses Sacre & Profane
                           Amy Turk - Harp

Franck              Symphony in D Minor

WSO at the HG Wells

2008/2009 Season's Highlights

In 1897, Woking Orchestral Society was formed.  The name was changed in 1972 to Woking Symphony Orchestra, which continues to perform three main concerts plus a family concert each year.
 

Our 2009-9 season is full of exciting and adventurous repertoire almost all of which was suggested by members of the orchestra.  In November we are featuring the 4th Symphony of Gustav Mahler, which contains one of his most beautiful slow movements and ends with a song, a setting of “The Heavenly Life” from “Das Knaben Wunderhorn”, a collection of folk poetry that was a continual source of inspiration to the composer.  Oliver Nelson joins the orchestra in this concert, to play Dvorak’s Violin Concerto, a work which exists slightly in the shadow of the very well-known Cello Concerto, but a work full of wonderful tunes and imaginative orchestration.  This concert also celebrates the centenary of the birth of Woking’s most famous composer, Dame Ethel Smyth, with her Overture to “The Wreckers”.
 

In March 2009, we are delighted to welcome back Amy Turk, Woking Young Musician of the Year 2008, to play Debussy”s Danses Sacree et Profane for harp and strings.  This concert also includes Britten’s Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, which are surely amongst the most evocative sea music ever written.  The concert is completed by the only symphony composed by Cesar Franck, a rich and deeply romantic masterpiece.
 

I have long been a great admirer of the music of the Danish composer Carl Nielsen and in June we will perform his Fifth Symphony, a very powerful and heroic piece written just after the end of the Great War but with its shadow looking ominously over it.  Bela Hartmann is the pianist in the mighty and powerful First Piano Concerto of Brahms, a work of symphonic scale and ambition.  All in all, a season that I hope will provide much pleasure and stimulation.

Roy Stratford, Conductor

For further details of this season's programme, please follow this link