About the Orchestra
Patron: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies CBE
The Orchestra performs orchestral works from the Classical period through to the present day, bringing symphonic music to audiences in Cheltenham and at venues where there is little opportunity of hearing live symphonic music.
To read about the history of the orchestra, click here
The Orchestra is conducted by David Curtis. For a biographical note, click here
Concerts
The Orchestra gives about six concerts each year. In recent times we have performed in the Town Hall, Pittville Pump Room and All Saints Church in Cheltenham and in Winchcombe Parish Church, Leonard Stanley Priory, Wycliffe College Chapel (Stonehouse), Pershore Abbey, Tewkesbury Abbey and Colston Hall, Bristol.
The Orchestra regularly performs with young musicians. Each year a local school choir joins in our Christmas concert, and we perform concertos with the Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year and also with winners of the Philip and Dorothy Green Awards for Young Concert Artists (AYCA) scheme.
Since 2000 the Orchestra has given concerts in support of no fewer than ten local charities, helping raise many thousands of pounds.
2008 is already proving to be a memorable year.
On March 1st the Orchestra had the honour of giving a concert in Cheltenham Town Hall in support of the Mayor's charities. The concert netted more than £3100, the largest single contribution to the fund in 2008.
In the summer the Orchestra gave two concerts in the Haute Savoie region of southeast France as part of the Festival Musique et Nature en Bauges and a further concert in nearby Annecy. All were enthusiastically received and the orchestra has already informally been invited to return.
In November the Orchestra performed Britten's War Requiem in Tewkesbury Abbey and in Colston Hall, Bristol, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice.
To view our complete concert programme for the year, please click here
Repertoire
The repertoire is varied. Since 2005 the Orchestra has performed works by, among others, Beethoven, Elgar, Holst, Mahler, Messiaen, Prokofiev, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. Works by living composers are also performed.
Rehearsals
Rehearsals are held on Thursday evenings in term time between 7.30 and 9.30 in St Mary's Junior School, Bouncers Lane, Prestbury, Cheltenham. There is an afternoon rehearsal on concert days.
Support to the Orchestra
The Orchestra is supported by the Friends of Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra and the Cheltenham Arts Council, and is a member of Making Music, whose valuable support is acknowledged.
If you would like to support the Orchestra by becoming a Friend, please click here