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.
The history of the orchestra
The Orchestra is conducted by David Curtis: David's biography, David's own website, and that of the Orchestra of the Swan.
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, the Chapel of Wycliffe College (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.
Complete 2012 concert programme
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 [map]. There is an afternoon rehearsal on concert days.
Support to the Orchestra
The Orchestra is supported by the Friends of Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra and by Cheltenham Arts Council, and is a member of Making Music.
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