The Shrewsbury Orchestral Society was founded in 1888, making it one of the country’s oldest non-professional orchestras. An enterprising and forward-looking group of Shrewsbury residents, including local merchants and solicitors, met on a December evening to “establish an orchestral society in the town”. It gave its first public concert 18 months later.
The orchestra flourished particularly during the thirties and forties and afterwards, and, thanks to both the improved standard of playing and support from local patrons, was regularly engaging top soloists - such names as Solomon, Myra Hess, Heddle Nash, Clifford Curzon, Jelly d’Aranyi, Ida Haendel, Isobel Baillie and Dennis Brain appear in programmes of that time.
More recently, the title “Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra” was adopted as the name for the performing ensemble. This was felt to reflect more accurately the nature of the concerts, which are normally of symphonic and other similar works, rather than shorter pieces, arrangements or “selections”.
In the last fifteen years or so, the Orchestra has performed the following major works:
| Symphonies | Other works | |
|---|---|---|
| Beethoven | Nos 3 “Eroica”, 4, 5 & 6 “Pastoral” | |
| Berlioz | Symphonie Fantastique | |
| Berwald | No 3 “Sinfonie Singulière” | |
| Brahms | Nos 1, 2 and 3 | St. Anthony Variations (twice) |
| Bruckner | No 4 “Romantic” | |
| Dvorák | Nos 6, 7, 8 and 9 “From the New World” (twice) | Czech Suite |
| Elgar | No 1 | “Enigma” Variations (twice), Overture “Cockaigne” (twice) |
| Franck | Symphony in D minor | |
| Haydn | Nos 86, 88, 94 and 99 | |
| Mahler | Nos 1 and 4 | |
| Mendelssohn | No 3 “Scottish” | “Hebrides” Overture |
| Moeran | Symphony in G minor | |
| Mozart | Nos 29, 39 and 40 (twice) | |
| Respighi | Suite “The Birds” (twice) | |
| Schubert | Nos 4, 5 and 6 | |
| Schumann | Nos 3 “Rhenish” and 4 | |
| Sibelius | No 2 (twice) | “Finlandia” (three times) |
| Tchaikovsky | Nos 4, 5 and 6 “Pathétique” | Fantasy Overture: “Romeo and Juliet” (twice) |
| Vaughan Williams | Nos 2 and 5 | |
| Wagner | Prelude to “Die Meistersinger”, Siegfried Idyll |
Over the same period, the soloists who have appeared with the Orchestra have included a number of talented local players. In addition to these, however, the following have also performed as soloists with the Orchestra:
The Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra has also collaborated with the Shrewsbury Choral Society in performances of a number of major choral works. These have included the Sea Symphony of Vaughan Williams, the Brahms German Requiem, Verdi Requiem, Berlioz Te Deum, masses by Haydn and Handel’s Messiah.