| 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". Over the last fifteen years or so, major works performed by the
Orchestra have included:
Soloists have included a number of talented local players. In addition to these, however, the following have also performed as soloists with the Orchestra over the same period: Geoffrey Trabichoff (Elgar Violin Concerto) Ian Bostridge (Britten Serenade) Maureen Smith (Bruch 1st and Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos) Edward Dusinberre (Brahms Violin Concerto) Jonathan Ayerst (Dvorák Piano Concerto) Stephen Bingham (Sibelius and Mendelssohn Violin Concertos) Martino Tirimo (Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto) Click here to see programmes of the Orchestra's most recent concerts. The Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra has also collaborated in the past 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. |
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