Bromley Symphony Orchestra

conductor	Adrian Brown
leader	Bernard Brook

Bromley Symphony Orchestra was founded after the First World War, and has developed into one of the most distinguished non-professional orchestras in the country. It has earned a high reputation for concerts of professional standard. Over the years, the BSO has worked with very many internationally famous musicians, including Sir Adrian Boult, Norman Del Mar, Albert Sammons, Dennis Brain, Kathleen Ferrier, Paul Tortelier, Ralph Holmes, Hugh Bean, Emma Johnson, Leslie Howard, Janice Watson and Sir Donald McIntyre. The Orchestra rehearses on Mondays and welcomes applications from prospective new members, who should contact the Chairman.

Saturday 13th November 2010 at 7:45pm

Gustav Mahler

Beethoven Overture ‘Coriolan’

Berlioz ‘Reverie et Caprice’
Soloist Bernard Brook

Mahler Symphony No. 5

After Beethoven’s tensely dramatic overture and Berlioz’s elegant romance, we celebrate Mahler’s 150^th anniversary year with the vast musical canvas and emotional scope of his Fifth Symphony. Its moods include grim and funereal, savage and angry, ebullient and dancing, lyrical and romantic, and finally radiant and triumphant. Its famous adagietto has become particularly well known through its use in Visconti’s classic film ‘Death in Venice’.

Saturday 22nd January 2011 at 7:45pm

Igor Stravinsky

Rimsky-Korsakov ‘Capriccio Espagnol’

Richard Strauss ‘Oboe Concerto’
Soloist Caroline Marwood

Stravinsky ‘Petrushka’

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol captures the warmth and exuberance of Spain in brilliant technicolour, a free rhapsody based on folksong tunes. The Strauss concerto uses only a small orchestra and provides a wonderful showcase for our principal oboist. Stravinsky’s charming ballet depicts the colourful atmosphere of the Shrovetide Fair and draws on Russian folk melodies to tell the story of a puppet unsuccessful in love.

Saturday 19th March 2011 at 7:45pm

Carl Nielsen

Walton ‘Spitfire Prelude and Fugue’

Sibelius ‘Violin Concerto’
Soloist Anna-Liisa Bezrodny

Nielsen ‘Symphony No.5’

The opening item comes from Walton’s music written for the 1942 film ‘The First of the Few’. Sibelius’s only concerto, in turn stormy and tense, quiet and lyrical, and with a dazzling dancing finale, demands forceful dramatic playing from the soloist. Nielsen’s Fifth, widely regarded as his greatest masterpiece, portrays conflict with disturbing but exhilarating power: the contrast between darkness and light, ominous militarism and peace, evil and good, which eventually leads to an affirmative conclusion.

Saturday 21st May 2011 at 7:45pm

Jean Sibelius

Schubert ‘Symphony No. 8’ (Unfinished)

Paul Creston ‘Marimba Concerto’
Soloist Alexander Main-Ian

Sibelius ‘Symphony No.2'

This Schubert symphony has remained one of the most well loved in the concert repertoire in what seems a perfect unfinished state, though others have tried to complete it. Creston’s Concertino is distinctly tonal in the modern American idiom and possessed of a strong rhythmic sense. Sibelius’s Second is by far the most popular of his symphonies. Its style is characteristic Sibelius, with marvellous dark-hued sonorities, expansive brass chorales, passionate expressiveness, and at the end, with screwed up tension leading to a glorious triumphant conclusion.

All concerts are at the Great Hall, Ravensbourne School
Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent, BR2 9EH.

What the musical press says... The Bromley Symphony Orchestra is fast approaching its centenary and numbers among its past chief conductors Sir Adrian Boult and Norman Del Mar, and soloists Albert Sammons and Kathleen Ferrier. The current musical Director is Adrian Brown – still the only British conductor to have reached the finals of the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin, where he conducted the city’s Philharmonic to the maestro’s evident approval. The programme on January 23 was typical of this very good orchestra – beginning with a fiery yet always sensitive account of Elgar’s In the South, with the solo viola canto populare section being particularly well played. Janice Watson was the excellent soloist in Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs – her German was immaculate as was her phrasing and intonation; Adrian Brown proved a more than sympathetic partner. Dvorák’s Eighth Symphony concluded the concert – a work we hear far more often than used to be the case. This found conductor and orchestra on excellent form, to end the programme with commendable character, to which the very large audience responded with enthusiasm. Musical Opinion Our Soloists...
	Bernard Brook has played many solos with BSO, both as leader, a post he has held for 20 years, and as a concerto soloist. Though semi-retired now, he still plays professionally with the Militaire Orchestra in and around the City of London and also directs the Bromley Symphony Players, a chamber orchestra who perform for charity concerts locally.
	Caroline Marwood worked for many years as a freelance oboist with the English Chamber Orchestra, English National Opera and the Royal Shakespeare Company amongst others. As a member of the Marwood Ensemble, she toured the UK, appearing on the South Bank and at the Wigmore Hall as well as recording for Radio 3. She has been principal oboe with BSO for four years.
	Anna-Liisa Bezrodny was born in Moscow into a famous family of musicians. She studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she won the Gold Medal in 2006. A prizewinner at many international competitions, she has appeared as recitalist and concerto soloist in many prestigious concert venues in Russia, Finland, Holland, Germany, Estonia and the UK as well as on radio and television.
	Alexander Main-Ian is currently in his second year of studying percussion on the University of Manchester/Royal Northern College of Music Joint Course. During his first year, he had the opportunity to play the Creston Marimba Concertino with Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra and is very much looking forward to performing the work again with Bromley.

The archive of previous performances is here.

Click the speaker symbols above to hear samples from commercial recordings.

BSO in concert

Photo: John Carmichael

Contact us
Use this form to contact us, or phone the chairman, Roy Banks, on (020) 8402 0889.
(all fields are optional)

Name Address Phone E-mail Instrument	Please select any that apply:
		Please add me to your (postal) mailing list
		I would like to join as a playing member
		I would like to perform as a soloist or conductor
		I want to reserve tickets (call 020 8464 5869 for availability)
		Please send me some brochures to help publicise concerts
		I might be able to help as a concert steward (free ticket!)
		I might be able to make a donation as a sponsor or patron
		I would love to hear a particular work performed
		I have a comment or general enquiry about the orchestra

Details

Please copy this word, so we know this message is not spam:
validation image

[ Home ][ Tickets ][ Members ][ About ][ Archive ]