Bromley Symphony Orchestra is a large, friendly, successful amateur orchestra based in south London with a reputation for interesting concerts of almost professional standard. We welcome applications from new members, patrons and helpers.

Season Tickets

View of auditoriumWe invite you to purchase season tickets for our 2018-19 centenary season. Season tickets secure your favourite seating area and save you money as they provide four concerts for the price of three.

Book season tickets

Tickets for individual concerts will be available here in September.

Centenary

Dear Concertgoer! We need your help! Our 2018/2019 season will be the Orchestra’s hundredth! Please contact us with your reminiscences and memories of the Orchestra’s past.  Our aim is to prepare a full history of the Orchestra for our centenary season.

 

Saturday 10th November 2018 at 19:45

Nicholas McCarthyArmistice Centenary Concert

Brahms Tragic Overture Speaker symbol

Butterworth A Shropshire Lad Speaker symbol

Ravel Piano Concerto for Left Hand Speaker symbol
     Soloist Nicholas McCarthy

Elgar Symphony No 2 in E flat major  Speaker symbol

In our Armistice Centenary concert, Brahms’ arresting Tragic Overture is followed by Butterworth’s nostalgically lyrical ‘A Shropshire Lad’, written in the shadow of WWI. Ravel’s jazzy and virtuosic Concerto for the Left Hand follows - commissioned by a pianist who lost an arm in the conflict. After the interval we present Elgar’s Second Symphony, composed, as he put it, ‘at fever heat’, one of his most impassioned, intense, and inspiring works.

Saturday 26th January 2019 at 19:45

John LillMozart Symphony No 32 in G Major  Speaker symbol

Beethoven Piano Concerto No 1 in C major  Speaker symbol
    Soloist John Lill

Mahler Symphony No 1 in D major  Speaker symbol

Mozart’s small-but-perfectly-formed Symphony 32 precedes the internationally renowned John Lill, who joins us in Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. Then, Mahler’s monumental First Symphony (the ‘Titan’), which exemplifies his comment: ‘To write a symphony is, for me, to construct a world.’

Saturday 16th March 2019 at 19:45

Richard StraussElgar Cockaigne Overture Speaker symbol

Reed Symphony for Strings 

Strauss Ein Heldenleben  Speaker symbol

Elgar’s rollicking recreation of Edwardian London leads into the tuneful Symphony for Strings by his friend, the long-term LSO leader and Bromley Symphony conductor William (‘Billy’) Reed.  Ein Heldenleben, Strauss’ autobiographical, lavishly romantic and richly-textured tone poem, showcases our own leader, Andrew Laing, in the second half.

Saturday 18th May 2019 at 19:45

Centenary FinaleBeethoven

Works will include:

Winning Work in our Centenary Composers' Competition

Beethoven Symphony No 9 in D minor Speaker symbol
with The BYMT Adult Choir
Soloists Janice Watson, John Upperton, Tristan Hambleton, Nicola Ihnatowicz  

The winning work in our Centenary Composers Competition opens our concert and Beethoven’s tumultuous and transcendent final symphony brings our Centenary season to a glorious end.

Provisional concert dates for future seasons will be shown here when known

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

Centenary Chamber Music Events

Come and hear BSO musicians in different surroundings and in lighter repertoire. Socialise over interval drinks with BSO players and enjoy a different musical experience. Mark your diaries and make our Centenary part of your own celebrations!

Bromley Symphony Players

Saturday, 13 October 2018, 7.30
St Mary’s Church, College Road, Bromley, BR1 3QG

An elegant chamber orchestra programme including Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence

Bromley Symphony Wind Soloists

Saturday, 16 February 2019, 7.30
St George’s Church, Bickley Park Road, BR1 2BE

An enticingly varied concert, Mozart’s Serenade in Bb K361 and Richard Strauss’ Suite Op.4

Bromley Symphony Soloists

Sunday, 7 April 2019, 4.00
Christ Church, Tudor Way, Petts Wood, BR5 1LH

Rich and enthralling chamber music, from Mendelssohn to Elgar

Bromley Symphony Players

Saturday, 11 May 2019, 7.30
St Mary’s Church, College Road, Bromley, BR1 3QG

An attractive chamber orchestra compilation, including Suk’s lyrical Serenade for Strings

Bromley Symphony Soloists

Sunday, 16 June 2019, 4.00
Christ Church, Tudor Way, Petts Wood, BR5 1LH

Help us to wrap up our Centenary year with a feather-light cream-tea-and-chamber-music concert, interval on the lawn!

£6 tickets on the door: Patrons may request two complimentary tickets for one concert.

Special £20 season tickets available for all five concerts on the Season Tickets page.

Vacancies

Empty seatsWe have a vacancy for a co-principal trombone. Rehearsals are on Monday evenings in Bromley. Positions like these with an excellent non-professional orchestra don't come up very often so please tell your trombone playing friends and contact us if interested.

We also have vacancies for violins and harps. Most other instruments have a waiting list.

Composition Competition

Composing with quillEntry to our competition competition is now Closed. We received more than 30 entries, thank you! We are very grateful for the considerable time and effort that has gone into preparing them.

All applicants have now been informed by email whether their composition has been shortlisted for a rehearsal and recording in June. Please contact us if  you would value feedback from our Music Director who chaired the competition panel. The five shortlisted works are:

  • Bromleag by Robert Ely
  • Proem by John Senter
  • Europa by Marco Muilwijk
  • Kent Invicta by Philip Steel
  • Bacchanal by James Maunders

The rehearsal and recording sessions will take place on Monday 21st May and Monday 4th June at Bishop Justus School and are open to the public. Details of times and location are on our members page.

The recording made of each of the finalist’s works will be sent to the finalists, but the rights will remain with the Bromley Symphony Orchestra. At the workshop final, our playing members will vote on the shortlisted works, so we will need parts prepared to a high standard, including rehearsal marks and/or bar numbers. The works will be judged on musical merit as well as on practicality of performance. They will all be conducted on the day by our conductor, Adrian Brown.

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