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.

Centenary Season

Dear Concertgoer! We need your help! Our 2018/2019 season is 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 Tickets

View of auditoriumSeason tickets for our 2018-19 centenary season are still available. 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 are now available here.

Saturday 10th November 2018 at 19:45

Nicholas McCarthyBook nowArmistice 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 LillBook nowMozart 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 StraussBook nowElgar 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 FinaleBeethovenBook now

Works will include:

Europa by Marco Muilwijk
(The 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 Bridge’s Suite 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!

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

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 quillThe winner of our competition competition is:

Europa by Marco Muilwijk

This work will be performed as part of our May 2019 concert. We are very grateful to our adjudicator Paul Patterson for the many hours he donated to this project. 

The orchestra members voted for Bacchanal by James Maunders and we hope to give this work a public performance in the near future as well. We received more than 30 entries, thank you! We are very grateful for the considerable time and effort that has gone into preparing them.

The other shortlisted works were:

  • Proem by John Senter
  • Bromleag by Robert Ely
  • Kent Invicta by Philip Steel

The recording made of each of the finalist’s works will be sent to the finalists.

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