Further Concerts Dates

Summer Concert – Saturday 27th June 2026, 7.30pm at Roding Valley High School

Delius – Summer Night on the River

This is one of two tone poems composed by Delius in 1911, while he was living in France. It was first performed in Leipzig in October 1913 along with its more famous counterpart On Hearing the first cuckoo in Spring.

Bizet – Carmen Suite No.1

Bizet’s opera about the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery gypsy Carmen has to be the most famous of all his works.

However, when the opera was first performed in Paris in 1875, it’s tale of working class tragedy and immorality so scandalized its first audiences that when Bizet died suddenly after the 33rd performance, he was sure that it was a flop.

The two suites of music taken from the opera were not arranged by the composer himself but by his friend Ernest Guiraud after Bizet’s death. As such, the pieces do not follow the opera versions completely or the order in which they appear.

Mendelssohn – Midsummer Night’s Dream Suite

Although Mendelssohn wrote the incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in 1842, the Overture actually dates from much earlier, when he was just 17 years old. He incorporated the piece, along with 13 other numbers into a commission from King Frederick William IV of Prussia, for music to accompany play’s that he enjoyed.

The first such collaboration was Sophocles Antigone performed in October 1841 and was so successful that Frederick William asked for more.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream was produced on 14 October 1843, at Potsdam. Its most famous movement is the Wedding March, that has now played at countless weddings, ever since.

Grieg Symphonic Dances

The dances are one of Grieg’s less well know works, but still show much of his flair for Norwegian folk music. The inspiration for them came from a collection of folk songs assembled by Norwegian composer Ludvig M. Lindemann and was originally written as a piano piece for four hands.

The orchestral version was composed between 1896 and 1898 and premiered in 1898 at the inaugural Bergen Festival.

Future Concert Dates

Autumn Concert – November 2026

We are looking at possibly a Piano Concerto with our dear friend David Silkoff

String Workshops – 2026

We have posted new dates for the string workshops for 2026. Make sure they are marked in your diary. The next one is on Sunday 10th May, when we will be inviting woodwinds as well.

See our string workshop page or contact Rosemary Fitchett leader@wsorchestra.org.uk .