Norfolk Symphony Orchestra

 

The Norfolk Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1971 and, over the last thirty-seven years, has developed from a chamber orchestra into a full size symphony orchestra playing large-scale works. The NSO is a registered charity and is administered by a skilled management team. The membership of the orchestra is gathered from a large catchment area, extending to Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Essex, and includes professional musicians and teachers, as well as those for whom music making has always been a hobby. All age ranges are represented.

Under its previous Music Director, James Stobart, the NSO had become firmly established as one of the country's most successful amateur orchestras, playing to packed houses in its Sunday Symphony Series at the Corn Exchange in King's Lynn. Conductor, Alexander Walker, the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra's recently appointed Music Director, has chosen outstanding programmes for his second concert season.

As always the orchestra will be exploring new territory alongside popular masterpieces. Much of the music is inspired by fairytale, all the music is colourful and every programme maintains its own particular character.

The first concert comprises a programme of music from the frozen North, combining evocative music from Scandinavia and Finland with Tchaikovsky’s wonderful and all too rarely performed first symphony Winter Daydreams. The Sibelius concerto will be played by the young Polish soloist Irmina Trynkos, one of the most gifted violinists of her generation.

The January concert for Friends of the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra presents the music of two Romantic composers at their most genial. The Tchaikovsky, featuring the exceptional musicianship and virtuosity of cellist Victoria Harrild, takes an affectionate glance at compositions of an earlier age, whilst the Dvorak draws inspiration from the folk music of his native Bohemia.

The March programme, inspired by fairytales with a particularly Russian flavour, opens with brilliantly orchestrated and exciting ballet music. It is clear that, as well as being prompted by the magical tales of the Arabian Nights, Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful work Scheherazade was also influenced by the composer’s travels as a sailor, both at sea and in the Caucasus. For Songs and Dances of Death, the orchestra is joined by the distinguished mezzo-soprano Fiona Kimm, who has appeared with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, both in opera and on the concert platform.

In the final concert, the NSO celebrates British creative talent, performing music by three of the country’s greatest composers of the last century. The soloist is top pianist Huw Watkins, himself a distinguished composer having received commissions from organisations including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Belcea Quartet.