The PSO

Plymouth's own Symphony Orchestra has been central to the musical life of the city for 134 years, and continues to perform challenging music ranging from the traditional to the contemporary.

In 1875 a local teacher of music, Dr Samuel Weekes, brought together a group of musician friends and founded what was then known as an Orchestral Society: their first concert was presented in the graceful Tea Rooms of Plymouth’s old Royal Hotel. The renamed Plymouth Symphony Orchestra can claim to be one of the longest-established orchestras in the country, with an amazing record of continuity: the founding conductor was succeeded by his son; his grandson, John Weekes, was a vice-president until recently! The present conductor, Anne Kimber, is only the sixth in 134 years.

The eighty members of the orchestra travel from as far afield as Beer and Bodmin to attend weekly rehearsals. Many different occupations are represented; a number of members have had professional training but none receive payment for playing in the orchestra.

In its choice of programmes the orchestra aims to achieve a balance between established masterpieces and an adventurous selection of less familiar music. Among the contemporary pieces performed in recent years have been several specially commissioned from local composers, including Judy Whitlock, who leads the double bass section.

Many distinguished soloists have played concertos with the orchestra, including in recent years Kennedy, Peter Donohoe, the late Jack Brymer, Julian Lloyd Webber, Priya Mitchell, Anna Markland, Ralph Kirshbaum, Noriko Ogawa and, most recently, the BBC Young Musician of the Year, Jennifer Pike.

In addition to making appearances in Plymouth, an important feature of the orchestra’s work is to present concerts in other centres which professional symphony orchestras rarely, if ever, visit, such as Liskeard, Totnes, Dartington, Christow and Buckland Abbey. But the purpose of Samuel Weekes in founding the orchestra has remained central to all its activities: to bring friends together once a week to make music.

 

 



2009 Autumn PROGRAMME

Sunday 29th November at 5.30pm

The Town Hall, Launceston
Carrol Bennett violin

Tuesday 1st December at 7.30 pm

The Guildhall, Plymouth
Thomas Gould violin

American in Paris Gershwin
Violin Concerto Philip Glass
Appalachian Spring Copland
An American Hymn Tom Vignen
Three Dances from On The Town Bernstein

 

 

 

TICKET PRICES AND OUTLETS

Tickets are also available at the door or from members of the orchestra

Plymouth tickets
Vibes Music, 19 Mayflower Street, Plymouth PL1 1QJ
Telephone 01752 603563

 

For season tickets for Plymouth concerts, phone 01579 342955
Tickets on-line

Get ground floor tickets for Plymouth from www.wegottickets.com
(Search for Town Plymouth and Month, say November 2009)
You'll need to present the on-line booking reference and some ID at the door

Tickets by post
Obtain tickets by post

One way to purchase tickets for Plymouth Symphony Orchestra concerts is to fill in the form below according to your requirements and send with a cheque and a stamped addressed envelope to the given address. Your tickets will be sent to you by return.

 

Name____________________________________
Address__________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
______________________Post code____________

Ticket requirements________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________

Please send cheque and stamped addressed envelope to:

Mrs Denise Hasshill,
Little Gormellick Farm
Lodge Hill
Liskeard
Cornwall PL 14 4 JX

Download form for postal tickets

For further information including season tickets for Plymouth concerts, phone 01579 342955

Ticket prices
Plymouth
Launceston
Balcony
£15
n/a
Ground floor
£13.50*
£10
(concessions - Ground floor)
£11.50*
£9
Students/children
£5
£4

* tickets available online

Carol Bennett

. Carol Bennett

 

Carol grew up in Somerset where she began learning the violin aged 7.  She studied music at Cardiff University with Lucy Gould, before going on to do a Postgraduate Performance Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in London, gaining a Distinction for this and being awarded the DipRAM for an outstanding final recital. 

Shortly following the completion of her studies, Carol was appointed Principal 2nd violin (sitting no.3) with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.  In June 2008, she took up her current position of Co-Principal 2nd Violin with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Due to maternity leave of the Section Leader, she has been the acting Section Leader of the second violins here for the past year. 

Besides her work in Bournemouth and Liverpool, Carol has played with a number of professional orchestras including the orchestra of English National Opera, Northern Sinfonia, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra .  She also enjoys performing as a concerto soloist and recent performances have included the Bruch, Barber, Mozart A major and Mendelssohn violin concertos.

Thomas Gould

Thomas Gould

Born in London in 1983, Thomas Gould began violin lessons at the age of three with Sheila Nelson. At eighteen Thomas entered the Royal Academy of Music on a scholarship where his principal teacher was György Pauk. Since graduating in 2006 Thomas has established a busy and varied career as soloist, recitalist and orchestral leader.

In May 2006 Thomas was selected for representation by Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT) leading to debut recitals in the Purcell Room, Bridgewater Hall, Wigmore Hall and St George’s Bristol. As a Martin Musical Scholarship Fund award-winner Thomas has appeared in recital in the Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall. Through the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme and Making Music Young Concert Artist Programme Thomas performs regularly for music clubs and societies across the UK with pianist John Reid.

Thomas is in equal demand as concerto soloist, having performed with numerous orchestras in England and abroad. Notable collaborations include the Gävle Symfoniorkester and Robin Ticciati, Kammerphilharmonie Graz and Achim Holub, Orchestra of the Swan and David Curtis, and the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra. In 2007 he will give the premiere of a concerto written for six-string electric violin by American composer Nico Muhly with Aurora Orchestra.

Thomas is co-leader of Britten Sinfonia and leader of Aurora Orchestra. He also freelances with several London orchestras and plays regularly on soundtracks for film and television. In addition Thomas has recorded works by Herbert Howells and Joseph Jongen for the Meridian and Hyperion labels. Thomas is a regular participant in the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove and the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh.

Thomas plays a violin made by Gennaro Gagliano in 1754.

 


SUPPORT PLYMOUTH'S OWN ORCHESTRA!

Who are Friends of the PSO?

Decades ago it was realised that certain supporters of the orchestra were willing to augment the money they were already paying regularly to buy tickets for our concerts. These kind people agreed to commit themselves to assisting the orchestra by paying an extra few pounds each year. In return, they would be acknowledged as Friends of the PSO with their names in each programme and would receive by post three special pre-concert newsletters every year. To this has been added an invitation to the orchestra’s party held in the Guildhall after each March concert. But the most valuable reward to our Friends is the awareness that they are helping the City of Plymouth to maintain its own symphony orchestra. The revenue on which the orchestra depends comes from the annual subscription paid by each player for the privilege and joy of playing plus the contributions from the orchestra’s Friends.The Friends’ annual donations contribute significantly towards the expense of music hire, soloists’ fees and publicity. To have survived for 132 years in this way is a tribute to the devotion of a very few people.

How To Join Us

If you are already a Friend of the PSO, please will you tell your neighbours and colleagues about us? Ask them to join too. If you are not a Friend, will you print out and fill in the application form and join today?

Download application form - pdf - Microsoft Word - Get Acrobat Reader

Please send the completed form with your cheque (minimum £25)
made out to The Plymouth Symphony Orchestra to:

The Secretary to the PSO Friends,
Cutmere Cottage,
Tideford,
Cornwall PL12 5JU

 

President
Vice Presidents
Chairman
Conductor
Leader
The Lord Mayor
Vera Pearce, Nigel Amherst
Michael Stone
Anne Kimber
Paul Mathews
Treasurer
Secretary
Secretary PSO Friends
Librarian
Membership Secretary
Social Secretary
Concert Managers
Committee
Publicity Officer

Ivan Sidgreaves
Denise Hasshill
Robert Kellagher
Julia Allsop
Denise Bowden
Christine Harvey
Mike Hasshill, Ian Kilpatrick
Margaret Sampson, Carolyn Haynes, Judy Whitlock, Tony Jeffs
Ian Banbury

Contact details
E-mail
plymouthsymphony@yahoo.co.uk
PSO Friends
The Secretary
PSO Friends,
Cutmere Cottage,
Tideford,
Cornwall PL12 5JU
PSO tickets
Mrs Denise Hasshill,
PSO Orchestra Secretary
Little Gormellick Farm
Lodge Hill
Liskeard
Cornwall PL 14 4 JX
Players

The Musical Director
Anne Kimber
01803 732550


Recent PSO performances
(Click here for Philip R Buttall's programme notes)
Adams
The Chairman Dances
Arutiunian
Trumpet Concerto (soloist Steve Williams)
Barber
Adagio
Bax
Tintagel
Beethoven
Symphony No. 7
Berlioz
Symphonie Fantastique
Bernstein
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Borodin
Overture to Prince Igor
""
In the Steppes of Central Asia
Bliss
Things to Come
Brahms
Symphony No. 2 and No. 4
""
Academic Festival Overture
Britten
The Courtly Dances from Gloriana
""
Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Bruch
Violin Concerto No. 1 (soloist Priya Mitchell)
Butterworth
A Shropshire Lad
Canteloube
Songs of the Auvergne (soloist Cecile Bonnet)
Chabrier
Espana
Coates
The London Suite
Copland
Rodeo (4 dance episodes)
Corigliano
A Promenade Overture
Debussy
Prelude a l’Apres Midi d’un Faune
Delius
Summer Night of the River
Dvorak
Russalka's Song to the Moon (soloist Suzanne Manuell)
Elgar
Overture Froissart
""
Overture Cockaigne
""
Cello Concerto (soloists: Julian Lloyd Webber, Jacqueline Phillips, Ralph Kirshbaum)
Gershwin
Strike Up the Band
""
Rhapsody in Blue (soloist Joanna MacGregor)
Glazunov
Symphony nr. 5
Ives
The Unanswered Question
Khachaturian
Suite from Spartacus
Mahler
Adagietto (5th Symphony)
Marshall
Clock of the Long, Long Now*
Mendelssohn
Fingal’s Cave (Hebrides)
  Violin concerto (soloists Thomas Gould and Tasmin Little)
Mozart
Overture from The Magic Flute
Mussorgsky-
Pictures at an Exhibition
""
Night on a Bare Mountain
Prokofiev
March and Scherzo (Love for Three Oranges)
Rachmaninov
Symphony No. 2
""
Piano Concerto No.2 (soloist Anna Markland)
""
Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini (soloist Noriko Ogawa)
Rimski-Korsakov
Dance of the Tumblers
Shostakovich
Symphony No.5
Sibelius
Finlandia
""
Symphony No 5
Stravinsky
The Firebird
Susa
Stars and Stripes for Ever
Tchaikovsky
Symphony No.5
""
Overture Romeo and Juliet
Vaughan Williams
London Symphony
Verdi
Overture The Force of Destiny
Wagner
Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
  Tannhaeuser Overture
Walton
Crown Imperial
Whitlock
Eclipse*
""
Dartmoor Letterboxes*
""
Star Gazing* (soloist Suzanne Manuell)

* First performances

Judy Whitlock the composer

Judy Whitlock's CD of Stargazing,
sung by Suzanne Manuell is available from
jude@macace.net

 

 


Hear the orchestra playing and see portraits of players

Comprehensive concert listings for Plymouth and area
Promoting the performance and appreciation of music in Plymouth
March Concert with Jennifer Pike playing the Sibelius violin concerto - "sublime" said Philip Buttall

Judy Whitlock the composer

 

Judy Whitlock's CD of Stargazing,
sung by Suzanne Manuell is available from jude@macace.net

For Stargazing ringtone - select RINGTONE Tab

 

First violin section

Margaret Sampson

 

 

PSO rehearsal dates Autumn 2009

September 14th, 21st, 28th

October 5th, 12th, 19th

November 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd

Town Hall, Launceston:

Concert Sunday 29th November at 5.30pm

Guildhall, Plymouth:

Dress rehearsal Monday 30th November

Concert Tuesday 1st December at 7.30pm


 

Name:
Email Address:
How often do you come to PSO concerts? Every one in my area
Once a year
Occasionally
Never

What sort of music would you like us to play for you? Classical
Romantic
Modern
Baroque
Choral
Concertos
Light classical
Popular
Musical
What work(s) would you like to see in future PSO programmes?

form mail

 

Get connected by Mobile phone!

To access details of the next concert on your mobile, save this address as one of your bookmarks:-www.plymouthsymphony.co.uk/mobile.html

RINGTONES

Text "PSOUK Stargazing" to get Stargazing or
"PSOUK Mussorgsky" to get Night on Bare Mountain or
"PSOUK Delius" to get In a Summer Garden ringtones
to +447797806195


Registered Charity No. 286656

Last updated on 25 June, 2009