Chesterfield orchestra will play favourite compositions in 40th anniversary concert

The concert at the Winding Wheel Theatre on Sunday, March 26, will include the cello concerto by Elgar in which the soloist will be Maxim Calver, string section winner and fnalist in BBC Young Musician 2018. In addition to Elgar’s cello concerto the programme for the evening will include Festive Overture by Shostakovich, Dvorak Symphony No 9 (New World) and Danzon No2 by Marquez.

Over the past four decades the orchestra has played 58 overtures, 95 symphonies, 36 concertos, 236 suites and other works.

The orchestra’s memorable concerts have included performing in the Barrow Hill Roundhouse amongst the steam engines and participating in the English Nature Millennium outdoor celebration in Lathkill Dale.

Chesterfield Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has performed with local, national and international soloisits including Julie Price – bassoon; David Pyatt –French horn, Andrew Slater – bass baritone; Martin Milner, Alexandra Wood, Martyn Lewis Jackson and Soojin Han – violin; Martin Roscoe, Beate Toyka and Julian Clef – piano; Katy Strudwick – flute; and James Nesbitt (actor); Brian Baines (BBC Look North) and MIke Spriggs (local amateur actor and orator) who have narrated orchestral works as they were performed.

Music groups in Derbyshire that CSO has teamed up with for concerts include Chesterfield Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Bakewell Choral Society, Rhodian Brass and Chesterfield Philharmonic Choir.

Founded at the beginning of the Eighties, the seeds were sown for CSO late at night in a local pub when five friends discussed the lack of opportunities for adult orchestral instrumentalists to play together in Chesterfield. The pals – Ian Glasby, Paul Robertshaw, Joyce and John Sallis and Maureen Smith –set about forming CSO, placing adverts for instrumentalists and organising programming, performance venues, funding and hiring music.

Fifteen instrumentalists played at the orchestra’s first concert on July 10, 1982 in the Market Hall Assembly Rooms, with the numbers boosted for the performance by friends and other professional musicians.

Over the years membership of the orchestra swelled and now stands at 55 musicians. The orchestra has had eight musical directors/conductors and is currently overseen by Jack Grime who has been in the post for seven years. There have been six leaders of the orchestra; the present incumbent is Lucy Philips who was appointed in 2022.

For the first quarter of a century the orchestra was supported by funding from the National Federation of Music Societies (now Making Music), Chesterfield Borough Council, East Midlands Arts and some of the venues but financial support from these organisations dried up in the mid 2000s. Latterly some funding has been provided through the HMRC via Gift Aid for members’ subscriptions and the recent addition of Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR).

Chesterfield Symphony Orchestra’s Greatest Hits concert on March 26 will start at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £13.50, available from www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk, call 01246 345222 or buy in person from the Tourist Information Centre, Rykneld Square, Chesterfield.