Conductor

Orpington Symphony Orchestra is a small friendly amateur orchestra with around 22 members, performing a wide range of music including concertos with a variety of soloists, young professionals and local talent. For concerts the core membership is supplemented by the engagement of additional players, as required - primarily brass and percussion.

We are looking for a new Conductor from September 2019 with professional orchestral experience, and the ability to enthuse and inspire players in all sections to achieve the highest possible musical standards.

We average approximately 10 Thursdays rehearsals (19.30 – 21.30) a term for each concert, plus a final rehearsal on the afternoon of the Saturday concert. We also hold one /two extended rehearsals per term usually on a Sunday.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE ORCHESTRA

History and Structure

Orpington Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1949. It is a Registered Charity No.1063477 managed by an Executive Committee acting in an honorary capacity and members are elected yearly at the AGM. The orchestra is a member of the National Federation of Music Societies.

Rehearsals and Concerts

Rehearsals take place at Lakeswood Hall, Lakeswood Road, Petts Wood, BR5 1BJ. which is a 5-minute walk from Petts Wood train station. Parking on the forecourt is on a first come first served basis or is unrestricted on most local roads. The hall is not large enough to accommodate a brass section and rehearsals with full orchestra take place at other venues.

The orchestra has established a regular pattern of three concerts a year: December, March, and the final concert of the season, in June.

Our concert venue is All Saints’ Church, Bark Hart Road, Orpington BR6 0QD.

Our next concert is booked for 14 December 2019.

Soloists

One concert a year includes a concerto. Our soloists have generally come to us via personal contacts or the website. Recent soloists have included Haru Ushigusa (violin), Nelson Sinclair -Strong (clarinet) and Akito Goto (cello).

Ethos

The Orchestra is an inclusive body, with players of good standard and a wide age range with a core of long standing players. The Orchestra’s ethos is to provide a medium for amateur players of all ages and backgrounds to flourish. We are also fortunate to have a number of music professionals as members. We strive to improve our standard both technically and, importantly, musically and are encouraged by the very positive feedback we have received from our audiences and soloists. We are keen to be challenged in terms of repertoire and build on strengths to improve in quality and range of performance – Poulenc’s Sinfonietta being a recent challenging departure from our more usual repertoire – greatly enjoyed by the orchestra and our audience. We are looking for a Conductor who can continue to motivate and enthuse, maintain a positive atmosphere in rehearsal and performance, and constructively improve on areas of weakness while always being aware of levels of technical ability and the need for rehearsals to be a place where all players are able to feel comfortable and look forward to attending.

Future plans

We are keen to increase our membership and are looking for a Conductor who will support this. It is encouraging that seven new members have joined in the last year. We would like to attract horn and trumpet players, rather than use deps for concerts, but recognise our current rehearsal space places limitations on accommodating this and a much larger orchestra more generally. We are looking at whether a larger rehearsal space is available or arranging rehearsals to use a larger space on occasions.

Next season is the orchestra’s 70th and the committee are keen to use this milestone as an opportunity to promote and build the orchestra.

The orchestra has the following provisional programme planned for the next concert on 14 December 2019:

Mozart 'Overture' from Le Nozze di Figaro 5 mins

Delius 2 Pieces for Small Orchestra
- "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring" 8 mins
- "Summer Night on the River" 6 min

Beethoven Symphony No. 4 in Bb Op. 60 30 mins

We wish to add a piece(s) of the new conductor’s choosing to complete the programme.

For the full job description, personal specification, contractual information, application details and selection process, please download the job description pdf here.