English Symphony Orchestra

30/05/2026

We're critic's choice today at Elgar Festival!!!
Tickets here: https://elgarfestival.org/events_2026/eso-gala-concert/

30/05/2026

30/05/2026

It's Gala day today!!!
English Symphony Orchestra will be joined this evening in Worcester Cathedral by the 2026 Elgar Festival Chorus for Elgar's The Black Knight (first performed in this very venue!). The concert also features Elgar's cello concerto in the viola arrangement by Lionel Tertis and performed by the incredible Rosalind Ventris - catch her here on InTune this week to learn more:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002whnb?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile
Some (but not many!) tickets still available here:
https://elgarfestival.org/events_2026/eso-gala-concert/

Classic FM BBC Radio 3 Classical Events Classical Music UK Visit Worcestershire
Photo © Michael Whitefoot

28/05/2026

Look what we did yesterday at Elgar Festival Family Concert 👀

What a day! With over 150 young musicians, it really was a phenomenal concert 🎵

We are so proud of all the musicians - they played amazingly! 🤩

Photo credit: Michael Whitefoot Photography

28/05/2026

Viola player Rosalind Ventris and pianist Nigel Hutchison perform live.

27/05/2026

We are so proud of this - our third release on ESO Records. Delighted to see this excellent review from AArcana.fmand Richard Whitehouse. Check out the album - physical copies available from eso.co.uk, or stream via links in comments. Huge congrats to Iain Quinn, soloist and KKenneth Woods, conductor
"Much the most often heard organ concerto (as opposed to organ symphony), that by Poulenc never fails to entertain and provoke: a judicious synthesis of musical past and present, high- and low-art, the serious and skittish – all given focus by its composer’s tendentious sense of style. It certainly sounds cohesive on this persuasive recording, Quinn alive to those reckless expressive contrasts and Kenneth Woods shaping its seven continuous sections into a logical yet purposeful whole. The relatively lengthy third section emerges as a ‘slow movement’ of encroaching pathos"

https://arcana.fm/2026/05/17/quinn-eso-woods/

Iain Quinn (organ), English Symphony Orchestra (Hindemith), English String Orchestra / Kenneth Woods Hindemith Kammermusik no.7 Op.46/2 (1927)Pinkham Sonatas for Organ and Strings: no.1 (1966); no.…

25/05/2026

We've got a LOT of notes to play this week......!!
Thurs 28 May in the The Priory Church at Great Malvern:
Elgar: Serenade for Strings/In Moonlight/Chanson de Nuit
Musgrave: Night Windows
Sibelius: Rakastava
Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht
https://elgarfestival.org/events_2026/english-string-orchestra-elgars-strings-in-malvern/

Fri 29 May in Worcester Cathedral
Bax: Tintagel
Elgar: Falstaff
Holst: The Planets
https://elgarfestival.org/events_2026/reaching-for-the-stars/

Sat 30 May in Worcester Cathedral
Musgrave: The Seasons
Elgar: Cello Concerto (arr for viola by Lionel Tertis)
Elgar: The Black Knight
Elgar: Imperial March
https://elgarfestival.org/events_2026/eso-gala-concert/

Who's coming to all three?!!!
Visit Worcestershire Visit The Malverns Tourist Information Centre Cotswold Life Magazine Kenneth Woods, conductor

25/05/2026

Bravo to all our ESO Youth players this weekend and huge thanks to all our inspirational staff too! Tickets still available for their Elgar Festival concert in Worcester Cathedral, performing with their patron Zeb Soanes this Weds 27th May. All under 18s go free!!!
https://elgarfestival.org/events_2026/elgar-for-everyone-youth-concert/

We have had an amazing couple of days with our Beginners Orchestra. They worked hard and played beautifully 🎶
We can’t wait for their performance at the Elgar Festival Youth Concert on Wednesday with Zeb Soanes!

23/05/2026

We loved having such talented students performing with us at Cheltenham Town Hall on Friday. Watch this space for the next chapter..!

22/05/2026

Our partnerships are growing!
This morning Julian Bliss delivered a masterclass to students at The Crypt School in Gloucester as part of our continuing developing outreach work in Gloucestershire.

Tonight 9 of the county's top young string players join us in Cheltenham Town Hall to perform side by side with our professionals in Elgar's Serenade for Strings, in association with Gloucestershire Music and the GSW Music Hub. This vital work has been supported by several local benefactors as well as national funders and we are so grateful.

Tickets are still available for tonight's concert which also includes Julian performing Aaron Copland's clarinet concerto, and music by Elgar, Mahler, Matthew Taylor and Schoenberg's stunningly romantic Verklarte Nacht, in our season finale!
https://cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk/event/english-symphony-orchestra-residency-schoenberg-mahler-elgar-taylor-copland/

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