ERSO had such an amazing season in 2017-18 and we thought we’d look back at the highlights. We held six concerts, showcasing amazing pieces of music including: Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony, Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto, Vaughan Williams’ London Symphony, the Walton Violin Concerto, Milhuad’s Le Boeuf sur le Toit, Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, Gershwin’s An American in Paris and so much more.
During the season we also had some landmark moments as we:
- appointed our new Principal Conductor Christopher Stark after an incredibly thorough recruitment process over 2 seasons
- held three fantastic concerts for children and young people in Camden and Kew, working with around 100 talented young musicians, helping to inspire them to carry on with music-making
- launched our ERSO Talent programme. Its first event was the inaugural ERSO Soloist of the Year Competition. A Panel of professional experts and orchestra committee members heard from 16 amazing candidates and 4 were invited to take part in the final where they played a movement of their chosen concerto with ERSO and Peter Stark. Winner Callie Brennan wowed us with her wonderfully assured performance of the Walton Violin Concerto under the baton of distinguished ERSO Conductor Emeritus Peter Stark. The other 3 finalists were so great that they have all been invited back as soloist in our forthcoming season.
We followed this up with our first ever young conductors concert, where 3 up and coming conductors took us “Behind the Baton”, working with experienced conductor and all round amazing mentor Mark Shanahan to create a wonderful concert of Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and Gershwin
ERSO 