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It’s only three weeks to go before intrepid Team ERSO attempt the Prudential Ride London 100 to raise money for the ERSO’s big 90th Birthday in 2021!!

Its a really TOUGH ride and it just shows how much our conductor Christopher Stark, trumpet player Jonathan Newby, oboist Dan Elson and supporter John Leeming must love ERSO!  They are all training super-hard though we’re not sure they will be quite as fast as this picture…..

Find out more and support us if you can: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/ERSOis90.  Any donations, big or small, will help our work with children and providing opportunities for young professional musicians in the 90th Birthday concert.

We are SO grateful to everyone who has supported us so far – this means so much to our riders, the orchestras and the young musicians we work with.

ERSO’s founder Ernest Read was hugely respected for his work with children and young professional musicians and we are proud to carry on his legacy.

Last year we worked with over 100 children in Camden in two specially designed concerts.  We work with the Camden Music Service and the Camden School for Girls to support the musical journeys of Camden children by offering the opportunity to perform in concerts with ERSO, which helps to inspire and encourage the children to continue with their music-making.

Our ERSO Talent programme aims to provide valuable opportunities to young professional musicians to help them bridge the gape between training and a professional career.  Our ERSO Soloist of the Year competition gave talented soloists the chance to compete to perform a concerto with ERSO.

Winner Henry Hargreaves stunned us with his fabulous performance of Schumann’s Cello Concerto and finalists Bella Fleming  and Joe Yang will have the chance to perform as soloists this coming season.  And our great team of section leaders  Penny James, Lucy Haggerwood-Bullen, Henry and new Brass Leader Grady Hassan help to deliver ERSO’s educational projects whilst gaining valuable experience of leading and managing their sections.

2021 will mark the orchestra’s 90th birthday and we have big plans to celebrate the orchestra’s incredible history and Ernest Read’s massive contribution to music education.  Help us to celebrate ERSO’s incredible history by supporting our 90th Birthday Fundraising Campaign which kicks off with intrepid Team ERSO taking on the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 in August 2019.  Any money raised will be used towards our work with children and young professional musicians in our 90th Birthday Gala concert.

Fancy following on from this year’s ace winner of our ERSO Soloist of the year competition Henry Hargreaves?

Would you like to win the chance to perform a concerto with ERSO in front of a packed audience at the 2020 Waterloo Festival, conducted by Chris Stark?

Fancy having a solo piece created especially for you by the winner of our ERSO emerging composers’ competition?  And being our soloist in our 90^thBirthday Gala concert at the prestigious Duke’s Hall at the Royal Academy of Music in 2021?

If the answers are YES, YES, YES and YES then check out our ERSO Soloist of the Year 2020 competition!  Entry is free and the competition is open to players of all orchestral instruments who do at least one concert (plus rehearsals) in our 2019/20 season.

We are delighted to welcome tuba player Grady Hassan as ERSO’s new Brass Section Leader.

Talented tuba player Grady is taking over from ERSO’s current Brass Leader Jonathan Newby. Jonathan is stepping down after 2 great years of helping us to build up our fabulous ERSO brass section.  But don’t worry – we’ll still see him as our Principal Trumpet!

Grady graduated in Biological Sciences from Imperial College.  During his science studies Grady continued his musical development through tuition at the Royal College of Music as the recipient of the Ash Scholarship and Coldstream Guard Scholarship.  He is now a full time student at the RCM, studying the MPerf course, where he is in receipt of the Michael Quinn Award.

Last night’s final concert of the season was truly special!  Soloist Henry Hargreaves, the winner of our 2019 ERSO Soloist of the Year

competition, gave an incredibly poised and characterful performance of the Schumann Cello Concerto.  At ERSO we are so proud of Henry who is also our fabulous Principal Cello.

 

The audience clearly loved his playing and were highly appreciative and the the orchestra had a ball too!  We caught up with Henry and he said: “It was wonderful last night, thank you so much for the amazing opportunity to perform that incredible piece with orchestra. I enjoyed it very much and the rehearsal process was also very rewarding.”

The evening ended with a stirring performance of Mahler’s epic 1st Symphony, expertly conducted by Christopher Stark.

At ERSO we were delighted to be a part of the Waterloo Festival and loved performing to such a packed and enthusiastic audience!

 

Did you know we have some amazing cello stories in ERSO’s past?

Jacqueline du Pre gave her first performance of the Elgar Cello  Concerto with ERSO (known then as the London Senior Orchestra) back in December 1959 at the age of 13.

And another famous first was Guy Johnston’s earliest solo experience, playing the Lalo Cello Concerto with ERSO at the Royal Festival Hall.  Guy said: “I’ll never forget it – Thank you ERSO”

We’re proud to continue the tradition of offering solo opportunities to young musicians through our ERSO Soloist of the Year competition.  Will this year’s fabulously talented winner Henry Hargreaves follow in the footsteps of these famous cellists?

Come and hear him perform the Schumann on Sunday 16th June at our final concert of the season.

Normally the orchestral conductor’s job description involves musical activities such as picking repertoire and working with the orchestra to deliver a great performance.  Not so frequently asked is to cycle 100 miles on the Prudential RideLondon which includes some truly massive hills………

Lucky for ERSO that our Principal Conductor Christopher Stark is such a great sport and has volunteered to be one of the fab four who make up Team ERSO, alongside trumpeter Jonathan, oboist Dan and long-term supporter John.  They are undergoing this massive challenge to help raise money for ERSO’s charitable work in our big 90th birthday season, providing opportunities for Camden children and young professional musicians at the start of their careers.

If you are able to help us at all, in any way, your contribution will mean so much to the orchestra and the young musicians we work with.  Click here to donate to our 90th birthday campaign

Is this you?

1. You would die without Mahler
2. You love a fabulously played cello concerto
3. You enjoy a sweet treat
4. You like to contribute to worthy causes
5. You live in or near London

Then ERSO  have the perfect evening for you in the final concert of our season, with Mahler’s epic 1st Symphony plus a stunning performance of the Schumann Cello Concerto by our 2019 ERSO Soloist of the Year, Henry Hargreaves. We will also be raffling over £400 of delicious premium chocolate made by ethical producer MIA (Made in Africa) who provide opportunities and benefits to the communities who grow the cocoa and make the chocolate.  The first prize is 60 bars of delicious goodness – and tickets are only £1!

All proceeds will go towards our charitable work with children and emerging professional musicians during our big 90th birthday season, together with the money we raise from the epic 100 mile cycle ride that will be undertaken by Team ERSO (conductor Chris Stark,  trumpeter Jonathan, oboist Dan and long-term supporter John).

 

 

The Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra (ERSO) is one of London’s leading and longest established amateur orchestras.  We’re a friendly group playing to a very high standard and perform 5 Sunday concerts a year with Sunday rehearsals in Camden.  We’re proud to work with Principal Conductor, Christopher Stark, best-known as co-founder and Musical Director of the RPS Award-winning Multi-Story Orchestra. Our professional leader, John Crawford, is a Professor at Trinity Laban, and young professionals lead the string sections.

Anyone who plays in at least once concert in the season, including the rehearsals, will be eligible to enter our ERSO Soloist of the Year competition.  The prize will be to play a concerto with ERSO in June 2020.

We are always keen to hear from experienced (grade 8+) string or brass players who might be interested in joining us.  Check us out on erso.london and  get in touch on ersoinfo@gmail.com.