Wolsey Orchestra
Promoting Musical Excellence in Ipswich

The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw the rise of the symphony orchestra as a medium through which composers could express themselves with increasingly greater freedom.  The 2003-2004 Wolsey Season aims to explore some of the contrasting and revolutionary aspects of this process of development.  With works by composers ranging from Beethoven to Bartók, this promises to be a voyage of discovery that should not be missed.

11 October 2003

We are delighted to welcome a local lad made good, Ben Parry, who will conduct our first concert of the season.  Ben has served time with the choir at King’s College, Cambridge, and the Swingle Singers and now directs one of Scotland’s finest vocal groups, the Dunedin Consort.  He will be joined by his wife, Kathryn, to give a performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin concerto in E minor.  The programme also includes a little known Schumann overture -  that to the opera Genoveva, and Elgar’s expansive, deeply personal and somewhat enigmatic First Symphony.

7 February 2004

Our second concert of the season takes us back to the renaissance of the modern symphony orchestra with one of Beethoven's most loved symphonies, No 3 - the Eroica.  It is our great pleasure to welcome the internationally renowned conductor and musician Anthony Halstead to preside over this concert.  Anthony’s extensive experience with 'period performances' has led to his working with some the finest orchestra's in the world and we are justifiably excited by his visit to Ipswich.  The programme will start with Rossini's overture to William Tell, and will also feature Schumann's Concertstück for four horns.

8 May 2004

Our 2003-2004 season draws to a close with a return visit by Harry Curtis.  Harry conducted one of our most successful concerts last season, and his talent, musicianship  and enthusiasm was enjoyed by both audience and orchestra.  The major work in this concert will be the Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, a work that was written at the end of the composer’s life and demonstrates his absolute mastery of symphonic form.  We are also joined by Tom Poster, the winner of the 2000 piano finals of the Young Musician of the Year.  Tom will be playing Rachmaninov's virtuosic Variations on a Theme by Pagannini.  These two mighty works of the Twentieth century orchestral repertoire are complemented by a performance of the first and second movements  from Debussy's Nocturnes.

I think you will agree that the repertoire we have chosen to perform this year will be both enjoyable and rewarding to listen to, and we very much hope that you will be able to come to at least one, if not all three of our concerts.

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