Orchestra history

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There has been a Chamber Music club at the OU for many years, acting principally as an contact group for musicians to find each other, and booking rooms around the OU for rehearsals.

In Summer 2004 a string ensemble was formed, meeting for an initial block of rehearsals in July and August, then continuing into the Autumn. The String Group performed several movements from the Corelli Christmas Concerto at the OU Carol Concert in December 2004, and was augmented by wind and brass players to form an orchestra to accompany the carols.

In January we were able to book a slot of regular(ish) rehearsals to enable the whole orchestra to meet, Bill Strang kindly agreed to conduct us, and the rest is history....

Our inaugural concert was held on Friday May 20th 2005. 44 players took part, and we were delighted that we played to an absolutely full house of over 200 people. Our most recent concert, October 2008, featured 60 performers in the orchestra, and a capacity audience spilling out of the Old Lecture Theatre into the corridors.

After 3 years of intense activity as the Orchestra developed, Bill has handed over the baton to Graham Reid in 2009. Graham is well known in Milton Keynes as the senior conductor on the staff of the Milton Keynes Music Service, and he brought his great experience and expertise to develop the orchestra. Graham retired in 2010, and moved away from the area. However, the orchestra was extremely fortunate to be able to appoint Hugh Molloy as our new conductor. Hugh is an active performer, teacher and conductor in the region, and after retirement as Head of Aylesbury Music Service continues to teach at the Guildhall and serve on the Guild of Adjudicators and Workshop Presenters.

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