Saturday 7th November 2026 - St James Church, Taunton 7.30pm
(Pre concert talk at 7pm)
Butterworth The Banks of Green Willow
Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Suite
Vaughan Williams A Pastoral Symphony
Soloist Naomi Harvey
Our Autumn concert will be held on Saturday 7th November in St James Church, Taunton and it is a real cracker! George Butterworth composed The Banks of Green Willow in 1913. It is a beautifully evocative pastoral piece based on two folk song melodies that he had collected in Sussex a few years earlier.
Tchaikovsky told Rimsky-Korsakov that he wrote Swan Lake partly because he needed the money, but also because he longed to try his hand at this type of music. We are so lucky that he did. It is a gorgeously romantic work that glistens, swirls and glides along. Do not miss your opportunity to be enchanted by this wonderfully inspiring music.
Ralph Vaughan Williams completed A Pastoral Symphony in 1922. It was inspired by his military ambulance service during the First World War and evokes the destruction of the war-torn terrain of France rather than an idyllic rustic countryside. The spectacular sunsets over the torn-up fields where so many had died along with his own pining for home have sparked this stunningly beautiful work.
Tuesday 8th December 2026 - St James Church, Taunton 8.00pm
Bériot Violin Concerto no 9 (arr. for concertina Chapman - soloist)
Wagner Siegfried Idyll
Grainger Shepherds Hey
Regondi Morceau de Salon
Strauss Die Fledermaus Overture
For the December concert, we are presenting a glorious selection of sparkling music to brighten any winter evening.
Charles-Auguste de Bériot was a child prodigy who performed as a violinist around the same time as Paganini. His 9th Violin Concerto is a delightful composition that sadly is rarely heard these days so be sure not to miss this opportunity to enjoy it.
Richard Wagner composed the Siegfied Idyll to commemorate his wife Cosima’s 33rd birthday and the birth of their son Siegfried in 1870. It is a lush, flowing and beautifully romantic celebration of a very special time in his life.
Shepherd’s Hey is an arrangement of a lively English Morris dance by the Australian-born folk-music collector and composer, Percy Grainger.
Giulio Regondi was a Swiss-born classical guitarist who was active in France and the United Kingdom in the mid 19th Century. His Morceau de Salon is a charming piece written for guitar and concertina.
Johann Strauss II was known as the ’Waltz King’, but his overture for Die Fledermaus is packed with lively, joyful and memorable melodies that have made it a favourite with audiences ever since its premiere in 1874. You would be ‘bats’ to miss it!
This splendid concert will take place little more than a fortnight before Christmas so perhaps it appropriate that the orchestra will enchant us with Sleigh Ride by Frederick Delius which was inspired by the sound of a sleigh that Delius heard one Christmas Eve.
Saturday 13th March 2027 - Temple Methodist Church, Taunton 7.30pm
Brahms Piano Concerto no 2 in Bb major (soloist Duncan Honeybourne)
Beethoven Symphony no 6 'Pastoral' in F major
Saturday 12th June 2027 - St James Church, Taunton 7.30pm
Frank Bridge Summer
Holbrooke Saxophone Concerto in Bb major (soloist Nick White)
Mahler Symphony no 1 in D major 'Titan'