Orion Symphony Orchestra

“If you want to learn the secret of classical music’s perennial good health, look no further” The Independent, March 31st 2009

The Orion Symphony Orchestra has rapidly built a reputation as one of the most dynamic forces on the London music scene. The players are selected from the UK’s best music graduates and students, including several principals of the National Youth Orchestra. It was recently described in the press as a “healthy, glowing body of young professionals” and their playing possessing "...a coherency of purpose with exquisite playing throughout the evening".

The orchestra was formed five years ago by artistic director Toby Purser for charity gala “A Night Under The Stars” at the Royal Festival Hall, with violinist Nicola Benedetti and mezzo-soprano Ann Murray. This year they are supported by Grange Park Opera, and their most recent events include a co-production at Cadogan Hall featuring soprano Susan Gritton in Strauss Four Last Songs. They also celebrated a sell-out performance at the Royal Festival Hall, presented by Stephen Fry, and this month have launched an acclaimed first CD of Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3, with Panos Karan.

In a past season remarkable for an eclectic repertoire stretching from the music of Azerbaijan to a concert with Rick Wakeman, other notable projects have included “Britten to Russia”, a British and Russian programme joining forces with Sonitus Choir. The concert featured orchestral excerpts from Veniamin Fleishman’s little-known masterpiece, Rothschild’s Violin, while In an earlier concert, “England Rediscovered”,  they gave the first performance in seventy years of the Harpsichord Concerto by Cyril Scott.

The OSO has four main aims :

• To promote the most talented young players and soloists, representing all four London Music Colleges.

• To give the musicians training in working under professional pressure, and of performing in top venues.

• To specialise in British repertory, and to promote the rediscovery of unjustly forgotten masterpieces.    

• To create awareness and fundraising events for charity

Their charity work has contributed to raising over £500,000 for The Passage, a charity in London “providing the resources which encourage, inspire and challenge homeless people to transform their lives”, as well as raising money for humanitarian aid to war victims in the Middle East, and other charitable organisations.