Summer concert with Jennifer Pike, and introducing Robert Weaver

Time is a strange beast isn't it? The hiatus in the orchestra's activity from spirng 2020 (when we sadly had to cancel our concert) to autumn last year, when we were finally able to restart rehearsals, seemed to last forever. But now we are already racing towards our second concert of the year: this Sunday (26th June) we will be performing again at Trinity Henleaze URC, joined by the super-talented, multi-award winning violinist Jennifer Pike. It's a great honour and pleasure to welcome Jennifer on stage with us, and it will be a real treat for our audience too.

Jennifer will be performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor (Op 64), the piece with which she famously became the youngest-ever winner of the BBC's Young Musician of the Year, at the tender age of 12. That early promise has been fulfilled over and again and Jennifer is now one of the most sought-after soloists performing today, having won many awards, played with top orchestras around the world and produced some wonderful recordings.

This Sunday, the Mendelssohn concerto will be part of a set of great romantic music that will take you on a journey from Dvorak's brash and energetic Slavonic Dances (Op 46), through the beautiful and virtuousic concerto to finish with Brahms's moving, at times tragic, and ultimately intellectually satisfying fourth symphony.

Leading us all from the podium will be Bristol Symphony's new Associate Conductor Robert Weaver, who joined us in April to complement the conducting team, supporting our Principal Conductor Dave Ransom (look out for Dave in the horn section!). Rob brings a wealth of experience and a bucket load of enthusiasm and has been a great addition to the orchestra so far - welcome aboard Rob!

Our spring concert in April was the culmination of a huge amount of work behind the scenes from so many people in the orchestra, and it was immensely rewarding to be playing live music to a real audience again. With this summer programme we hope to consolidate that and re-establish ourselves firmly as one of the premier amateur orchestras in the West of England. But time is racing by(!), and with only four days to go,

if you haven't got your tickets yet, what are you waiting for? See you on Sunday!

Simon Bowles (chair of the orchestra)