| Orchestra History |
1877-1914:The Northumberland Orchestral Society began with a meeting held on Saturday 15th December 1877 at 3pm "to consider the forming of an Amateur Orchestral Society in Newcastle". The first rehearsals were held at the house of a Mr J F Ayton at 9 Osborne Terrace, but on March 2nd 1878 they transferred to the Mechanics Institute (now demolished), which was near the Laing Art Gallery. There were then sixteen playing members conducted by a Mr. J H Taylor. They gave no concerts during the first season. The first public concert was in May 1879 in the old Newcastle Town Hall (now also demolished) with Herr Max Schroter conducting. It was given in aid of the Aged Female Society and Infants' Nursery, and the program included Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto in G minor played by a Mr Philip Millner. (This same concerto was played at the centenary concert in 1977 by Brenda McDermott with her husband Prof Denis Matthews conducting. The rest of the programme was conducted by Robert Falconer). The regular annual concert was held in the old Town Hall until the outbreak of war in 1914, when the orchestra suspended all activities. 1919-1939:When the committee decided to resume rehearsals in 1919, a new rehearsal venue was needed. Eventually the King's Hall at Armstrong College (now Newcastle University) was made available for the 1919-20 season. The first post-war performance was in 1921 in the Town Hall, and concerts continued to be held there until the concert hall in the building was closed in 1927. From 1927 until the outbreak of the second world war the orchestra continued successfully under the conductorship of Cuthbert Horsley, the concerts being held in the King's Hall. 1945-1993:After the war Dr Arthur Milner revived the orchestra which he conducted until 1947, after which Jack Wolstenholme took over. Dr Milner was a local composer of note and Head of Music at the Newcastle Royal Grammar School, a position to which Mr Wolstenholme also succeeded. One of Dr Milner's compositions, Otterburn Moor, was dedicated to the orchestra and first performed by them in 1967. Ridley Dobson, a businessman and organist, took over as conductor in 1954 and got the orchestra to perform more ambitious works; concerts were given in the Kings Hall, the City Hall and later the People's Theatre. Many famous soloists were engaged during this period including a young Julian Lloyd Webber (who required a fee of only £50!). The orchestra was at its largest in 1966 with 72 members.
King's Hall, University of Newcastle, probably 1955 Mr Dobson resigned as conductor in 1973 and was replaced by his assistant, Robert Falconer, an industrial chemist, viola player and composition pupil of Dr Milner. In 1981 Mr Falconer was replaced as conductor by Kenneth McKenzie, a music teacher and flautist; concerts were usually given at Mr McKenzie's church in Wingrove Road, Newcastle, where he had an official capacity. Rehearsals were held in St George's Church Hall, Jesmond. Mr McKenzie left the orchestra at the end of 1993 owing to pressure of church duties. He was succeeded by the present conductor, Gillian Coop. Gillian was Head of Music at Newcastle Central High School when appointed and she arranged to use the school's new purpose-built music centre as the rehearsal venue. The building is situated in Brandling Village, Jesmond, only five minutes walk from the first rehearsal venue in 1877. 1994-2011 - Gillian writes: When I took over as conductor in 1994, the orchestra was small but clearly had potential. I was rather concerned with the programme that had already been chosen for my first concert as it included Wagner's "Die Meistersingers" and it appeared that we had very limited brass resources! However, a brass section suddenly appeared at the dress rehearsal, something that I knew had to stop! The orchestra gradually increased in size and the programmes became more adventurous and challenging. We introduced concertos mainly using local musicians. One was Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 which we performed in the Great Hall of Durham Castle. Others performed include Saint Saens Violin and Cello Concertos, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1, Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, Dvorak's Cello Concerto and Bottesini's Double Bass Concerto. We have joined up with a local choir to perform Brahm's "German Requiem", Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances" and the wonderful, underplayed work for piano solo, vocal quartet and choir, Beethoven's "Choral Fantasia". When I retired as Director of Music at Central Newcastle High School in 1999, we performed "Rutter's Magnificat" with my augmented school choir in the King's Hall at Newcastle University. In 2009 we performed Elgar's "Sea Pictures". I have tried to challenge the orchestra, introducing such works as Rimsky Korsakov's "Scheherazade", his Symphony "Antar" and Bruch's First Symphony. The orchestra has about 50 playing members ranging in age from students to 70 year olds. Many of our younger members have to leave to find jobs elsewhere but we have a close relationship with Newcastle University. We also link up frequently with local charities and have given children's concerts. These include concerts in which we encourage the children to sit next to an orchestra member and to play simplified versions of the music. I feel that in 2011 we are a strong and happy orchestra.
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