Getting together

We were so pleased to see lots of happy players on our strings day on Sunday 25th October.

"I want to say thank you for a great day yesterday.  It’s only when something becomes impossible that you realise just how important it is to you, and to have the chance to play with other people again was a wonderful feeling."

It was fantastic to get the ball rolling again and hear the development of the Bartók Divertimento over the course of the day. The day was held under COVID-secure guidelines, with two metres between players and additional sanitising in the venue. A risk assessment and a letter outlining individual player responsibilities was circulated to players in advance. Everyone came equipped with facemasks and was careful to follow social distancing, when playing and during the breaks. The extra distance between players isn’t easy but where there’s a will, there’s a way – it certainly seems preferable to meet under these conditions than not at all.

Looking ahead, we have provisional dates and venues in the diary for the first half of 2021, as follows:

Sunday 24 January
Sunday 28 February
Sunday 21 March
Sunday 11 April
Sunday 23 May

Repertoire will be announced much nearer the time than usual, with the aim of beginning with modest-scale whole orchestra programmes that can be done in a socially-distanced way, all dependent on avoiding a return to tighter coronavirus restrictions.

We will release more details as and when they are available and hope to see you in 2021!

"A great big thank you for yesterday’s workshop. It felt wonderfully normal to be playing music in an orchestra again."

"Can I echo all the thanks expressed yesterday for putting on the rehearsal day, I know it's a huge amount of work coping with the regulations and the COVID security requirements, but it was definitely worth the effort."