Family fun on offer at classical concert

Conductorsimonwilkinsislooking forward to an exciting season with Chichester Symphony Orchestra – a season when they will be doing things perhaps just a little bit differently.

They have their family concert on Sunday, January 28 at 3pm at Bishop Luffa School, on the theme of rhythm and then a concert on Saturday, April 20 at 7.30pm at St Paul's Church with music by Butterworth, Holmes, Taylor-coleridge and Sibelius. But they will also be tackling somefemalecomposers–allpart of life post-covid. “We have come back really strongly after Covid and we have really hit the ground running. Musically things are absolutely fabulous. There have been some really memorable and exciting concerts that we've done and we've had some new members which is really great. Of course, during the pandemic we weren't able to rehearse though we did have a few momentsinthesummerof2020 whenitwaspossibleandthenwe got back together and did a concert in the summer of 2021.”

As for the family concert, it's about fun: “I must admit it's an idea that I shamelessly stole from the City of Southampton Orchestra who are really excellent and it's just a different kind of concert. It's more informal. More families go, and the atmosphere is much more relaxed and we really don't mind if the kids get up and dance. And we always haveatheme.we'vedonevarious things over the years including filmmusicandaroundtheworld and this time we've decided that our theme is rhythm. Somebody suggested dance and we decided to broaden it to rhythm more generally. There will be lots of Latin and South American music.everyotherpieceisatangoor a rumba or a conga and it's really good fun to play.”