Gloucestershire Young Musician Concerto Concert at Big Classical Cheltenham College on Sunday 17 November 2024 at 3.00pm. 

A stirring romantic themed programme showcasing Gloucestershire young talent. Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year 2024 James Li plays the Sibelius Violin Concerto, also featuring Borodin’s Symphonic Poem, In the Steppes of Central Asia and Sibelius Symphony No 5. 

Gloucester Cathedral Spring Concert at Gloucester Cathedral on Saturday 5^th April 2025 at 4.00pm 

Opening with Aaron Copland’s inspirational Fanfare for the Common Man, this will be a special concert in memory of one of our much-loved wind players, the remaining programme is still in the planning stage.  More details to follow. 

Mahler Concert

A joint concert with Stroud Symphony Orchestra at Tewkesbury Abbey on Saturday 21st June 2025 at 7.00 pm. A rare opportunity to hear Mahler’s monumental 6th Symphony in the beautiful surroundings of Tewkesbury Abbey.  

How to book tickets: Tickets for our concerts are normally available from Ticketsource, with links nearer the time of each concert.

Come along to our Family Concert and join in with the playing, even have a go at conducting!

Featuring favourite music including Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Great Gate of Kiev.

Also featuring Lydia Kenny as Narrator for ‘Tom Sawyer’s Saturday’ by John Dankworth.

Venue is St Laurence Church in Stroud

Tickets from Ticketsource:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/gloucestershire-symphony-orchestra

VIOLINIST James Li’s sensational win at the Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year finals (on Sunday) was the best birthday present he could have given his dad.

“This has really made my day,”  said proud father Raymond, who initiated his son’s musical journey in Hong Kong before the family moved to Cheltenham in 2021.

James’s impressive technique performing Paganini, Kreisler and Bach put him top of the judging panel’s list and won him the Hewitt-Jones Trophy and a cheque for £500 as the county’s new young musician of the year.

But for the audience, it was the youngest finalist, Stepan Ruzencevs, who won their votes. The 16-year-old Cheltenham College pianist’s sense of style playing Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Rachmaninoff, won him a cheque for £200 – sponsored by the Carducci Music Trust.

Hosted for the first time at his school’s Big Classical Hall, the contest had its own 10^th birthday to celebrate since Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra took over running the event. This year saw a bumper entry of 19 candidates, which was whittled down to six for the finals.

They included a harpist for the first time – Reuben West from the Cotswold School – as well as oboist Grace Tushingham, from Cheltenham, who is studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, clarinettist Ben Gibson, from Pate’s Grammar School, and viola player Eden Saunders, from Gloucester, who is studying at the Royal Northern College of Music.  

Winner James, who is looking forward to a performing career in the UK, is currently studying at the Mozartium University in Salzburg. His prizes include the opportunity to play a recital at Cheltenham Music Festival, as well as two concerto performances with the Gloucestershire Symphony and Youth Orchestras. Stepan will be playing at the Carducci Music Festival in May at Highnam Church.

The prestigious panel of judges, chaired by Gloucestershire Academy of Music’s recent president Professor Derek Aviss OBE, also included top British clarinettist and former BBC Young Musician of the Year Emma Johnson MBE, who will also be performing at the Carducci Festival, and GAM Patron Meurig Bowen, who is Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Britten Sinfonia and a former director of Cheltenham Music Festival.

Professor Aviss praised the high standard of this year’s finalists with its wide 16-22 age range. Emma Johnson announced the winner and presented the trophy along with founder of Gloucestershire Academy of Music, Caroline Lumsden and host Nicola Huggett, Head of Cheltenham College.

What an amazing concert at the Town Hall in Cheltenham! It was such a happy, joyful event and the audience really enjoyed the music and also the bright sparkly outfits!

It was the concert with everything; lovely seasonal orchestral pieces beautifully played, young dancers enjoying dancing to classic Christmas ballet music and choirs of all ages, young and old singing their hearts out to Christmassy music. The final touch was the arrival of Father Christmas himself. All expertly choregraphed with his usual professionalism and humour by our inspirational conductor Glyn.

Young Musician of the Year Isaac Williams wowed the audience at his prize concerto concert when he launched the 2024 competition to find next year’s Gloucestershire winner. To follow in his footsteps click here for an ENTRY FORM.

The 19-year-old former Sir Thomas Rich’s School student gave a sensational performance of Mendelssohn’s famous Violin Concerto in E Minor with Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Glyn Oxley’s baton.

A capacity audience – including his family and former head teacher Matthew Morgan – filled Gloucester’s St Barnabas’ Church, where vicar the Rev Sarah Todd, a patron of GSO, came to the rescue when the original concert venue, Pittville Pump Room, had to close suddenly for safety reasons.

Isaac’s prize-winning year has seen him perform all over the county and since leaving school last summer, he has won a scholarship to Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he is now studying with Carducci leader Matt Denton from Gloucestershire.

The concerto concert, which also featured Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite and Mozart’s ‘The Haffner’ Symphony saw £300 raised for the Gloucestershire Academy of Music’s Building Appeal.