At our recent rehearsal we bid fond farewell to long standing orchestra member, Trevor Pleass.

Trevor has been a regular member of the orchestra violin section for many years, and was formerly the treasurer.

At age 94, he has decided to step down.

Our youngest members presented him with some gifts as an appreciation of his long service to the orchestra. We wish him well for the future, and hope to see him in the audience at some of our future concerts.

Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra has hit The Citizen and Echo headlines this week thanks to fabulous photos by Mikal Ludlow who visited our rehearsal at Gloucester’s St Barnabas’ Church.

Different sections of the orchestra are featured, along with conductor Glyn Oxley, leader Marie Roberts-Watkins and the soloist for our concert in the church on July 17th Chris Roberts, who will be performing the beautiful Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo.

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We are delighted to announce that the Gloucestershire Young Musician competition will restart this year.

We will launch the competition in September 2021. Auditions are planned for 9 January 2022, with the finals concert on 8 March 2022.

See the ‘Gloucestershire Young Musician’ pages for details of past winners and finalists.

We are planning the winner’s concert for the 2020 winner, Darcy Beck, on 21 November 2021. More details will be posted here in due course.

Darcy Beck was always fascinated by the sounds of instruments coming from the back of the orchestra and so began her career as a percussionist.
Last night, the 18-year-old gap year student from Prestbury, became the county’s Young Musician of the Year 2020 – and the first percussionist to do so.
Her spell-binding performance on a marimba, loaned by the Nicholas Branston Foundation, opened the finals at Pittville Pump Room. She wowed the judges – complete with one piece on timbales involving light sticks in a darkened auditorium.
The former Cheltenham Ladies’ College student will be setting off to read Music at Cardiff University in September. But, just as with last year’s contest, the audience had a different idea about who should have won. Their choice was 16-year-old pianist Edwin Ward, from Cirencester, whose superb ‘smoking-jacket’ inspired performance of Erroll Garner’s ‘Misty’ persuaded the audience he should receive the Carducci Music Trust Audience Prize.
The county’s musical youth shone with superb performances from 15-year-old cellist Souny Park from Cheltenham Ladies’ College, 17-year-old pianist Aaron Le Maistre from Sir Thomas Rich’s School and 18-year-old flautist Bethany Loader, from Denmark Road High School.
And to top off the evening, while the judges Professors Derek Aviss and Christine Hankin, and Meurig Bowen considered their verdict, the audience was treated to a performance by 2016 winner Adam Heron, who played Sonata No 3 by Chopin.
Glyn Oxley, musical director of organisers Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra, compered the evening with great humour.

Watch a video of Darcy’s winning performance.

 

 

 

 

 

Clockwise from top left: Darcy Beck, 18, from Prestbury; Edwin Ward, 16, from Cirencester; Souny Park, 15, from Cheltenham; Aaron Le Maistre, 17, from Cheltenham; Bethany Loader, 18, from Gloucester.

FIVE exceptionally talented students, ranging in age from 15-18, have made it through to the finals of the Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year 2020.
They include Royal Birmingham Youth Conservatoire student percussionist Darcy Beck, 18, who is on her gap year after attending Cheltenham Ladies College, and fellow Ladies College student cellist Souny Park, who at 15, is the youngest finalist for 2020.
Multi-talented musician Aaron Le Maistre, from Gloucester’s Sir Thomas Rich’s School has returned as a competition candidate this year and won his place in the finals on piano. Last year the 17-year-old from Cheltenham, entered with two instruments, including his violin.
Cirencester pianist Edwin Ward, 16, from Pate’s Grammar School, has won through to the finals on his first attempt as has Gloucester-based Bethany Loader, 18, who is a student at the city’s Denmark Road High School.
Adjudicating the first round was Professor Derek Aviss, former executive director of Trinity Laban and ex-principal of Trinity College. Based in the county, he is president of the Gloucestershire Academy of Music, which hosted the auditions. He will chair the judging panel at the finals concert on 3 March 2020 at 7pm in Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham.
At the end of the evening, Professor Aviss will announce the Young Musician 2020 winner, who will receive a cash prize of £500, the Hewitt-Jones Trophy and will be given the opportunity to perform a recital at the Cheltenham Music Festival, as well as two concerto performances with Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra and Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra.
The runners-up will receive cash prizes of £50 each and there will also be an Audience Prize of £200 sponsored by the Carducci Trust – the charitable trust initiated by the prestigious Carducci String Quartet based in Gloucestershire.
Sponsors are Brimpsfield Music Society, Make Music Gloucestershire, Cheltenham Festivals and Ann Heron, mother of 2016 winner Adam Heron.
Tickets are £15 for adults and free for under-18s. Book in advance by ringing the Cheltenham Trust Box Office on 0844 576 2210; email ; book online via https://www.cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk or on the door.

The Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year 2020 contest has begun on a high with a  total of 13 entries from all parts of the county, ranging in age from 11 to 18.  Their instruments include percussion, woodwind, strings and piano – and the youngest is 11-year-old oboist Rosa Gray from Gloucester’s King’s School. A total of seven state schools are represented and five independents.

Auditions will be held on Sunday January 5th 2020 at Gloucestershire Academy of Music, Barbican House, Commercial Road, Gloucester with adjudicator Professor Derek Aviss, who is chair of the finalists’ concert panel. The finals take place at Pittville Pump Room on Tuesday, March 3rd 2020.

The musicians who have entered for GYM 2020 are:

Name                     Age Home Town  Instrument     School

Darcy Beck               18  Cheltenham   Percussion  Cheltenham Ladies College, Cheltenham

Alexia Dunley           16  Cheltenham   Cello           Cheltenham Ladies College, Cheltenham

Liam Fleet                 18  Stroud           Bassoon      Marling School, Stroud

Rosa Gray                 11  Cheltenham   Oboe          King’s School, Gloucester

Megan Horn             15  Cirencester    Piano          Stroud High School, Stroud

Diff Jia                      15  Cheltenham   Piano          Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham

Michael Lei               13  Cheltenham   Piano          Dean Close School, Cheltenham

Matthew Maidment   18  Gloucester     Clarinet       Marling School, Stroud

Aaron Le Maistre      17  Cheltenham   Piano         Sir Thomas Rich’s School, Gloucester

Bethany Loader        18  Gloucester     Flute           Denmark Road High School, Gloucester

Souny Park               15  Cheltenham   Cello          Cheltenham Ladies College, Cheltenham

Eden Saunders         18  Gloucester     Viola           Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham

Edwin Ward              16  Cirencester    Piano          Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham

Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year Bill Ko gave the performance of his life in front of his classmates at Pittville Pump Room when he performed Walton’s Viola Concerto.
His virtuoso passages (including the occasional stamp of his foot!) had the audience spellbound and was a splendid way of launching the 2020 Young Musician contest.
Bill’s family flew in from Hong Kong to hear their 16-year-old Cheltenham College student perform with Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra under Glyn Oxley’s baton.
Sponsors Patrick Daly from Brimpsfield Music Society and Ann Heron were present along with special guests–including the head of Cheltenham College Nicola Huggett, violinist Michael Bochmann, Dame Janet Trotter and Bill’s Birmingham Conservatoire-based tutor Louise Lansdown and Kirsty Winnan, executive director of Gloucestershire Academy of Music.

The deadline for next year’s Gloucestershire Young Musician contest is midnight on Sunday December 1st 2019. Entry forms can be found on this site under the GYM menu.

Here is Bill performing the Walton Viola Concerto:

Here are some pictures from the concert evening: