The orchestra delivered a spectacular performance alongside talented solo pianist Xinge (Grace) Dong and conductor Brynly Clarke at their Winter Concert on the 20th of December 2023 at Pamoja Hall, Sevenoaks School. Many thanks to Xinge; to our string quartet (John Britton, Danny Meyer, Ben Knowles and Ethan Merrick); and all of the past and present members of Lydian who contributed to the success of the evening.
2023 Winter Concert plans
We are really looking forward to working with pianist Grace Dong for our 2023 Winter Concert. Grace recently won the Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year Competition, playing Tchaikovsky and Liszt. Congratulations Grace! Her concerto of choice for December is to be announced. Brynly Clarke will be conducting, and the concert will be in the Pamoja Hall.
Summer mini-tour announcement
The orchestra is very excited to announce its mini-tour this July! We will be travelling to the beautiful Suffolk seaside to perform a lovely programme of summery music, and there will be a final concert in Tonbridge upon our return. More information can be found on the Players page.
2023 Spring Concert
A standing ovation for our 2023 Spring Concert! The performance took place on Monday 10th April at 5pm at the Judd School in Tonbridge. The concert, conducted by Brynly Clarke, included a selection of pieces from the preceding Concerto Workshop Weekend, which involved a number of works featuring players as soloists, as well as two pieces conducted by current members.
2022 Winter Concert
Our 2022 Winter Concert was a rousing success – soloist Stefan Bulyha played Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1 beautifully! The concert was on Wednesday 21st December at the Pamoja Hall in Sevenoaks, and was conducted by new conductor Naomi Butcher who the orchestra enjoyed working with greatly.
2022 Summer Concert
We’re home! Our 2022 Summer Concert was on Saturday 30th July at 7:30 pm at the Tonbridge Parish Church, which marked the orchestra's return from touring in the Peak District. We performed our tour programme, which included works by Rossini, Prokofiev, Haydn, and Wagner. Brynly Clarke was the conductor for the evening. For more information on Lydian tours, see the Tours page.
Lydian Orchestra AGM
Our annual general meeting will take place at 6pm on Friday 22nd July at Lady Boswell’s School. The meeting will take place prior to our evening tour rehearsal.
Email secretary@lydian.org.uk before the 22nd July to nominate yourself to the committee—nominees will be voted in at the AGM.
We’re going to the Wells Orchestral Weekend!
16:00–17:00 Sunday 18th July 2021
The day after we give our Summer Concert in Tonbridge, we will be heading over to Wells to perform at the Wells Orchestral Weekend (WOWFest)!
WOWFest is an international festival for young musicians held annually in the city of Wells in Somerset. Unfortunately, last year’s WOWFest was cancelled, making our invitation to this year’s event extra-special.
Weather permitting, we’ll be giving an hour-long performance from 4pm amid the medieval splendour of the gardens at the Bishop’s Palace, a major historic landmark in Wells. The ticket price for the concert is included in the price of entry to the Bishop’s Palace. We hope you can join us for a day of great music and festivity!
For more information about the WOWFest head to their website at https://www.wellsyouthmusicfest.co.uk/.
The Lydian Orchestra Summer Concert
Saturday 17th July 2021
We’re excited to be able to announce our first formal concert in over a year! The Lydian Orchestra will make its return to the stage at Tonbridge Parish Church on Saturday 17th July. We’ll be under the steady guidance of Joseph Wolfe, a widely-travelled, well-respected conductor and son of the late Sir Colin Davis. Joseph has previously conducted the LSO, the LPO and the CBSO among many others, and has worked with soloists including Nicola Benedetti, Sarah Chang, Tasmin Little and Chloë Hanslip.
Full ticket prices and booking details will be published on our website in the coming weeks.
Rehearsals begin on Friday 9th July. A full rehearsal schedule for orchestra members will be published on our Players’ page soon.
Barry Griffiths
“We were sorry to learn of the death of Barry Griffiths who was President of the Lydian Orchestra for many years and conducted it on a number of occasions. He lived in Sevenoaks with his large musical family of children most of whom played in the Lydian at one time or another. We were lucky to have such a gifted musician on our doorstep who was prepared to give his time and advice to the orchestra.
Barry originally studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and during his long career he was an acclaimed leader of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the orchestra of English National Opera. He also conducted and made his debut with the RPO in Sicily in 1986, later conducting Cosi Fan Tutte at ENO (a performance which I was lucky enough to attend). He coached and conducted several other youth orchestras including the European Youth Orchestra. In 2002 Her Majesty the Queen awarded him the OBE for his services to music.
His choice of pieces for the Lydian ranged widely and I had the pleasure of playing under his baton in a concert that included Peter and the Wolf and Sibelius‘ austere but beautiful 7th Symphony.'“
- Anthony Daniel
Barry Griffiths' funeral is on Friday 9th October at 11.30 and will be live streamed. Here is the link for anyone who would like to take part: https://www.funeralstreaming.co.uk
Easter Lydian Course - postponed
In light of the recent advice regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, we have sadly been left with no choice but to postpone the Easter Lydian Course. Apologies to audience, players and especially the soloists, who have been practising hard over the last few months in preparation for the course and concert. We hope to run this course at some time in the future - details will be published as soon as they are available.
Spring Concert
Our Spring Concert, conducted by Benedict Collins Rice, was a great success. Lovely to be joined by our younger counterparts at the LTO for a rousing rendition of the Dambusters March!
Spring Concert
Preparations are well underway for our Spring Concert in Tonbridge on 7th April. Benedict Collins Rice will conduct works by Prokofiev, Brahms and Haydn. See the Events page for full details.
Tonbridge School Charity Concert
Great to see so many Lydian players, parents and committee members contributing to last night's charity concert at Tonbridge School. The concert, organised and conducted by Lydian player Alex Trigg, raised nearly £4000 for Child Action Lanka. The violin soloist, who played Bruch’s First Violin Concerto, was also a Lydian: Jonny Hayward.
Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year
Congratulations to cellist Felix Rosenboom, winner of this year's Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year competition. We hope Felix will join us to play Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations in our December concert. - Watch this space for details.
Spring Concert
We did it! Against all odds - particularly looming GCSE and A-levels - we got together a great orchestra for our Spring Concert. There were huge musical challenges, particularly in the Finzi, but in true Lydian style our young musicians worked their socks off and produced a fantastic concert at the end of their course. So proud of you all. Thank you Alec and Nelson.
Spring Concert
Head to Tonbridge Parish Church on 7th April for our Spring concert. An 'all-Lydian' line-up, with ex-Lydian horn player (1999-2002) Alec Frank-Gemmill at the helm and recent principal clarinettist, Nelson Sinclair-Strong, as soloist in the Finzi Clarinet Concerto.
Winter Concert
A stunning performance by Peter Xie (2017 Sevenoaks Young Musician of the year) of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto at our Winter Concert at the Pamoja Hall. This and excerpts from the Nutcracker put everyone in a festive mood. Great audience too! Thanks to Peter Young for conducting.
Tour/Summer Concert
What a wonderful tour in the Loire valley and an inspired concert back home at the Pamoja Hall. Thank you Bryn, Beth and all the orchestra for making it so special, not to mention all the committee members who worked so hard to make it happen.
Tour/Summer Concert
Rehearsals start tonight for our tour to France - 4 concerts in wonderful venues from 23-27 July. We finish with our summer concert at the Pamoja Hall, Sevenoaks on Saturday 29th July 7.30pm. If you can't get to the Loire, come to Sevenoaks!