Glasgow Symphony Orchestra Winter Concert

Join the Glasgow Symphony Orchestra as they celebrate 50 years of making music with the fantastic Maurizio Arroyo Reyes playing Rachmaninov’s dazzling 3rd Piano Concerto. 

Tchaikovsky’s magical Sleeping Beauty Suite and the Lieutenant Kijé Suite by Prokofiev with its lively Troika complete the programme. 

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Glasgow Symphony Orchestra is an amateur orchestra. It was formed in 1975 by Tom Kent and Dorothy Gunnee. The first rehearsal took place on the March 4th 1975, and the orchestra's first concert was held on June 3rd 1975 in the High School of Glasgow. Two members of the current orchestra played in that concert, Dorothy (timpani) and Douglas McIntyre (violin). 

During the lifetime of the orchestra, we have given 145 concerts and over 1,100 players have participated in the orchestra. We have given performances of 120 symphonies and 60 concertos have been performed by 58 soloists. 

We are a non-audition orchestra, to open orchestral playing to as many musicians as possible. Our members range in age from 18 to over 80. Currently we number 84, including our conductor. We rehearse on a Tuesday evening in Cleveden Secondary School and perform three concerts a year in venues within Glasgow, often joined by soloists. We are privileged to have links with The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and many of our soloists are full time students there. We also like to showcase solo talent from within our own ranks. 

Our repertoire is mostly, but not exclusively, classical, and we perform music by both major composers and those less-well-known. It is testimony to the team spirit within the orchestra that during these 50 years we have only had 3 conductors.