Hereford String Orchestra win Elgar in Hereford award (From Hereford Times)

Hereford String Orchestra win Elgar in Hereford award

3:45pm Wednesday 6th July 2011 in Music & Dance

HEREFORD String Orchestra, which was founded more than half a century ago, is the recipient of this year’s Elgar in Hereford Music Award.

The orchestra was born in 1958, when a music master at Kingstone School sounded out string players in the county to see if there was enough interest to start an advanced evening class for strings. It wasn’t long before the class initiated by Ronald Collett began to see itself as an orchestra in the making and in 2008, it celebrated its 50th anniversary in the Shire Hall, the venue for the first of its annual concerts in 1961.

Today it is the only regular adult orchestra in Herefordshire, and in the past it joined the Hereford Orchestral Society to give large symphony concerts, taking over when the society ceased to function.

Since its foundation the HSO has had several conductors: Roger Fisher, Joan Spencer, Julie Holling-worth, David Briggs, Stephen Gouland, David Etheridge and Nic Fallowfield, who was with the HSO for 15 years until July 2006. Under his guidance, and that of his predecessors, the orchestra flourished, developing a wide repertoire and a high standard of playing.

In September 2006 the HSO appointed two new conductors, Kenneth Woods and Richard Coppack, both of whom have now retired to be replaced by James Slater and, in the autumn, Tim Harrison.

Hereford String Orchestra in its 2011 constitution features 30 to 40 string players with a number of associate wind, brass and percussion players. Membership is open to all string players.