The history of Long Ashton orchestra lies in the musical life of Somerset and North Somerset, where Winston Jackson (1920-2004) used to conduct several ensembles and choirs in the 1970s and 80s. He encouraged and guided music making throughout the area, with his formidable knowledge but also his gentle approach and love of classical music.
Long Ashton Orchestra emerged from the Failand, and formerly Clevedon Orchestra, which in its turn started as an evening class in Clevedon. Some of the original members of that evening class are still in the orchestra. In Winston’s time, the orchestra met in venues as bizarre as the café area of Noah’s Ark Farm Park at one time. The animals used to look in at rehearsals through the windows in the dark!
Following Winston’s death in 2004, the orchestra moved to Church House, and then to Keedwell Church in Long Ashton, where it still meets every Tuesday evening. Steven Rookey and then Chris Golding conducted the orchestra, keeping up the repertoire, and venturing into new areas such as Chris’ own flute concerto.
In 2013, Nicholas Bromilow took over. He was our first professional conductor, and with Nick we tackled a fabulous range of repertoire, new and old. In particular, we played all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies. Following a short break during the pandemic in 2020-21, Nicholas left to pursue his conducting career in America, so we recruited a new conductor during that time and were extremely fortunate to find Dimitri Chrysostomou, who took up the baton in 2021. He was a brilliant conductor, despite the fact that he was travelling to us from North London every Tuesday evening. What resilience!
Since the winter of 2023, Chris Holley has taken over, to great acclaim from everyone. Many of our players have been regular members through all these changes, and enjoy not only the music making, but also the social life of the orchestra. The orchestra is not auditioned, but has attracted some of the top players in the area, who contribute both by leading sections and by solo performance.
The range is wide, both in terms of age and experience, and although the orchestra seeks players with Grade Four or above, it is inclusive and welcoming in its approach to new members and old.