After a triumphant return to Wymondham Abbey for their spring concert, the Wymondham Symphony Orchestra is looking ahead to a summer of celebrations.

The spring concert promised to be a fantastic start to the year for the orchestra. Playing to a capacity audience, the nautical themed concert "Out to Sea" featured a varied program of exciting pieces. Beginning the program with Malcolm Arnold's "Padstow Lifeboat", the orchestra were especially delighted to welcome the Treasurer of the Malcolm Arnold Society who described it as “altogether a splendid evening”. Members of the audience will have recognized the Adagio of Spartacus and Phyrgia by Khachaturian as the theme from The Onedin Line. They were also eager participants for the rousing finale of Henry Wood's "Fantasia on British Sea Songs" well known to all Prom-goers. Four Sea Interludes and the Passacaglia from Benjamin Britten's dramatic opera ‘Peter Grimes’ was the feature of the second half, but it is fair to say that the highlight of the evening was a dazzling performance by mezzo-soprano Maria Willis singing the song cycle Sea Pictures by Elgar.

The season continues with a truly special Celebration Concert in the summer. Taking place on Saturday 1st July at 7pm in Wymondham Abbey, the orchestra will be celebrating 20 years of working with their fantastic Musical Director Andrew Parnell.

Fittingly, the program will begin with Living Stones – a piece written by Andrew Parnell himself for the 900th Anniversary of Wymondham Abbey in 2007, and performed here for the first time since its premiere.

The orchestra are delighted to welcome back the Venezuelan violinist Juan Gonzalez who performed the Brahms Double Concerto with us in St Peter Mancroft last summer. This time he will be playing Brahms’ Violin Concerto, one of the hardest in the repertoire. Juan has led orchestras in Venezuela, Mexico and Germany, and nearer home has been with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. Next month he will be playing at Westminster Abbey in the Coronation Orchestra on May 6th.

The second half will feature the incredible and ever popular New World Symphony by Dvo?ák.

Tickets are available online via links on Facebook and our website, and directly at www.trybooking.com/uk/eventlist/wso. There will also be some availability on the door. Prices are £15, Friends of the WSO £13 and Under 18s are free. More details about the orchestra can be found at www.wymondhamsymphonyorchestra.org.uk or on our Facebook page.