Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has been giving concerts since its foundation in 1893. Today it gives upwards of 130 concerts a year from its home base in Poole and during the summer months there is a series of hugely popular outdoor concerts. In addition to the main symphony orchestra, the orchestra’s ensembles perform for local communities across the region, including Kokoro which specialises in contemporary music. The BSO has a proud heritage of principal conductors from its founder Sir Dan Godfrey, to Constantin Silvestri, Sir Charles Groves, Andrew Litton, Yakov Kreizberg and currently Marin Alsop. It has also held special relationships with composers including Sir Michael Tippett, Henri Dutilleux and currently Stephen McNeff who hold the title of Composer-in-the-House.
The BSO performs regularly in the UK's and the world's premier venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Musikverein, Vienna. Future tours are planned to the Czech Republic and France and the Netherlands. The BSO has a fine pedigree of over 400 internationally acclaimed recordings, many of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards and have won prizes. In the past five years alone the orchestra has made over 80 CDs. The orchestra also has a nationally recognised education and community department which organises participatory workshops and projects across the region, particularly in association with those local authorities which fund the orchestra. Apart from BSO musicians undertaking this work when they are not rehearsing and performing, the department has a full-time Community Musician, Andy Baker, whose work is renowned throughout the UK.




