Havant Symphony Orchestra

Noticeboard posts:
02.02.26 Profile: Alexandra Peel, violinist, and “Echoes of the Isles”
26.01.26 Profile: Edelyn Spina, violinist
29.11.25 Havant Symphony Orchestra presents “Tidings of Love and Joy”
20.12.24 ‘A Night of Stage and Screen’ with The Havant Symphony Orchestra!
16.11.24 ‘The Snowman’ – a magical narrated live performance with the Havant Symphony Orchestra
12.11.24 The Havant Symphony Orchestra presents a musical reflection on the theme of ‘war and peace’
14.10.24 Profile: Enyi Opkara, conductor
10.07.24 Preview: Havant Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Evening Concert, bursary auditions and plans for the next season
14.06.24 Profile: Joe Jolliffe, conductor of the Southeast-Hampshire Youth Orchestra
16.05.24 Profile: Adam Denman, trumpeter, and the Southern Music Project CIC
17.03.24 Preview: Haydn’s Creation by the University of Portsmouth choir and the Havant Symphony Orchestra
08.09.23 Profile: James Thomas, conductor
10.08.23 Havant Orchestras Bursary Conductor 2023-2024: Enyi Okpara
28.06.22 Havant Symphony Orchestra at 60: interviews with some of its longest-standing members
25.04.18 Profile: Stella Scott

Havant Symphony Orchestra was created by Peter Craddock in 1962 as a Further Education class to offer local amateur musicians an opportunity to study, rehearse and perform a wide range of orchestral music. The HSO and its sister orchestra, Havant Chamber Orchestra, form The Havant Orchestras, which are administered by Havant and District Orchestral Society.

The HSO is primarily an amateur orchestra attracting players from a 30-mile radius with some players involved in the profession as music teachers.

The current conductor and musical director of HSO is Jonathan Butcher.  Accompanying him will be Havant Orchestras’ latest holder of the Bob and Beryl Harding Bursary for Young Conductors.  The bursary provides a unique opportunity for a student to consolidate and develop their conducting skills and rehearsal techniques while extending knowledge of orchestral repertoire as well as gaining insight into the organisation of a concert season.

The leader for the 2023/24 season is Matthew Palmer, a professional violinist with a wealth of experience in orchestral playing, recently with the Orchestra of the English National Ballet.

The HSO season comprises of three concerts held at Oaklands Catholic School, Stakes Hill Road in Waterlooville. The school hall has tiered seating, good acoustics and plenty of car parking space.  A pre-season concert is held in September at the Hayling Island Community Centre.

One of the most important features of the concerts of Havant Symphony Orchestra is the wide range of music performed which usually includes a ‘discovered’ work – either an unknown by a well-known composer, a should-be-known by a little-known composer, or even, occasionally, a commissioned work.  Each concert will feature a soloist, whether an international star, a promising newcomer, a talented member of the orchestra or a well-known local professional.

In support of the educational role of the orchestral society, Havant Symphony Orchestra tries to ensure that each main evening concert is usually preceded by a pre-concert talk at 6.30pm on a subject related to the concert.

Where practical, the HSO also invites local music pupils to provide a pre-concert musical interlude at 7.00pm of about 15 minutes, giving them an informal opportunity to perform in front of an appreciative audience.

To encourage younger audiences, concert tickets for children still at school (up to sixth form or equivalent) cost only £1, and students get a 50% discount.