Our Society

Tonbridge Philharmonic Society’s most enjoyable performance of Haydn’s Creation given to an enthusiastic audience in a comfortably full Tonbridge School Chapel was a reminder that this well-known standard of the choral repertoire is no easy ride, and while being a work of genius presents its own special challenges for all performers. The orchestra in particular has to cope not only with the...

A warm welcome was given to the Society’s new Music Director, Matthew Willis, conducting his first purely orchestral concert at St. Stephen’s Church.  The programme was varied and cleverly chosen to maximise the use of the instruments in the scores selected.  The evening commenced with the Overture The Thieving Magpie, the orchestra, ably led by Susan Skone James, setting the pace with  exciting...

Dedicated to flautist and piccolo player David Prescott, who died in January, Tonbridge Philharmonic Society’s Orchestral Concert at St Stephen’s Church, conducted by Matthew Willis, featured the two First Symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Brahms. The unusual layout of the orchestra, bringing the strings out into the body of the Church from the chancel, with cellos and basses behind the upper...

Kodaly Missa Brevis and Orff Carmina Burana This was the first concert of the Philharmonic Society with its new conductor, Matthew Willis, and if this concert is any indication, then it seems to be in good hands.  Matthew comes with excellent credentials, having conducted and performed with professional orchestras in prestigious locations in the UK, Europe and Russia. In choosing to perform the...

The Midsummer’s Day concert in St Stephen’s Church proved a fitting farewell to the Philharmonic Society’s Musical Director, Robin Morrish. Attended by a capacity audience, the 18-item programme combined a festive atmosphere with the peace and tranquillity of a warm summer’s evening. This began with the overture Die Fledermaus, where well marked tutti sections with delicately pointed strings and...

Humperdinck - Overture ‘Hansel & Gretel’ Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake Suite Schumann - Symphony No4 in D Minor, Op11 Brahms - Serenade Op. 77 Tonbridge Philharmonic Orchestra gave its audience a delightful evening of what their conductor, Robin Morrish, called “unashamedly romantic music”. The orchestra began with the Overture `Hansel and Gretel’.  The horns set the tone for the prayerful, slow...

The one quality which distinguishes Bach’s St John Passion from the later St Matthew Passion is its sheer narrative power. Performances stand or fall on the ability of the performers to sustain the momentum and communicate the intensity of the drama in all its facets. The lynch-pin of any performance is the singer taking on the role of the Evangelist and here tenor Richard Edgar Wilson excelled....

Beethoven - Overture: ‘Coriolan’ Mozart - ‘Exsultate, Jubilate’:  soprano Caroline Walshaw Mozart - Concerto for Flute and Harp:  Flute Alison Aries, Harp Anna Wynne Beethoven - Symphony No. 2 in D major The orchestra of the Tonbridge Philharmonic Society was back in St Stephen’s Church in Tonbridge for this well-structured programme of late classical works by Mozart and Beethoven.  The...

In celebration of the bi-centenary of Verdi’s birth, the Tonbridge Philharmonic Society chose his Requiem for its November concert.  We are indeed fortunate in Tonbridge to have a society with both a choir and an orchestra large enough and sufficiently talented to present music on such a scale.  The grandeur of Tonbridge School Chapel makes a fitting setting for such a work, even facilitating...