Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra Society

Welcome to the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra’s 2021–22 Season

As we look forward to a return to live concerts, we would like to say a huge thank you to our friends and members for your ongoing patience and support during our enforced year off. We very much look forward to seeing you for what we hope you agree is going to be an exciting and ground-breaking 2021-22 season.

We begin our series of concerts with a joint venture with the Isle of Wight Steam Railway when we will be performing an afternoon concert on Saturday 31st July. The concert will include classical favourites, film and TV themes and, of course, some train-related music. The first half will feature a performance of Tubby the Tuba, with the legendary Melvyn Hayes as narrator and Robin Tweddle on tuba. The second half will conclude with a tribute to The Last Night of the Proms. This concert starts at 3.00pm and concertgoers are asked to bring their own seating! A bar and refreshments will be available.

The main season features lots of the greatest classical repertoire – Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Dvorak’s Sixth Symphony, Brahms’ First Symphony and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. We also present for you some less familiar work, including two British women composers, Ruth Gipps and Debbie Wiseman, a world premiere by Louis Mander, a violin concerto by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and a return to Newport for the jazz-infused work of Tim Kliphuis. We also welcome some of the most talented rising stars in British classical music, including some familiar faces returning to play with us once again. We have also packed our programme this year with some familiar British favourites from Arnold Bax, Malcolm Arnold, George Butterworth, Eric Coates and Gordon Jacob.

In November we welcome Ben Goldscheider as our soloist in Ruth Gipps’ Horn Concerto. Ben was a concerto finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2016, since when he has played with many of the major orchestras in Britain and across Europe. He was named Rising Star by BBC Music Magazine and One to Watch by Gramophone Magazine. Ruth Gipps (1921- 1999) was one of the most prolific composers in Britain by the end of her career and it is exciting for us to bring her music to the IWSO audience for the first time. The concert kicks off with Bax’ Tintagel and the evening culminates with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.

Charlie Lovell Jones returns to the Island in January following his performance of the Elgar violin concerto in 2018, which delighted audiences and orchestra alike “It felt as if Charlie and every musician was breathing at the same time, and their heartbeats were synchronised.” (On The Wight) One of the most promising young violinists in the UK, Charlie will be playing Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto, described as one of his masterpieces and ‘an essential addition to the repertoire – both for the violin and for English music.” (ArkivMusic) After the interval we bring you Dvorak’s Sixth Symphony.

In March we welcome back Florian Mitrea, who brought us Prokofiev’s third piano concerto in 2019. Florian was described by Martha Argerich as ‘an outstanding young pianist’ and he continues to grow his reputation as an award-winning soloist performing from Carnegie Hall in New York, all the major halls in the UK and across Europe. He joins us to play Grieg’s Piano Concerto. The evening also features a world premiere of Jacob’s Ladder by Louis Mander, as well as some familiar favourites from de Falla, Butterworth and concludes with Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

May’s concert takes place on a Sunday evening and brings Tim Kliphuis back to Newport following his highly acclaimed performance at the Isle of Wight Jazz Weekend in 2019. Tim’s music draws on his fascination with gypsy, jazz, folk and classical violin traditions. He brings us his own Violin Concerto ‘Ulysses’ which we will be performing alongside Brahms’ First Symphony and Massenet’s Scènes PIttoresques.

We round the season off with our Saturday Night is Music Night extravaganza in July, featuring a host of orchestral favourites, plus some less familiar work including a performance of The Glorious Garden by Debbie Wiseman OBE, the chart-topping collaboration with Alan Titchmarsh which went to Number 1 in the UK Classical Chart in March 2018.

The Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra (IWSO) has been proud to present the Island’s only regular programme of classical music, from its home venue at Medina Theatre in Newport, for over 40 years.

Under the musical direction of Jonathan Butcher, and with the ongoing support of our major sponsor WightLink, the orchestra continues to provide a vital part of the Island’s cultural life with performances regularly sold out. Please look at our season ticket offer in order to guarantee your seat!

Tickets for the Steam Railway Concert on 31st July go on sale in April. Tickets for the concerts to be held at the Medina Theatre will go on sale as soon as the Box Office opens in the summer, subject to the lifting of restrictions. For links to purchase tickets select the appropriate concert for the list please visit our programme page.