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The Orchestra

The Welsh Chamber Orchestra was founded to fill the gap in the music making life of Wales between performances of solo and small chamber music ensembles and those of the symphony orchestra. 

Since its inception in 1986 it has performed with many of the world’s greatest soloists, undertaken several European concert tours as well as performing throughout the UK. For many years it was resident chamber orchestra at the Swansea International Concert Series where its innovative policy of giving second performances of works by Welsh composers was highly successful. It has recorded numerous television programmes including a New York Film Festival prize-winning Opera series.

The orchestra’s first commercial CD was a disc of works by William Mathias, two CDs of works by Alun Hoddinott have since been released, and a further CD of Michael Tippett’s works is due to be issued.

A key part of the orchestra’s artistic policy is to perform in those areas in Wales that are relatively ill-served with occasions to hear orchestral music compared to other parts of the country. A residency at Glyndŵr University in Wrexham has enabled the provision of schools’ concerts in the north east of Wales, introducing thousands of school children to their first live orchestral concert experience. The orchestra is proud to be associated with the William Mathias Centre in Caernarfon.

Anthony Hose Conductor and Artistic Director

Conductor Anthony Hose began piano lessons aged three and gave his first recital aged six. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London majoring in Piano, Harpsichord, and Conducting, additionally studying Clarinet and Double Bass. He continued his conducting studies first in Salzburg and then with Rafael Kubelik in Munich and Geneva.

He has worked with orchestras throughout Europe including the Budapest Concert Orchestra, Icelandic Symphony, Rhine Philharmonic, Munich Bach Collegium, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and in Britain with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, English Chamber, and Welsh Chamber Orchestra of which he is principal conductor. In the opera house he has led many productions for the Welsh National Opera with repertoire from Handel to the present day and including most of the operas of Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini. He has over 100 operas in his repertoire.

For BBC television he has conducted Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the world premiere of The Servants by William Mathias. At the Buxton International Festival, which he founded, he has conducted many operas including the first complete performance in Britain of Kodály’s Háry János and Cherubini’s Medée. He has broadcast many operas for BBC Radio 3 including Cavalli’s Jason, which he directed from the harpsichord in his realization, Gounod’s La Colombe, Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades and Kodály’s folk opera The Spinning Room. He has regularly conducted the Icelandic Opera recording videos of Il Trovatore (Verdi), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach), Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart). He is Artistic Director of the Beaumaris Festival in Wales.

Maestro Hose has been the guest conductor for opera companies including L’Opéra de Lyon, Gothenburg Opera, New Sadler’s Wells Opera, Scottish Opera, and the Mid Wales Opera. He has also guest conducted orchestras including the Ankara Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, English Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Orlando Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra and the Wren Orchestra of London. An advocate for contemporary composers, he has recorded CDs of music by William Mathias, Alun Hoddinott and Sir Michael Tippett.

He was for many years a professor at the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music in London and guest professor for the Cincinnati College Conservatory. He has given orchestral, opera, and Lieder masterclasses throughout Europe and is Director of Orchestras at Stetson University in Florida.

People

Matthew Scrivener
Leader

Katerina Nazarova
Associate Leader

Elenid Owen
Violin

Rachael Elliot
Violin

Matthew Everett
Violin

Judith Van Ingen
Violin

Peter Leighton-Jones
Violin

Sheila Taylor
Violin

Kate Pelling
Violin

Clare Carey
Violin

Annie Pullar
Violin

Niamh Aston 
Viola

Jacq Leighton-Jones
Viola

Daire Roberts
Viola

Nicola Pearce
Cello

Ruth Bingham
Cello

Beatrice Newman
Cello

Tabitha Selley
Cello

Mike Escreet
Double Bass

 

Callum Duggan
Double Bass

Sarah Newbold
Flute

Meyrick Alexander
Bassoon

Jo Shewan
Bassoon

Phil Pike
Bassoon

Michael Gibbs
French Horn

Sam Baxter
Oboe

Eric Wolfe-Gordon
Oboe

Gayle Hearn
Oboe

Dewi Ellis Jones
Percussion

Artistic Director: Anthony Hose
Chairman: Captain Sir Norman Lloyd-Edwards KCVO GCStJ RD GOMLJ JP RNR
Vice-President: Lady Wigley OBE
Orchestra Manager: Callum Duggan
Company Secretary/Treasurer: Eric Wolfe-Gordon 
Director: Canon Graham Holcombe
Patron: Professor Paul Mealor OStJ CLJ OSS FUniv FRSA