Workshops

OUR NEXT WORKSHOP: October 2025

Our next workshop is planned for October 2025, in Long Melford Village Hall.  We are thinking Gershwin's An American in Paris would be a wonderful piece to tackle.  Nothing confirmed yet but that is what we are currenlty thinking - more details to follow as we firm up on this.  

Our normal routine is that we start playing at 10 am with doors opening at 9:30 for setting up and refreshments and we finish between 4:30 and 5 pm with a playthrough of part or all of the work - with NO audience - so it will be a really enjoyable days playing without the pressure of performance.  If we are at Long Melford Village Hall then it has a reasonable amount of parking and is just off the High Street in Long Melford near The Bull pub and restaurant.

We actively encourage string players, whether currently playing or maybe just returning to playing to come to these events. We are very supportive of players, no one is left out and we all know what it is like to be completely lost, playing an unintended solo, or playing an interesting variant of the written music. We have all been there and got the T-shirt. These are hard working but fun days with plenty of laughter and absolutely no tears. Whats not to like? 

To get the best out of the day you do need to be a minimum of Grade 6 and have orchestral playing  experience but if you are not quite there yet and want to see how it all works but not necessarily to play all the notes you are still welcome.  Or maybe you'd like to come to future workshops and want to register your interest. 

Either way - do get in touch with Hilary on info@sudburysymphonyorchestra.com or 07802 793768.  The cost for the day is just £30 - pretty good value!  

One day Workshop - October 2024

Our autumn 2024 workshop was on 20 October 2024 in Long Melford Village Hall when we played Larsson's Third Symphony.  This is an eminently accessible symphony, great fun to play and to listen to - highly likely to appear in one of our concerts soom.  What makes Larsson such a great somposer for amateur orchestras is that his music does not require exotic instruments and it engages all the instruments in the orchestra.  Everyone has something interesting to play at some time during the piece which makes it so rewarding.  If you have ever played in a piece which is either endlessly repetitive or where you have 132 bars rest and then come in, briefly, you will know what we mean.  So - a thoroughly enjoybale day for all.   

One day Workshop - May 2024

Our spring 2024 workshop was on 12 May 2024 in Long Melford Village Hall when we played Sibelius First Symphony.  This is a lovely symphony full of life, Scandinavian sound scapes and challenging rhythms.  The brass certainly got their money's worth.  We really enjoyed playing this work and if we had twice as many string players we would certainly do it in a concert.  For a workshop though it was a really rewarding days playing.  Helen Sharp on the harp was particularly good, it was probably the loudest I have ever heard a harp play.  

The workshop that never was: 28 January 2024

We had planned to have a workshop on Sunday 28th January 2024, in Sudbury's newest venue, Sudbury Arts Centre in the newly refurbished St Peter's, Sudbury.  Unfortunately though once the final hire costs were eventually confirmed to us, less than two weeks before the workshop date, we found the cost would have been over £700 which we could not justify given that other local venues charge less than £150.  So we very reluctantly took the decision to postpone the workshop and book a different venue - which was a real shame as we really did want to support Sudbury Arts Centre.

We have been asked to explain how come the hire cost for Sudbury Arts Centre was so high.  So here goes.....basic hire cost £400 plus VAT and then a further £200 plus VAT for 3 rounds of teas and coffees for participants during the day.  The venue does not permit hirers to supply their own refreshments (which is what we did in the past) and participants are not permitted to bring in their own refreshments other than water.  

OUR 2023 WORKSHOP: 15 October 2023

Our last workshop was on Sunday 15th October 2023, in Long Melford Village Hall when we tackled Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 2, his London Symphony.  We stuck with our normal schedule to start playing at 10 am, doors opening 9:30 for refreshments - this time after a mad dash to get the timps.  We finished by 5 pm with a playthrough of part or all of the work - with NO audience - so it is was a really relaxed and enjoyable day. 

And this really was a fun day, plenty to keep us busy but with nothing so challenging that we threw up our hands in horror and our brains stopped working.  Mostly this was all down to Matt skilfully guiding us through and over the pitfalls, explaining why the music was structured the way it was and why it was such an influential work - particularly on film music.  

It was so much fun that even our leader smiled, well most of the time.  And our youngest recruit stayed all day and did a pretty good job on the kettle drums with a little assistance from mum.
 

One day Workshop - May 2022

Our 2022 workshop was on 8 May 2022 in Long Melford Village Hall when we played Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique.  This is a big work, particularly for any string player who certainly got their money's worth.  For the wind most sections had at least one movement when they were not playing - which was a relief.  We really enjoyed tackling this work which we would never, as an orchestra, play in a concert as its technically very tricky for almost all sections of the orchestra.  But for a workshop it was a perfect piece to tackle and a great days playing.  

One day Workshop - October 2021

On 3 October 2021 in Nayland Village Hall we played Malcolm Arnold's 5th Symphony.  Some of us approached it with a touch of trepidation as its not the easiest work to love on a first listening.  But with the addition of some really strong players and a very good lower brass section it was a great piece and a great day's playing.  We loved its mixture of lyricism, jazziness and off beat rhythms (in all senses).  Its not for the faint hearted but we all ended up as enthusiasts.  Somewhat to the surprise of our conductor, Matthew Andrews!  In fact, we were so enthusiastic that we played it for real in our March 2022 concert in Lavenham Church.  It blew the audience away.

One day Workshop - February 2020

On 2 February 2020 in St Peter's Sudbury we played Tchaikosky's 4th Symphony, one of his best but also his hardest to play symphonies.  With over 50 players we made some great sounds, we even got asked by a passerby if we would take part in the Lavenham Summer Music Festival.  Which is a first for us, and, it has to be said, for Lavenham.  As with all our Sudbury based workshops we had a group lunch at the nearby Codfather which was also a highlight of the day.   

One day Workshop - September 2019

In September 2019 we tackled Mahler's Totenfeier, the symphonic tone poem which later became, after some revisions, the 1st movement of his 2nd symphony, plus Suk’s Scherzo Fantastique which is a great piece to get to know from a very underrated composer.  We all really enjoyed the Mahler and hope sometime to play it in a concert.  The Suk was great fun, very fast and energetic - probably a little too challenging to get up to concert standard  but wonderful to have played it.  And the Colchester Brewery No.1 real ale went down a treat. 

One day Workshop - February 2019

In February we tackled Tchaikovsky' Symphony no. 6, the Pathetique.  This is such a great symphony going from deep despair to exuberance in a matter of a movement or two - and then ending in death and nothingness, or so the critics would have you believe.  The work was premiered just a week before Tchaikovsky's death although as it was a sudden death it is unlikely to be reflected in the symphony.  The workshop was a great success, very enjoyable, with a fine turn out of musicians and a very sociable lunch at the nearby Codfather restaurant.    

One day Workshop - October 2018

On this one day workshop we performed Rachmaninov's Symphony no. 1.  This symphony is now viewed as a powerful and dynamic representation of the Russian symphonic tradition but after its disastrous premiere performance in 1894 (the work was under rehearsed and the conductor was drunk)  Rachmaninov became deeply depressed and it took him several years to recover from this.  In the circumstances we felt it was only appropriate to ensure that we had a barrel of Colchester Brewery's finest on tap for the day.   

One day Workshop - February 2018

In this workshop we tackled Bruckner's 4th Symphony.  How many times do you get a chance to play this symphony? At one hour long it is not often performed by amateur orchestras but it is one of Bruckner's most popular works and we were very pleased to have a chance to play it.  This is a great symphony for the brass and horn sections to strut their stuff, who duly did.  Over 50 players came to the workshop and it was a very enjoyable day.  For nearly all of us it was the first time we had played any Bruckner symphony, another tick in the list of must do's.  

Weekend Workshop - October 2017

Our last weekend workshop was on 7th and 8th October 2017 in Nayland Village Hall when we tackled Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony. This was quite a challenge as many of us were sight reading the music for the first time. In total there were nearly 50 players, some coming from as far as Norwich, Felixstowe and Southend. By the end of the weekend and with the sheer force of will of our conductor Matt Andrews we managed to play through the symphony in full without stopping, it was not always perfect but it was always played in great spirit. We came away knowing what great music this symphony is, how big a piece of music it is (not just in terms of its length, 50 minutes) and that this was something we could include in one of our concerts in the not too distant future. This was a great result for all of us and we came away from the weekend with a great sense of achievement. And we were ably helped this year by two polypins of Colchester Brewery's finest ales which they generously donated.

In Previous Workshops

February 2017: Neilsen Symphony No. 1
October 2016: Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
January 2016: Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Overture and Mussorsky Night on Bare Mountain
October 2015: Mahler Symphony No. 4
February 2015: Sibelius Symphony No. 2
October 2014: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6
February 2014: Brahms Symphony No. 1
October 2013: Franck's Symphony in D minor and Liadov's Kikimora
February 2013: Brahms' Symphony No. 4
October 2012: Dvorak's Noon Day Witch and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2
February 2012: Dvorak Symphony No. 9