About BSO

The results of the most recent audience survey we conducted in November 2005 are here.

Patrons

We are extremely grateful for the generosity of our Patrons, who provide a much valued source of funding, without which it would be impossible to present such interesting and ambitious programmes. Patrons receive an annual newsletter at the start of the season, have preferential seat booking and are entitled to complimentary tickets worth up to a quarter of their donation. Our current patrons are listed below and in our programmes.

If you are able to support the orchestra in this way, please send your donation (we suggest a minimum of £15 for individuals, £20 for couples) to The Treasurer, PO Box 1065, Bromley BR1 9QD. Please make cheques payable to Bromley Symphony Orchestra.

Conductor

Adrian Brown comes from a distinguished line of pupils of Sir Adrian Boult. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in London, he studied with Sir Adrian with whom he worked for some years. He remains the only British conductor to have reached the finals of the Karajan Conductors’ Competition and the Berlin Philharmonic was the first professional orchestra he conducted. Sir Adrian said of his work: “He has always impressed me as a musician of exceptional attainments who has all the right gifts and ideas to make him a first class conductor”.

In 1992 Adrian Brown was engaged to conduct one of the great orchestras of the world, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1998 he was invited to work with the Camerata Salzburg, one of Europe’s foremost chamber orchestras at the invitation of Sir Roger Norrington.

Adrian has conducted many leading British orchestras including the City of Birmingham Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the BBC Scottish Symphony and the London Sinfonietta. He is also a great proponent of contemporary music and has several first performance’s to his credit

The 2007-8 Season saw concerts in Snape Maltings celebrating the Elgar Anniversary, a performance of ‘Hansel und Gretel’, and engagements with Huntingdonshire Phiharmonic and Southgate Symphony. A full season with Bromley Symphony of Elgar’s Second, Bruckner Seventh, Tchaikovsky Fourth and Holst’s ‘The Planets’ was performed. 30 years of wonderful concerts with Waveney Sinfonia were celebrated with their dedicated musicians and audience.

For his 60th Birthday Year in 2009 Adrian has been appointed Music Director of Huntingdonshire Philharmonic performing Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony and has conducted many works on a ‘celebration’ ‘wish list’ including Sibelius’ Fourth and Mahler’s Ninth and Elgar’s First. He also had a major success conducting the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius performing Berlioz in a concert broadcast Nationally. Bromley Symphony honoured him with a 30th Anniversary/60th Birthday concert in November.

Future plans include a performance of Elgar’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ in Ely Cathedral with Hunts Phil, a debut with the Corinthian Orchestra and an important lecture to the Berlioz Society.

Adrian Brown was one of a hundred musicians presented with a prestigious Classic FM Award at their Tenth Birthday Honours Celebration in June 2002.

Leader

Officers

***Recent* *Reviews***

“Classical compositions don’t come much bigger or more impressive than Mahler’s Symphony No 3... The orchestra was nearly double its normal size ... Adrian Brown exerted total command over the singers and instrumentalists and the result was an artistic triumph. And in particular, the clever creation of distant sounds from military bands provided a few moments of real musical magic and an almost eerie realism.”

Kentish Times

“The conductor Adrian Brown was in total command of the complex architecture of the piece (Sibelius’s ‘Pohjola’s Daughter’) and the orchestra gave a memorable performance ... Orchestra, conductor and soloist (Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1) alike matched the desolate aspects of the score and the rare and beautiful melodic sections with a professionalism that now pervades the orchestra ... It (Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker’) weaved its traditional magic in an exciting performance by all concerned."

Kentish Times

"... a fine account of Elgar’s orchestration of Bach’s Organ Fantasia and Fugue in C minor ... Finally came Anthony Payne’s now famous elaboration of the sketches of Elgar’s Third Symphony, of which Adrian Brown has given more performances than any other conductor. This was a noble and passionate reading of stature, thorough enjoyed by the very large and appreciative audience."

Musical Opinion

"Grieg’s popular ‘Peer Gynt’ Suite, which began the evening, was a breathtaking feast of musical excellence... The concert ended with a performance of a symphony which changed the course of music forever (Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’) ...The conductor could not have injected more passion, emotion and discipline into the players than they showed in what is a demanding work – the encores for players and conductor alike were well deserved.”

Kentish Times

"Brown began the evening with a fizzing account of Rawsthorne’s once-popular Street Corner ... Equally robust was his conception of Elgar’s Falstaff ... this is ‘programme music’ which makes a greater impact the more a conductor brings out its underlying abstract design – something of which Brown was keenly and gratifyingly aware."

The Classical Source

"It is very difficult to provide a critique about a musical ensemble that seems to get better every time I hear it ..."

Kentish Times

"... The performance was perfect and the conductor appears to have instilled a professional approach to all the musicians. There can be very few so-called amateur orchestras that can maintain such high standards."

Kentish Times

" ... The orchestra’s distinguished conductor, Adrian Brown again showed that his bond with the musicians has created a highly professional ensemble which gives the term ‘amateur’ a somewhat hollow ring. ... The performance was exceptional (Mozart’s Symphony No 39) and the wind instruments were outstanding in the first two movements..."

Kentish Times

"The warm applause at the end of the concert confirmed that the finer points of the performance (Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben) were not lost on the audience"

Kentish Times

"The Corsair overture by Berlioz was bright, colourful, and exciting while Prokofiev's complex 5th Symphony was directed with such precision by the conductor, Adrian Brown, it positively bristled with the sounds created by the composer’s supreme grasp of melody, drama and orchestration."

Kentish Times

Useful Links

Patrons

Conductor

Leader

Officers

Recent Reviews

Useful Links

***Recent* *Reviews***