Category: latest-news

Critic praises “superb” Elgar and “exciting” Walton at SASO’s March concert

12th March 2020

Cellist Matthew Sharp’s moving performance of the Elgar concerto was “superb” according to Herts Advertiser critic John Manning, and “…one of the best solo live performances of the work I have ever heard.” But he was also excited by Principal Conductor Tom Hammond’s interpretation of William Walton Symphony No 1 and playing where “all involved …

‘Inspirational’ cellist Matthew Sharp returns to perform Elgar’s much-loved concerto

7th February 2020

Passionate, hauntingly lyrical and profoundly sad, Sir Edward Elgar’s much-loved Cello Concerto is the featured work in St Albans Symphony Orchestra’s in St Saviour’s Church on Saturday 7 March (7.30pm). The great English composer’s wife, Alice, died of lately-diagnosed lung cancer little more than six months after the first performance in October 1919 and the …

SASO New Year Concert makes the Viennese connection

30th November 2019

Concert-goers around the world agree that New Year and Viennese music make an unbeatable combination – and St Albans Symphony Orchestra’s concert in the Cathedral on Wednesday 1st January 2020 (7pm) showcases works that happily fall within that tradition. Star billing goes to Mozart’s celebrated Horn Concerto No 4 to be played by Ben …

WE’VE BEEN ON A BEAR HUNT! SASO’s children’s concerts a sell-out success.

18th November 2019

SASO’s annual concerts for children on Sunday 17 November in St Saviour’s Church were a ‘growling’, sell-out success! We played Ian Stephen’s scrumptious score for We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, including (uh-oh) ‘a totally groovy samba band’. Thanks go to our wonderful narrator, Carl Heap, and to our oboist Linda Norton (usually) who was …

Sea Symphony concert “a triumph at the Cathedral”

21st October 2019

The 2019 St Albans St Cecilia Festival Concert in St Albans Cathedral on October 12 was “a triumph at several levels”, according to John Manning, music critic of the Herts Advertiser. He thoroughly enjoyed the contribution from massed children’s and adult choir and SASO’s playing, under Hardynge Choir and Vivamus conductor Rufus Frowde, “truly excelled …

Ship ahoy! Massed choirs and SASO set sail for concert inspired by the sea

28th September 2019

The sea in all its moods – from breezy beach holidays to storm-tossed ships on mighty oceans – provides the salt-sprayed theme for the St Albans St Cecilia Festival Concert taking place in the Cathedral on Saturday 12 October (7.30pm). Photo: Conductor Rufus Frowde (© Glyn Davies) By tradition, the biennial festival concert brings …

SASO seeks biggest-ever audiences for a classic new season

20th August 2019

St Albans Symphony Orchestra has plans to attract its biggest-ever audience for classical music in its 2019-2020 season, with three of its six concerts taking place in the city’s cathedral. The orchestra’s New Year Concert regularly fills the Abbey for a programme of entertaining classics. Wednesday January 1st 2020 should prove no exception, with the …

Leader Jenny Wigram prepares to leave SASO after an amazing 40 years

19th June 2019

SASO’s much-loved Leader, Jenny Wigram, is leaving SASO at the end of the current 2018-19 season. Here, she looks back on a remarkable 40 years with the orchestra, all but two of them in the Leader’s chair. Anyone who has ever attended a St Albans Symphony Orchestra New Year Concert in the Cathedral knows Jenny …

Conductor Tom Hammond talks about SASO’s July 6 summer concert – and teaching James Corden how to conduct!

11th June 2019

Listen to our Principal Conductor Tom Hammond as he recently talked to Radio Verulam presenter Jill Burridge about SASO’s summer concert on July 6. This features celebrated Scandinavian works: Norwegian Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto (with soloist Veronika Shoot) and the ‘Inextinguishable’ Symphony No 4 by Danish composer Carl Nielsen. Tom also describes how he came …

“…the evening was a huge success for the orchestra…”

16th May 2019

SASO’s spring concert of English classics by Elgar and Vaughan Williams found the orchestra playing at the top of its form, according to critic John Manning, writing in the Herts Advertiser. Describing the performance of Elgar’s Symphony No 1, he writes: “Once more the orchestra produced a very fine performance for the work which, by …