The Boyce Chamber Orchestra
About The Boyce Chamber Orchestra
The Boyce Chamber Orchestra is directed by Richard Ellis with Yvonne Barron as the leader.
The Boyce Chamber Orchestra Description
The Boyce Chamber Orchestra
Founded in 1969, the orchestra in its early days was a small string group enhanced occasionally by two oboes and a spinet. Woodwind, brass and percussion players were added as it accepted invitations to accompany choral societies. These players were frequently freelance, professional musicians and their playing contributed to the growing reputation of the regular string ensemble.
The orchestra gave its first concert as a full symphony orchestra in 1978 and thereafter a symphonic concert has featured in nearly all the orchestra’s yearly programmes.
Its first members were mostly from the Doncaster area and were made up of adult amateur players, teachers, lecturers, and advanced pupils from local schools, a position that still applies today. From the very beginning, instrumental teachers and their advanced pupils have had an important part to play. Many young people have retained their membership while attending university or college and the orchestra is proud that several have continued to play with us even as they developed distinguished musical careers. It is significant that more than a few made their first solo public appearances with the orchestra.
Although the majority of our concerts have been in the Doncaster area, the orchestra has also played numerous times in York Minster, Southwell Minster, Selby Abbey and Gainsborough, and, many years ago, it undertook concert tours of Northumberland (twice) and East Anglia. Over a period of more than twenty years, it enjoyed a highly rewarding relationship with the Priory Concerts series for whom it performed a symphonic programme with soloist in front of a large audience at the end of each season.
All our rehearsals and most concerts now take place in St Aidan’s Parish Church, Wheatley Hills by kind permission of the vicar and church wardens.
Reviews
We’re very much looking forward to our next concert and hope you’ll join us for this fantastic programme. Sunday 1st March, 3pm, St Aidan’s Church.
Great rehearsal yesterday in preparation for our next concert. Wonderful to be together with the wind and brass and hear the full sound of the orchestra. It promises to be a great event.
It is with great pleasure that The Boyce Chamber Orchestra would like to introduce their new musical director Richard Ellis. It was with great regret that Peter had to step down but we wish him all the best and would like to thank him for his direction and dedication over the years. We look forward to our first concert with Richard in October and a new chapter in the Boyce's life. Read more about Richard in the About section.
Well what a fabulous concert and a very big thank you to Richard Howarth for conducting us - a real privilege. It was also lovely to see some old faces, let's hope it's not too long before we all meet again - October??. Anyway we hope you enjoyed helping us celebrate 50 years of playing music, let us know what you thought and we'll hopefully see you at the next concert in October, all being well.
The concert weekend has finally arrived. We can't wait to see you all at the Old Library at Hallcross School 3pm.
We're very lucky to have had a piece composed for us which will be performed by the composer himself - Robert Hinchliffe and us of course 😁. You must let us know what you think when you hear it tomorrow- leave a review, it will be very much appreciated.
See you tomorrow folks, get there early as tickets are first come first served.
What a fabulous rehearsal and so privileged to have Richard Howarth conducting us. Looking forward to seeing you all next Sunday.
It's now just a week until the first of our two big concerts in celebration of 50 years of making music. We would love to see you there. Check out the events page for further information.
What a fabulous concert and nice to see so many people. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed playing it. A special thanks to Charlotte for a truly amazing performance and thanks to all the wind and percussion players as well as the extra string players for joining us. We would also like to thank Peter for directing us, I think we all perform so much better under his guidance and direction. I dont know about everyone else but I think we've all earned a well deserved rest and maybe a glass of wine 😁, but we will look forward to seeing you all next year when we celebrate our 50th anniversary. Look out for future posts and once again thank you for coming and supporting us.
A really good rehearsal today, nice to be a full orchestra again and nice to see all the wind players. I think we're all a bit tired now but will be raring to go tomorrow. It should be a really nice concert especially The Lark played beautifully by Charlotte. See you all tomorrow.
Really looking forward to the weekend concert. Final set of rehearsals on Saturday ready for the main event. Looking forward to seeing everyone.