Oaklands School Hall

Havant Symphony Orchestra (HSO) main concerts are at Oaklands Catholic School in Waterlooville, an excellent venue for the power of a full symphony orchestra.

This season’s HSO programme is a little different, aiming to be more attractive for potential new audience members after the disruption of recent years.  The winter concert includes the famous Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 and the spring concert the even more famous Grieg Piano Concerto, and both are in the afternoon rather than the evening.  Also, the winter and summer concerts both include a selection of popular shorter works instead of a traditional symphony.

Before the main concerts, HSO also has its usual pre-season concert of Popular Classics at Hayling Island Community Centre, conducted by our recent bursary student Avi Taler. 

Holy Trinity Church

Havant Chamber Orchestra (HCO) will be continuing to perform at Holy Trinity Church on West Street, Fareham, in order to remain convenient for local audience members after the closure of Ferneham Hall.

Their first concert is dedicated to HCO’s memories of Brian Howells, HCO leader from 1997 to 2020, as a celebration of his huge contribution to the orchestra, sadly cut short by Covid-19 in April 2020.  The selected works are for strings or for small classical orchestra, and feature young soloists Laura Rickard (previously leader of Hampshire County Youth Orchestra) and Elliott Perks, in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola.

The February concert features the return of outstanding horn player Ben Goldscheider in the Strauss Horn Concerto No. 1.  Ben previously performed with HSO in 2019.

The May concert is a presentation by Robin Browning with HCO exploring Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony, as originally scheduled for the “Beethoven 250” celebrations in 2020.