Sunderland Symphony Orchestra to stage free concert with Pirates of the Caribbean music and more

Sunderland Symphony Orchestra (SSO) will be staging its seasonal Spring Concert at St Gabriel’s Church, Chester Road, next month.

Entitled A Concert of Two Halves, it will feature half classical music and half lighter numbers, from Voices of Spring by Johannes Strauss to Pirates of the Caribbean by Ted Rickets,

The free concert will take place at the church on Saturday March 23 at 7.30pm - and the orchestra is looking for similar venues to stage future concerts.

Mark Greenfield, the relational lead of SSO, said: “The orchestra is very pleased to return to St Gabriel’s Church for the Spring Concert, which has proven to be an ideal setting for orchestral performances and where concert goers have highlighted the wonderland acoustics of the church.”

He added: “Sunderland Symphony Orchestra is seeking to look for new opportunities to take the orchestra to different venues across the city for our public performance concerts, that have the capacity to take up to 50 orchestral musicians and an audience capacity between 300-350 to meet our growing audience base.”

The orchestra is asking any theatres, churches, schools and colleges, and community associations across the city interested in hosting a concert to contact them via their website - https://www.sunderlandso.org.uk/

Speaking about the forthcoming Two Halves concert, David Milner, the musical director of SSO, said: “This may be a perfect description of any orchestral concert, two halves with an interval.

"However, for Sunderland Symphony Orchestra this title concerns the musical content. When I select music for a concert my primary aim is, what would the audience enjoy hearing then, what would the players enjoy playing. The SSO have a reputation of being able to play in many styles and genres of music to suit all tastes so I played on this strength.

"The first half will be of a classical nature with a hint to spring and the second half a great selection of light music.”

Music performed on the night will include Voices of Spring by Johannes Strauss, On Hearing the first Cuckoo by Frederick Delius, and Rossini’s Barber of Seville.

The second half will include Pirates of the Caribbean by Ted Rickets, Belle of the Ball by Leroy Anderson and My Fair Lady by John Whitney.

Tickets

SSO have bounced back post-pandemic with many of their performances selling out, so people are advised to book in advance.

Tickets are free - although donations at the concert are welcome to support the orchestra - but need to be pre-booked at sunderlandso.eventbrite.co.uk or 07887 881 442