Alwoodley Sinfonia's History

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The Alwoodley Sinfonia has been in existence since the 1950s, being known previously as the Alwoodley Chamber Orchestra. The orchestra grew in size in 1993 when the Leeds Arts Orchestra ceased to exist and we welcomed a number of its players.

Howard Wyborn was our resident conductor for a number of years, but we have welcomed guest conductors from time to time, including Bryan Cobley, Tom Newall, and Barbara Bancroft.

We have given many concerts over the years, including performances of works from the Classical repertoire, and other more ambitious pieces such as Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll", Schumann's Piano concerto, Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony and Butterworth's "On Banks of Green Willow".​​

In our 2004/2005 concert season under the direction of Tom Newall we performed Handel's "Messiah" at St.Edmund's Church in the presence of the Lord Mayor of Leeds. In other concerts we included Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony", Brahms Piano Concerto No.2, and a programme entitled "A Night at the Opera".

Barbara Bancroft took on the role of conductor on Tom's departure. Concerts under Barbara have included Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" and Malcolm Arnold's "Scottish Dances".

During 2008 the orchestra played under the direction of Mark Ostyn, performing at Kirkstall Festival and Bingley Parish Church. Ronen Elman took over in Spring 2009, conducting his first concert with the orchestra during the Silver Jubilee year of the Alwoodley Community Association.

Under the direction of Neil Balfour the orchestra performed concert at Alwoodley on 29th May 2011.

Currently rehearsals are being taken by Adam Hirst and we plan to do our next concert on 27th May 2012.

For details see our "Past Concerts" page.