A History

The Chichester Symphony Orchestra has been part of the musical life of Chichester for many years.  As a highly regarded amateur orchestra, we aim to provide exciting and memorable concerts for the community and surrounding areas.

We are an amateur orchestra and normally give four concerts a year at venues in Chichester, including Chichester Cathedral. Our summer concert usually forms part of the Festival of Chichester.

Please browse our website to find out more information about future concert dates and joining us as an instrumentalist.  If you do not find the information you are looking for, please do contact us.

With some justification the Chichester Symphony Orchestra can claim to the oldest secular musical ensemble in the area still in existence. A Chichester Instrumental Society is known to have existed in 1881 and is listed in the Chichester Directory Handbook and Almanac of that year. The Society’s name made its first formal appearance in print in the ‘Bognor Observer and West Sussex Recorder’ newspaper of 25 December 1889 in which it was announced that the Society was ‘prepared to receive engagements for banquets, balls, evening parties’. This is the date the orchestra now documents for its foundation.

The Chichester Instrumental Society was renamed the Chichester Orchestral Society in 1906 and on 10 May performed what was billed as its ‘First Grand Concert’. Works by Mendelssohn, Grieg, Schubert, Auber and Smetana were performed. The conductor was Frederick Crowe, newly appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Chichester Cathedral.

During the 1920s the orchestra gave concerts at Chichester’s Picturedrome on South Street (occupied today by Iceland supermarket). Composer Norman Demuth took over as conductor between 1929-1935. His orchestral piece Selsey Rhapsody was inspired ‘by a view of Selsey Bill in the sunlight on a bright autumn morning’.

The Orchestra’s 35^th anniversary concert was on 31 May 1934. The programme included a performance of Mozart’s Maurerische Trauermusik and the world premiere of Norman Demuth’s Merciles Beaute, set to words by Chaucer, and written for medium voice and strings.

The Chichester Orchestral Society lost many members during World War 2 when they signed up for military service. Members had already formed a slimmed-down ‘Chichester Light Orchestra’ and this then became the mainstay for orchestral concerts entertaining wartime audiences. The Light Orchestra continued to perform through to 1966. Local music teacher Olive Lewis conducted.

A number of concerts were given in the Recreation Hall at Graylingwell Hospital in Chichester. A concert on 8 June 1953 – performed by the Chichester Light Orchestra – celebrated the coronation of Her Majesty the Queen. The programme included songs by Montague Phillips (The Fishermen of England), Edward German (Who were the Yeomen of England) and by William Purcell (Fairest Isle, all isles excelling).

The 200^th concert was on 18 January 1972 at Chichester High School for Boys. The programme included music by Rossini, Haydn, Gounod and Schubert. In December 1972 a joint performance was held with Chichester Amateur Operatic Society in memory of Olive Lewis who had died earlier in the year.

An opportunity arose to use bigger space for rehearsals and concerts and in November 1981 the orchestra moved to Bishop Otter College, now Chichester University, in College Lane. Students from the College joined with the newly-named Chichester Symphony Orchestra, which was then able to tackle more ambitious musical programme. It was an arrangement that lasted five years.

The orchestra’s centenary events began with a Victorian themed party held at County Hall on 26 June 1990, and continued the following year with a public concert on 13 April 1991 held at Christ Church in Old Market Avenue, Chichester. Soloists included Alan Thurlow, the Cathedral’s Organist and Master of the Choristers, Jeremy Smith, a sixth-former from Bishop Luffa School, and Patrick Moore, astronomer and broadcaster. Each in turn took the lead role in concertos featuring the organ (Rheinberger’s Concerto in G minor), the oboe (Mozart’s Concerto in C), and the xylophone (Moore’s own composition for xylophone and orchestra, Free Fall). Works by Nicolai, Britten and Elgar completed the programme.

Over the past 25 years Chichester Symphony Orchestra has had four conductors, most recently Simon Wilkins since 2018. Simon works professionally as a music teacher, conductor, and composer. He is also an accomplished cellist. Natalia Corolscaia was the leader of Chichester Symphony Orchestra from 2022 to 2025.

Natalia has now been succeeded by Alex Hu, a Taiwanese-American whose performances as a freelance chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral musician have taken him throughout the UK, USA, and Asia. Alex began learning the violin when he was six years old and went on to undergraduate studies at the Aaron Copland School of Music in the USA. He completed his Masters degree in Music at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in the UK.  Alex now teaches privately in Hampshire.

The orchestra’s members pay an annual subscription and elect a committee to run its affairs. The orchestra’s funds are topped up by the sale of concert tickets, grants from Chichester City Council, from private donations and from the Friends. The orchestra numbers around 40 players but will bring in extra players when needed. The majority of the players are local to Chichester or live within 20 miles. New audiences and new players are both important to ensure the orchestra’s continued survival in Chichester’s cultural life for the future.

At present the orchestra gives three weekend concerts a year in January, March/April and July.  The July concert is a highlight of the Festival of Chichester.  In October the orchestra has a slot in the Chichester Cathedral Tuesday lunchtime concert series.

Further details about future concerts and programmes, as well as reviews of previous concerts, can be found elsewhere on this website. Tickets for future concerts can be bought online through TicketSource (https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/) or from orchestra members.

Tickets are also sold on the door at our weekend concerts. The Cathedral concert in October is free entry.

More details about the history of the Chichester Symphony Orchestra, including a 2023 ‘Miscellaneous Paper’, can be accessed at West Sussex Record Office, 3 Orchard Street, Chichester PO19 1DD. For details about what is held there, and to find out about opening times, visit: https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/leisure-recreation-and-community/history-and-heritage/west-sussex-record-office/