The Orchestra

The Orchestra
The Orchestra 2008, performing at the Sweden Rock Festival.
Background information
Origin	Birmingham, England
Genres	Rock music, Pop music
Years active	2000–present
Associated acts	Electric Light Orchestra, ELO Part II, Styx
Website	theorchestra.net
Members	Louis Clark Eric Troyer Mik Kaminski Gordon Townsend Parthenon Huxley Glen Burtnik
Past members	Kelly Groucutt Phil Bates

The Orchestra is a rock band formed by former members of the Electric Light Orchestra and ELO Part II. It is the continuation of ELO Part II following Bev Bevan's departure and selling of the rights to Jeff Lynne.

By 2000 Bev Bevan had sold his 50 percent share of the Electric Light Orchestra name as well as the rights to the ELO Part II name to Jeff Lynne. Lynne, now the full owner of the ELO name, took legal action to prevent Mik Kaminski, Louis Clark, Parthenon Huxley, Eric Troyer and Kelly Groucutt from continuing to call themselves "ELO Part II". They initially tried to alter their name to "ELO2", and "Electric Light Orchestra", but they eventually decided to change their name to The Orchestra, chosen due to its similarity to the name of the band Kelly Groucutt had in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Hugh McDowell and Kaminski, called OrKestra.

In 2001 The Orchestra released a limited number of their CD No Rewind which was produced and released without involvement from a major record label (but was subsequently released in Argentina by Art Music in 2005 and reissued worldwide in 2006). The album contains the Bev Bevan co-authored composition "Over London Skies", the "Mr. Blue Sky" soundalike "Jewel & Johnny", and a cover of "Twist and Shout" which begins in a slow, plaintive minor key with arpeggiated chords before building to the familiar, rocking major progression. With the release of No Rewind, The Orchestra temporarily worked some original material into their live set, with "Jewel & Johnny" and the album's title song becoming occasional staples, although a vast majority of the songs they perform in concert are covers of Jeff Lynne's compositions that originally appeared on ELO's original albums between 1971 and 1986. The band continues to tour and regularly plays shows in Chile, Argentina, the UK, Eastern Europe and elsewhere around the world.