Wrexham Symphony Orchestra

Wrexham Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1969 by the late Bryn Williams, then senior lecturer of Music at Cartrefle Teacher Training College in Wrexham. He gathered together a small number of local string players, led by Keith Dawber, to put on a concert, and they were billed as the “Clywedog Ensemble”. The Wrexham and District Orchestral Society was formed after the initial concert when they decided to expand the group to include woodwind and brass players. The performing arm of this society came to be known as Wrexham Orchestra. It was not until 1992 that the orchestra obtained its present name of Wrexham Symphony Orchestra, or WSO for short. WSO has grown to a present-day membership numbering over sixty players and regularly attracts professional guest conductors and high-profile soloists. This increase in membership has allowed the orchestra to undertake increasingly ambitious programmes of music. Since 1997, the orchestra has been resident at the NEWI William Aston Hall in Wrexham. 1997 also saw the orchestra make a successful bid for funding to the Lottery unit of the Arts Council of Wales. The percussion equipment bought with this grant is now housed at the NEWI William Aston Hall. The orchestra was given charitable status in the early 1990s, which has enabled it to raise money for many other charities. Many local charities have benefited, and over the years many thousands of pounds have been donated. In 1999 the orchestra was presented with a community award for its charity work by British Steel. In 2004 the WSO was inaugurated Orchestra in Residence at the William Aston Hall, NEWI (now Glyndŵr University). The year also saw the orchestra presented with a workshop alongside players from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and to receive a grant towards music hire and expenditure from the Arts Council of Wales. In December 2004, the WSO appeared on CD performing Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride”, part of a charity disc for Children in Need, in conjunction with many local schools and the recording course at the North East Wales Institute. 2006 saw the orchestra receive a second grant through the Welsh Amateur Music Federation (WAMF) which has enabled the orchestra to purchase a greatly needed “Clavinova” keyboard to enhance the orchestra’s repertoire and functionality. 2007 saw the formation of the Wrexham Symphony Chorus, a sister organisation inaugurated to widen the repertoire of the orchestra and to give local singers more opportunity to perform with full Symphony Orchestra.

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Wikipedia