The English Symphony Orchestra and the English String Orchestra (collectively abbreviated as ESO) are two iterations of a British professional orchestra based in the city of Worcester,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, in the West Midlands of England.

History

Founded in 1978 as the English

String Orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first ...

by conductor William Boughton, the orchestra was first based in Malvern and quickly established a reputation for its performances of music in the English Romantic and national styles prevalent in the early decades of the 20th century. Over time, the English String Orchestra's embrace of larger works, especially those requiring woodwind, brass or percussion, caused its adoption of the name English Symphony Orchestra to reflect its often augmented instrumentation. Partnerships with other British or British-based musicians of great renown, including

Nigel Kennedy Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is an English violinist and violist. His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and he has since expanded into jazz, klezmer, and other music genres. Early life and background Kenn ...

, Steven Isserlis, Daniel Hope and John Lill helped bring the orchestra national recognition. The orchestra came to international attention throughout the 1980s and 1990s in large part due to their series of recordings for Nimbus Records, in particular, their advocacy for the works of early- and mid- 20th-century British music by composers like

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral musi ...

Frank Bridge Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Life Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845-1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a ...

, George Butterworth, John Ireland,

Gerald Finzi Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata '' Dies natalis'' for solo voice an ...

and

Lennox Berkeley Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer. Biography Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James Char ...

as well as more mainstream figures like

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

and

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

. The ESO continue to record for Nimbus but also work with the

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ...

, Avie, Somm, Toccata and Signum record labels.

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

served as the orchestra's principal guest conductor from 1991 until his death in 1999. Boughton stood down as artistic director in 2006.

Vernon Handley Vernon George "Tod" Handley (11 November 1930 – 10 September 2008) was a British conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. He was born of a Welsh father and an Irish mother into a musical family in Enfield, Middle ...

became principal conductor in 2007, and held the post until his death in 2008. In 2012. the ESO named

Kenneth Woods Kenneth Allen Woods (born 1968) is an American conductor, composer and cellist, resident in the UK. Early career Woods studied conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His subsequent conducting mentors have includ ...

as director of its Malvern concert series. He became principal conductor in 2013. In 2016, his remit was expanded to artistic director. During Woods' tenure, the ESO has extended its longstanding commitment to British music to include a major commitment to 21st Century British music. In addition to its own active commissioning programme, the ESO work closely with soloists, festivals and record labels to develop co-commissioning projects. In 2017, the ESO launched the 21st Century Symphony Project, and effort to reinvigorate the modern symphonic repertoire by commissioning, premiering and recording nine symphonies by nine leading composers. The project began with the premiere of Philip Sawyers' Third Symphony in 2017 and continues in 2018 with the premieres of David Matthews' Ninth Symphony and Matthew Taylor's Fifth Symphony. The orchestra has also taken an promoted the music of composers whose music was suppressed by the Nazis before and during World War II, to include performances and recordings of works by

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a stud ...

Hans Gál Hans Gál OBE (5 August 1890 – 3 October 1987) was an Austrian composer, pedagogue, musicologist, and author, who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1938. Life Gál was born to a Jewish family in the small village of Brunn am Gebirge, Lowe ...

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...

and

Viktor Ullmann Viktor Ullmann (1 January 1898, in Teschen – 18 October 1944, in KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau) was a Silesia-born Austrian composer, conductor and pianist. Biography Viktor Ullmann was born on 1 January 1898 in Těšín (Teschen), which belong ...

. The ESO was one of the first orchestras in the UK to return to working safely during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, and developed an online series of pre-recorded concerts in partnership with Wyastone Concert Hall which are shared on their ESO Digital platform. Adrian Williams is the orchestra's current

John McCabe John McCabe may refer to: * John McCabe (composer) (1939–2015), British composer and classical pianist * John McCabe (writer) (1920–2005), Shakespearean scholar and biographer * Christopher John McCabe (born 1967), British biologist and ...

Composer-in-Association. Philip Sawyers, the prior composer-in-association, has the title of composer laureate with the ESO. April Frederick is the current artist-in-residence of the ESO. The ESO's current leader is Zoe Beyers. In August 2020, Andrew Farquharson was appointed as the first chief executive officer of the ESO.

Conductors in leadership posts

* William Boughton (artistic director, 1980–2006) * Vernon Handley (principal conductor, 2007–2008) * Kenneth Woods (artistic director, 2013–present)

Premieres and commissions

*Nimrod Borenstein: Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, Op. 74 (world premiere performance and recording) *Emily Doolittle: ''falling still'', for violin and strings (UK premiere); ''green/blue'' (UK premiere) *Robert Fokkens: ''An Eventful Morning in London'', Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra (world premiere recording) *Geoffrey Gordon: ''Saint Blue'', Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings (ESO commission, world premiere performance and recording) *Jesse Jones: ''Smith Square Dances'' (Co-commission with St John's Smith square, world premiere performance) * John Joubert: ''Jane Eyre'', opera (world premiere performance and recording) * David Matthews: ''Romanza'' for violin and strings (world premiere recording) *

Paul Patterson Paul Patterson may refer to: *Paul Patterson (neuroscientist) (1943–2014), American neuroscientist *Paul L. Patterson (1900–1956), American politician *Paul Patterson (footballer) (born 1965), Australian rules footballer *Paul Patterson (compos ...

: ''Allusions'', concerto for two violins and strings *

Deborah Pritchard Deborah Pritchard is an award-winning British composer. She is known for her concert works, a compositional approach informed by her synaesthesia, and her work in response to visual artists, most notably Marc Chagall and Maggi Hambling. She also ...

: ** ''Seven Halts on the Somme'', concerto for trumpet, harp and strings (world premiere recording) ** ''Wall of Water'', concerto for violin and strings (ESO commission, world premiere performance and recording) *

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble I ...

: ''Terra memoria'' (UK premiere) *

Robert Saxton Robert Saxton (born 8 October 1953 in London) is a British composer. Biography Robert Saxton was born in London and started composing at the age of six. He was educated at Bryanston School. Guidance in early years from Benjamin Britten and ...

: ''The Resurrection of the Soldiers'' (Co-commission/co-premiere with Presteigne Festival) *Philip Sawyers: ** Concerto for Trumpet, Strings and Timpani (world premiere performance and recording) ** Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (ESO commission, world premiere performance and recording) ** ''Elegiac Rhapsody for Trumpet and Strings in Memory of John McCabe'' (world premiere performance and recording) ** ''Fanfare'' (ESO commission, world premiere performance and recording) ** ''Songs of Loss and Regret''(world premiere performance and recording) ** Symphony No. 3 (ESO commission, world premiere performance and recording) ** ''The Valley of Vision'', tone poem for orchestra (ESO commission, world premiere performance and recording) *Kenneth Woods: ''The Ugly Duckling'' for narrator and orchestra (ESO commission, world premiere performance) *Toby Young: ''The Art of Dancing'', suite for trumpet, piano and strings (world premiere recording)

New arrangements

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

arr. Kenneth Woods: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, arr. for Symphony Orchestra (world premiere performance and recording) *

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

, arr. Donald Fraser: ** Piano Quintet arr. for symphony orchestra (world premiere performance and recording) ** ''

Sea Pictures ''Sea Pictures, Op. 37'' is a song cycle by Sir Edward Elgar consisting of five songs written by various poets. It was set for contralto and orchestra, though a distinct version for piano was often performed by Elgar. Many mezzo-sopranos have s ...

'', version for choir and strings (world premiere) *Viktor Ullmann arr. Kenneth Woods: Chamber Symphony, arr. of String Quartet No. 3 for string orchestra (UK premiere)

Selected recordings

*Hans Gál: Concertino for Cello and Strings (world premiere recording) *Ernst Krenek: ** Concerto for Two Pianos (world premiere recording) ** Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra (world premiere recording) ** Piano Concertos Nos. 1–4 (world premiere recordings)

References

External links

*
ESO Digital online concert platform

Official homepage of Kenneth Woods

Nimbus Records page on William Boughton
*

{{authority control, state=collapsed English orchestras British orchestras British symphony orchestras