Docklands Sinfonia is a symphony orchestra in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's Docklands. Since January 2009, the orchestra has been based at

St Anne's Limehouse St Anne's Limehouse is a Hawksmoor Anglican Church in Limehouse, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was consecrated in 1730, one of the twelve churches built through the 1711 Act of Parliament. History St Anne's Limehouse was formed fr ...

near

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...

History

Docklands Sinfonia was formed in January 2009 by conductor Spencer Down and is the only symphony orchestra based in London's Docklands. The orchestra, which is made up of professional musicians, music college students and amateurs, is self-funding. The orchestra's patron is the former head of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Alan West, Baron West of Spithead Alan William John West, Baron West of Spithead, (born 21 April 1948) is a retired admiral of the Royal Navy and formerly, from June 2007 to May 2010, a Labour Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the British Home Office with responsibili ...

. Docklands Sinfonia held its first rehearsal on Wednesday 14 January 2009 at

. The orchestra's inaugural concert on Friday 13 March featured the world premieres of 'Machination 1' by British composer Andrew Keenan and 'The Sanctuary suite for Saxophone and Orchestra' by saxophonist Christian Forshaw. Forshaw's orchestral adaptation of his 'Sanctuary' album also featured baroque soprano

Elin Manahan Thomas Elin Manahan Thomas (born 1977) is a Welsh soprano. A specialist in Baroque music, she sang at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2018. Biography Thomas was born in Gorseinon near Swansea, Wales, the daughter of M. Wynn Thom ...

. The sell-out concert, which finished with

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

's Fifth Symphony, was met with a full standing ovation by the audience. Following the success of its inaugural concert, Docklands Sinfonia was asked to film for the

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

music series 'Clash'. The first episode of the programme was screened on 7 July 2009. In November 2009, international cello virtuoso Leonard Elschenbroich, winner of the 2009 Leonard Bernstein award, performed the Dvorak cello concerto in B Minor with Docklands Sinfonia. For its first anniversary concert, Docklands Sinfonia performed Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 1 in D Minor. In July 2010, Docklands Sinfonia was rated as one of the top five non professional orchestras in London by '' Classical Music'' magazine.

Conductor

Spencer Down is Docklands Sinfonia's conductor and founder. Spencer is Associate Conductor of the Junior

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

Symphony Orchestra, has taught conducting at the Royal Academy of Music summer school and adjudicated the London College of Music’s Wind and Brass Competitions. Currently working at the Junior

, he is brass co-ordinator, professor of euphonium and conductor. In 2008, he designed the Trinity Guildhall euphonium diploma syllabus. Down has conducted members of both the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...

and

Scottish Chamber Orchestra The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is an Edinburgh-based UK chamber orchestra. One of Scotland's five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and S ...

in educational projects. He is also musical director of the Kew Wind Orchestra, which claims to be one of Britain's leading amateur wind orchestras. In April 2008, the orchestra was given a rare consistent achievement award for winning three successive gold awards at the National Concert Band Festival Finals. Down has conducted in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

’s major concert halls including the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican, Symphony Hall Birmingham,

Snape Maltings Snape Maltings is an arts complex on the banks of the River Alde at Snape, Suffolk, England. It is best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival. The original purpose of the Maltings was the m ...

and the Sage Gateshead. Down is also the musical director of Pioneer Brass - a professional ensemble featuring some of Britain's leading orchestral and West End players. Down says his grandfather, who was a trumpeter and a shipwright in the old docks, was his inspiration for setting up Docklands Sinfonia. The conductor, who was brought up in Grays Essex, says his aim is to make the orchestra a 'major cultural force' in the

area. In August 2010, Down founded the first Kew Music Festival in Kew, Surrey. He is now musical director of the annual festival.

Buckingham Palace

In May 2011, Docklands Sinfonia performed for

The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

in the ballroom of Buckingham Palace at a reception to celebrate youth in the performing arts. The orchestra was joined by performers from the

English National Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

Joe McElderry Joseph McElderry (; born 16 June 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of the ITV show ''The X Factor'' in 2009. His first single " The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singl ...

, Ironik, Sara-Jane Skeete and Rumer during the 30-minute performance based around the theme of Romeo and Juliet.

Royal Albert Hall

On 5 November 2010, the orchestra performed the world premiere of singer songwriter

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at a ...

's orchestral composition 'Love The Earth' at the Royal Albert Hall. The singer conducted the orchestra in a second performance of the piece on 3 December 2010 in St Anne's, Limehouse.

Press coverage

Docklands Sinfonia has attracted media interest. In the run-up to its formation in September 2008, The

East London Advertiser The ''East London Advertiser'' is a weekly local newspaper in east London, England covering primarily the borough of Tower Hamlets. It was formed in late 2011 by Archant's merging of ''The Docklands'' and the ''East London Advertiser''. The ''Ea ...

remarked that the area would soon have its ''"own posh symphony orchestra to rival anything in the West End."'' The orchestra has also had repeated mentions on LBC 97.3 by presenters

Nick Ferrari Nicolo Ferrari (born 31 January 1959) is a British host, television presenter and broadcast journalist. He is best known as the host of the weekday breakfast show on the London-based radio station LBC, with 1.5 million weekly listeners. He al ...

and Andrew Pierce. On 14 January 2009, ''Classical Music'' magazine ran a feature on Docklands Sinfonia entitled 'Anchors Away'. The magazine wrote:'' "It may not be the most propitious time to be launching a new orchestra, but conductor Spencer Down is tackling it with infectious bravado." ''On 7 July 2009, Docklands Sinfonia made its first TV debut on the BBC1 series 'Clash'. It had been asked to film for the BBC programme just eight weeks after its first rehearsal. The BBC appearance prompted The Docklands newspaper to remark that the orchestra "''now has the world at its feet''". ''Classical Music'' magazine critic Hannah Nepil commented "This ensemble has something that even some professional orchestras struggle to maintain, real joy in the music-making."'Docklands Sinfonia now one of London's top 5 non-pro orchestras', East London Advertiser (15 July 2010)

References

External links

Docklands Sinfonia Official Website
{{authority control London orchestras Musical groups established in 2009