History

The Charnwood Orchestra began rehearsing, on 16th October 1973, as the Quorn Orchestra. The debut performance took place at Quorn Rawlins on 4th April 1974 with a concert comprising Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony and Beethoven’s overture, Prometheus. These works could be enjoyed for 30p or 15p for children and OAPs!

Joseph O’Reilly's vision was that ex-county orchestra (LSSO) players had the opportunity to make music in a non-professional environment. After the tragic death of Joe in the summer of 1988, Liz Thomas conducted the November concert, before Andrew Constantine took over for the whole of 1989. Paul Hilliam then took up the baton of the Orchestra from 1990. With Paul on the rostrum, the Charnwood Orchestra moved a little from the core of their repertoire and sometimes a little further afield. In May 1993 the Charnwood Orchestra took their first trip abroad, playing concerts in Pithiviers (twinned with Ashby de la Zouch) and Paris. Returning to France in May 1996, the orchestra performed a series of concerts in Pithiviers and Orleans in France to receptive audiences and equally welcoming press reviews.

Our current conductor is Nic Fallowfield, who took over from Paul for the concert at Rawlins in 1998. Nic leads a varied professional life as conductor, violinist and teacher. The repertoire and stature of the Charnwood Orchestra has continued to grow under Nic's direction and hopefully this will continue for a long time to come.

In May 1999 Nic conducted a series of concerts that were staged in Dublin, including one at the National Gallery of Ireland, to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the orchestra by Dubliner Joseph O’Reilly. A similarly successful tour was undertaken in 2001, and short tours over the late May bank holiday have continued since then with trips to France (including Pithiviers again), Scotland (twice), Galway, Northumberland, Dorset, Bournemouth and Cardiff. More details of our tours are available to download here. In 2013 Nic conducted the Charnwood Orchestra's 40th Anniversary Gala Concert in Loughborough and in March 2023 we celebrated our 25 years with Nic and also 25 years with Jon Barwell as orchestra leader.