We’re performing Mahler 7 and Roxanna Panufnik's "Alma’s Songs Without Words" at Smith Square Hall on 21 June. Book now at: fso.org.uk/summer-2025/

We’re delighted to have organ soloist Hannah Gill performing with us on 22 March at Smith Square Hall.

Born in Wales, Hannah was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and was a concerto finalist in the Texaco Young Musician of Wales....

Book now for our concert on 22 March 2025 at Smith Square Hall.
fso.org.uk/spring-2025/

A rare chance to hear Tchaikovsky’s great Manfred Symphony, Jeanne Demessieux’s exuberant Poème for organ and orchestra, and Janáček’s Taras Bulba, an orchestral rhapsody inspired by a Cossack hero.

We have been devastated by the untimely death of our principal trumpet Steve Hicks. His glorious playing, enormous personality and total confidence inspired us all. We have not the words to describe our sense of loss, but all our love is with his wife Andrea and family.

7/ We’re proud to say that the reviewer got his first wish, as 66 years later we're still going strong.

6/ Really hoping this was a typo 😂

5/ That review also tells us the Oscar-winning composer Malcolm Arnold was in the audience. He’d won his Academy Award just 8 months earlier for his soundtrack to "The Bridge on the River Kwai".

4/ Apparently in those days the obstacles to assembling an orchestra included Diana Dors at the Gaumont and visits from mother-in-laws.

3/ There were FIVE mayors at the concert! This was clearly a matter of civic pride, as back then we were funded by the borough council.

2/ This ad reveals that our first conductor was Siegfried de Chabot, a professor at the Guildhall School of Music who gave conducting lessons to film composer Ron Goodwin (famous for 633 Squadron and Where Eagles Dare).

We’ve made a fascinating discovery in the archives: newspaper cuttings announcing our very first concert in 1958! We knew very little about our early years, so these have thrown up some surprises… 🧵

What a fantastic end to the term! 🎶

A huge thank you to everyone who came and filled Smith Square Hall. 🙏

For updates on our next concert and ticket releases, sign up to our mailing list here: fso.org.uk/mailing-list/

Hello, BlueSky! 👋

We’re a big, ambitious amateur symphony orchestra based in west London.

Our last concert featured birdsong in Rautavaara’s ‘Cantus Arcticus’, Lutosławski’s dazzling Fourth Symphony, the folk-inspired ‘Suita Rustica’ by Kaprálová, and Martinů’s big-hearted Fourth Symphony.