Classical Season Starts

Thursday, 21 November 2024 21:57

By Marion Westram

Tonbridge Philharmonic Society has been performing since 1946 and we hear about its plans for 2025.

Our reporter Marion Westram spoke to Josephine Willoughby from the Tonbridge Philharmonic Society.

Josephine says: "It's the most amazing group of people who get together on a weekly basis...it's the best organisation to be part of...a great way to make new friends."

Josephine explains that the choir has up to 100 people in it and it is one of the few Philharmonic Societies to have both a choir and an orchestra.

She calls the conductor Naomi Butcher (pictured below) "a breath of fresh air" to the Society when she joined in 2021. She says Naomi is "young and vibrant and full of energy and ideas".

The Society performed family Carols at Christmas in aid of charities.

The season began on 23rd November with a performance of Fauré's Requiem and Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time.

Josephine says they are very much looking forward to performing Handel's Messiah in April which is an occasion to mark the centenary of Tonbridge Rotary Club.

They will also be performing a programme of lighter music at the Unity Hall in Southborough in the summer.

Josephine says: "There's been an awful lot of research in recent years about how good "making music" is for the soul and for the spirit and it does make for a happier person."

She concludes: "We would love to increase the number of people who come to hear us perform".

Details of the programme are on the website www.tonphil.org.uk

and instagram @tonbridgephilharmonic

or Facebook at Tonbridge Philharmonic Society