Welcome!

poster from our recent tour to Lille

The Kingston Chamber Orchestra is an amateur orchestra of high standard, based in Kingston, Surrey, UK. Our members are a mixture of professionals, teachers, semi-professionals and keen amateurs.

We have a tradition of innovative concert programming that encompasses many areas of the repertoire, such as:

• classical overtures, concertos and symphonies;
• works for smaller orchestra from the 19th and 20th centuries;
• neglected works by well known composers;
• new works specially commissioned by the orchestra.

In recent years we have accompanied performances by Stephen Bryant, Hannah Kirk, Lesley Shrigley Jones, Henry Roche, Richard Stockall, and Leanne Alexander, and performed works narrated by Penny Smith and James Naughtie.

We rehearse weekly during term-time and perform at least three concerts per year. Click on a button to the left for more information.

News

click on the 'About' tab for more images

• Our next concert is on Saturday 7 November and includes works by Rossini, Chopin and Shostakovich. It features a performance of Chopin's Second Piano concerto by Simon Callaghan.

• Our next orchestra tour is provisionally scheduled for 22-25 October 2010 in Paris. More details soon!

• You can now share any KCO web page with social networking sites such as Digg or Facebook. Click the share this page link which you can find at the top right of every page. Please contact the KCO webmaster for more information.

• We are performing another Charity Concert in aid of The Friends of Thomas Coram. The concert includes works by Purcell, Handel, Britten and Bach. Please note the revised date - Sunday 6th December 2009.

• KCO at Lille

  We had another fantastic trip to Lille where we performed works by Roman, Crusell and Grieg.

• Nick Rozanski swam 2.5km for Swimathon 2008, raising nearly £900 for Marie Curie Cancer Care. Sponsorship is now closed - until next year!

• We are delighted to welcome Helena Ruinard as our new leader. You can find out more about Helena on our People page.

• Simon Callaghan, who has performed with the orchestra on several occasions, has brought out a CD of Victorian English piano music, including two world premieres, and is performing in St John's Smith Square on 21 February 2008. You can find out more here.

• We were sorry to learn of the sad death of Jim Addington on 21st June 2007. Jim was a loyal supporter of the orchestra for many years, and we particularly appreciated the regular reviews of performances that he wrote for the local press. You can find out more on our People page.

• Palais des Beaux Arts, Lille

  Our Charity Concert at St Andrew Church Holborn raised over £1,000 in aid of The Friends of Thomas Coram.

• Our trip to Lille has been booked for 24 - 26 October 2008. More information will follow soon.

• We were delighted that Sui-Leung Chai returned to the orchestra to lead our November concert. Sui-Leung came to Lille with us last year and he was leader of the orchestra before Charles.

• Charles Knights has moved on to take on some new musical challenges at the Menuhin Foundation in Bermuda. We are very sorry to see him go, and wish him all the best in the future.

• We've gathered all our recent reviews onto one page. Click on the new Reviews button on the left to find out what others think of our performances.

• Lille 2007 photos are available for viewing (orchestra members only). Click on the Gallery button and follow the instructions at the bottom of the page.

• We travelled to France to perform at the Palais des Beaux Arts, Lille in October. The concert was a great success and we took four curtain calls - a KCO record! Click on the Repertoire button for details.

more news ...