Hitting the right note (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Hitting the right note

2:27pm Thursday 21st October 2010 in Nostalgia

An orchestra set up by munitions workers in Chippenham during the Second World War is holding its 70th anniversary concert next month.

Wessex Concert Orchestra is giving a concert at the Neeld Hall on November 20 with music from its early repertoire, Moussorgky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and a journey through film music from the 1940s to today.

The orchestra was formed by workers at Westinghouse Brake Company Ltd in 1940, and for much of its life was called the Westinghouse Concert Orchestra.

The musicians rehearsed in the works canteen, and performed around the county.

Musical director Andrew Baatz said: “The company’s managing director was very supportive of the orchestra in its early years, and it is possible that some of the workers were employed as much for their musical prowess as for their talents on the factory floor.”

Within its first few years, the Westinghouse Concert Orchestra upped its game when a professional conductor and musician, Grenville Townsend, was drafted in to work at the factory.

Townsend, who was trained at the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, Twickenham, brought in Alois Sigl, leader of the Bath Philharmonic Orchestra, as concertmaster.

Before long, the Westinghouse Concert Orchestra was making a name for itself nationally. It performed on the BBC’s Works Wonders in August 1945, and by popular demand was invited back in October of the same year.

The orchestra gave a performance for American troops based at Corsham, and also undertook tours of village halls around the county.

It had a loyal and enthusiastic following, with fans flocking to hear a repertoire that included light classics and film scores, like the music from Disney’s Snow White.

The orchestra continued to flourish after the war but over the decades membership dwindled and by 2004, when Andrew Baatz joined, it had just eight regular members.

Mr Baatz re-named it Wessex Concert Orchestra – keeping the same initials. Today it has 50 regular musicians and boasts a harpist, bass clarinet, contra bassoon and a tuba player.

Its biggest audiences so far have been at two Proms-style extravaganzas in Sutton Benger, before crowds of 800 people, in 2006 and 2007.

In 2008 the orchestra performed with professionals from the Orchestra of the Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon, a collaboration that came about through a BBC initiative called Listen Up, which brought amateur and professional musicians together.

Meanwhile, the orchestra, renowned as one of the friendliest in the region, is on the look-out for new players of Grade 5 or above. For details, visit www.wco.org.uk