Award-winning cellist returns to Newbury to play with one of the oldest non-professional orchestras in England

RISING star of the classical music world Oliver Simpson will join the Newbury Symphony Orchestra for the second time on Saturday (March 22, 7.30pm), to play the popular Dvořák cello concerto in B Minor.

Nineteen-year-old British Cypriot Oliver lives in the UK and recently performed Elgar’s cello concerto with NSO to great acclaim.

Oliver was selected as an London Philharmonic Orchestra Junior Artist in 2021 and played with the orchestra as soloist, guest principal and guest co-principal at the Royal Festival Hall.

Oliver has won several prestigious competitions, including the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s Senior Concerto Competition 2022, and the Gregynog Young Musician of the Year 2021. He has performed Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto no 1 with the Abingdon & District Symphony Orchestra, the cello showpiece, Dvořák’s Rondo, with St. John's Chamber Orchestra and Haydn's cello concerto in C as soloist with the Berkshire Camerata to a capacity audience at the Windsor Festival.

At Saturday’s concert, in addition to the Dvořák concerto, the orchestra will play excerpts from Bizet’s opera Carmen and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Local charity Loose Ends, will be providing refreshments during the concert interval, raising money for homeless people in the area.

Tickets are £15 for adults, £5 for students and £2 for under-18s. They can be bought online from the NSO website – www.newburysymphonyorchestra.org – or purchased on the door.

The Newbury Symphony Orchestra is one of the oldest non-professional orchestras in England and is now in its 145th season. The orchestra comprises sixty amateur musicians of all ages and draws its members from four counties. The resident professional conductor is Dr Jonathan Williams, Director of College Music at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford, and the leader is Wendy Clark.