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History: Fleet Orchestra was founded about 30 years ago with the intention to assemble a group of local musicians to make music and have some fun at the same time without the full time commitment required of some of the more professional orchestras! The ethos was to enjoy making music whilst striving for improvement. Today we are a small ensemble, who enjoy playing our instruments, working together to make music. Every Wednesday we work enjoy working together to improve our playing and experience new music under the guidance of our musical director, Chris Goodman. Our Musical Director. Since October 2011, we are very fortunate to be led by Chris, a young graduate of the Royal College of Music (see Chris's biography). Chris studied clarinet at the RCM, together with conducting both during and since his BMus course. He has an excellent accomplished conducting manner and helps a great deal with assisting the improvement of our playing, at the same time being sympathetic to some of our shortcomings!Chris is passionate about music, whether the classical repertoire, light or more contemporary. We remain grateful to Mike, our previous conductor, who stands in for Chris if he cannot be available for a rehearsal. Mike a very experienced conductor who is well known in the local area. Mike's sense of humour combined with his passion for music encourages musicians of every standard. Our repertoire ranges from arrangements of the classics through to light music, and includes some pieces specially written or arranged for us. However we do endeavour to ensure that there is music that is appropriate for the resources and standard of players in our group for time to time. This means a combination of challenging works and more straight forward arrangements are looked at side by side. We welcome players both the enthusiast and those who may not have played for a long time, however the music we play requires a standard of, as a general guide, equivalent to around Grade 4 and above. There is no age barrier and we welcome older school children and college students. The entry qualification is keenness to play and learn! We meet at St. Philip & St. James Church, 97 Kings Road, Fleet, Hampshire GU51 3AR (between Wood Lane and Westover Road on the map) on Wednesday evenings at 8pm. We play during term time and also during holidays if possible. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us at join@fleetorchestra.co.uk and we'll get back to you! Current Music being played:Main pieces: Beethoven 1st Symphony Haydn Symphony 104 Secondary pieces: Schubert Symphony in B Minor (Unfinished) Schubert Rosamunde Overture Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Greensleeves Brahms Ungarische Tanze |