The Orchestra

West London Sinfonia is an amateur orchestra with ambition and passion. Our players, many of whom work in music or music education, come from all over London. Most of our players have non-music day jobs, but for all of us, making music is an important part of our lives. We perform a wide programme of music with a concentration on larger orchestral works from the 19th (especially late 19th) and early 20th centuries. We regularly perform with world class soloists, and we are fortunate to have Philip Hesketh as our musical director and Iwona Boesche as our leader.

50th Anniversary of West London Sinfonia

Last season we celebrated our 50th anniversary (delayed from 2020) of the founding of the orchestra, in front of a capacity audience at St Johns Smith Square.

A Fanfare for Time, composed and conducted by WLS founder Steve Block, opened the programme, followed by Kabalevsky’s thrilling orchestral showpiece, the Overture to his opera Colas Breugnon. The first half concluded with the Concerto for 3 Saxophones by the late Barbara Thompson; the first movement on the alto, the second on the tenor, and the third on the soprano. All three instruments were played by Jonathan Radford, one of the world’s leading classical saxophonists. We were privileged to have the composer’s daughter in the audience.

The second half featured the perfect piece to show off the orchestra at its half-century – Holst’s famous masterpiece The Planets.

This season we have a varied and exciting programme including Mahler’s 5th Symphony (with its famous Adagietto featured in Visconti’s film “Death in Venice”), Shostakovich’s 9th Symphony and John Adams’ Harmonielehre. We hope you can join us.

Join West London Sinfonia

If you’re looking to join a friendly and ambitious orchestra when rehearsals and performances start up again, we are always on the look-out for string players (especially in the violin and viola sections).   If you’d like to enquire just complete the form on our contact page, and we will contact you immediately.

Come to a performance

To enjoy a great evening of high quality classical music, please look at our concert programme. You can buy tickets for any of our concerts online. Join our mailing list if you would like to receive information about future concerts.