Principal Conductor – John Gibbons
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Worthing Symphony Orchestra has been part of the town's music scene since 1926. Widely
regarded as a leading professional orchestra in the south of
The orchestra started as a small orchestra on the Pier but gradually expanded
to become the Worthing Municipal Orchestra - formed to provide daily light music. In the immediate
post-war period it was expected to play seven days a week (sometimes three sessions
a day) but by 1967, (the end of James Kershaw’s Musical Directorship 1954-1967),
a regular day off had been established. Under the strong leadership of Jan Cervenka WSO became a leading symphony orchestra in the region. In the mid-1970’s it
was threatened with closure during Borough cut-backs but a spirited campaign led
to a reprieve. In 1996 Jan Cervenka retired and various conductors were invited to conduct the orchestra in the
1996-1997 season with a view to one of them being selected as the new principal conductor.
John Gibbons was the unanimous choice (audience, orchestra and panel) and took
up his position at the start of the 1997-1998 season.
John was educated at nearby Lancing College, Queens' College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music. He was a piano pupil of the distinguished piano virtuoso, Philip Challis, who was a resident of Worthing and a long-time favourite with local audiences. John had regularly attended WSO concerts at the Assembly Hall as a teenager. Present Set-up The Orchestra is funded by Worthing Borough Council and is administered by David Smith on behalf of the Borough. Both the fixer (Peter Craen) and the librarian (Edwin Hurcombe) are players in the orchestra. The orchestra receives great support from the Symphony Society who fund some of the concerts. Many patrons are members of the Symphony Society and this link is one factor in the close relationship between players and audience. The orchestra is led by one of London's top leaders - Julian Leaper supported by Rita French as co-leader. The players are all employed as freelance musicians but there is a regular core membership and an excellent ‘esprit de corps’ amongst the players. About a third of the orchestra live in the locality with the remainder coming down from the London area. Since the appointment of John Gibbons as Principal Conductor the repertoire of the orchestra has expanded to include works by Twentieth Century composers:
In 2002 the orchestra premiered a major new piano concerto by Joseph James, with pianist Florian Uhlig, based upon Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence”. This was the first major premiere in the Worthing Symphony Season for at least ten years and was followed at the start of the 2004 season with the first professional performance of "Chasing Aunt Sally" by Sussex composer Paul Carr. Audience research has shown that our audience contains many avid listeners to classical music many of whom wish to be challenged (though not too boldly!) by the unfamiliar and not just to be presented with the standard classics. Programmes are designed to reflect this and to place the more unfamiliar alongside well-loved repertoire. The orchestra continues to attract international soloists of the highest calibre.
Recent visitors include Peter Donohoe, Idil Biret, Tasmin Little, Boris Brovtsyn,
Dina Parakina, Ian Fountain, Susan Milan, Gervase de Peyer, Nicholas Daniel, Rustem
Hayroudinoff, Peter Katin, Malcolm Binns and Yuri Torchinsky to name but a few.
John, inspired by the example of Leonard Slatkin whom he has assisted, has continued the tradition of Jan Cervenka of talking directly to the audience but has expanded this idea by the inclusion
of short quotations from the works about to be played. This has been of particular
benefit when introducing the audience to unfamiliar repertoire and when explaining
the workings of symphonic movements (e.g. First movement of Dvorak’s 7th Symphony). His approach has drawn widespread praise across the country - indeed
he was awarded a special prize by the British Music Society in recognition of
his special talent at 'Communicating with the audience'.
Worthing Symphony Orchestra concerts are special events taking place in one of the finest halls (acoustically) for Classical music in the country with star international soloists, excellent professional musicians and a conductor who welcomes all to the magical world of classical music.
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