About us

 

The HPO was founded in 1981 as Harrogate Pro Musica and is a semi-professional chamber orchestra of about 32 regular players. We specialise in baroque and classical repertoire mainly, together with more modern works for smaller orchestras. From the Concerts link can see our future programmes, and the Reviews link shows opinions of our past performances.

Its players, many of whom are professional and trained musicians, are drawn from a wide area, attracted by its diverse and challenging repertoire. The orchestra encourages young musicians from the local area both as regular players and as concerto soloists.

Through its long history the orchestra has been under the baton of many highly reputed regular and guest conductors including John Forsyth, Nick Meredith, Eno Koço, Phil Wilby and John Anderson.

The Harrogate Philharmonic is registered charity no.701239

George Kennaway (conductor)

George Kennaway is a cellist, conductor, teacher and musicologist. He studied at the universities of Newcastle and Oxford, the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Guildhall School of Music, where he was a pupil of Christopher Bunting. From 1980 to 2008 he was co-principal cello in the Orchestra of Opera North, leaving to take up full-time research at the University of Leeds, where he is a member of a research team investigating editions of 19th-century string music. He holds a Ph.D. in 19th-century cello performance practice and has appeared as a soloist throughout the north of England, on modern, 19th-century, and baroque cello.

Closer to home, he has conducted the Airedale Symphony Orchestra (1990-1997) and the Northern Baroque Orchestra (1999-2004), and is the founder and principal conductor of Yorkshire Late Starter Strings. For his work with the Airedale Symphony Orchestra he was awarded a Performing Right Society prize for innovative programme planning, for a season which included the world premiere of the symphony by the Yorkshire composer William Baines (1899-1922). He has wide-ranging musical interests, with a repertoire extending from Purcell to Lithuanian contemporary music, via Messiah, the Russian premiere of Delius's Paris, the Central Asian premieres of works by Schoenberg and Walton.

 

 

 

 

 



Eric Clark (leader)