Sarah Williams introduces a group of dedicated local musicians who are amateur in name only
Forget Birmingham and Bournemouth, Bristol too has its very own symphony orchestra. It may not be professional, but it is one of the best symphony-sized amateur orchestras in Britain, and Bristol should be proud of it. The New Bristol Sinfonia (or NBS as it is affectionately known) has just recently celebrated its 10th anniversary at the Colston Hall where it performed Mahler’s Symphony No 2 (a piece that required an orchestra of over 100 players and a choir that was double the size).
(Left:Portrait of Mark Bunker, leader of the Bristol Sinfonia, by Robert Townley, artist-in-residence at the orchestra. robert.townley@21.com)
Owing to the challenge of finding that number of musicians of a high standard willing to play for nothing, most quality amateur orchestras settle for a chamber ensemble. But the size of NBS is one of the things that differentiates it from other orchestras out there, according to its founder Jon James: ‘The Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra was the main competitor in the market so it was important that the NBS was a symphony-sized affair with different aspirations in terms of repertoire.’
But being big comes with its own set of problems. Music hire, percussion instruments, rehearsal space – everything needs to be ‘super-sized’ for a symphony orchestra and the costs soon mount up. NBS has had fantastic support from sponsors over the years, but unfortunately they have yet to find a company to take on the relationship after their last sponsorship deal ran out. Instead the gap has been plugged by players ‘subscribing’ to the orchestra.
I asked Romana Bevington, the current chairman and treasurer for NBS, why the orchestra had not managed to find a sponsor yet. ‘It is becoming increasingly difficult to get companies to commit to full sponsorship any more,’ she says. ‘We’ve had lots of support from the players and we’ve introduced a scheme for corporate patrons which enables businesses to offer a small amount of support. However, we are still looking for higher levels of sponsorship as the orchestra is keen to reinstate some of the work in schools that it used to do, but it all costs money.’
In spite of its financial worries, artistically the orchestra continues to go from strength to strength, drawing players from around the South West and beyond. But what attracts musicians, some of whom are professional, to give up so much of their free time to NBS? Mark Bunker, who often plays professionally and has led the orchestra as principal violinist since its inception, says that he enjoys playing with NBS ‘because it’s a fun and lively orchestra. The repertoire is challenging and interesting and we’ve got a very good ensemble together now. We are such an established orchestra and we’ve got very good regular conductors who get the best out of us.’ 
(Right:’Harpist’ by Robert Townley.)
One of those conductors – and the Artistic Director of the NBS – is James Lowe, a professional conductor who has worked with the Osaka and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra as Associate Conductor. So why would a professional, up-and-coming young conductor choose to work with an amateur orchestra? ‘The standard of the NBS is so high that it means there is a lot of repertoire I can explore with the orchestra that I would be hard-pushed to explore elsewhere.
‘It is a place you can take repertoire that you are trying to sort out for yourself for the first time and you can explore the music together, whereas with a professional orchestra you are fighting against the fact that they may have played the piece many times before. In some ways I’m more relaxed with the NBS because I’m not worried about how conductor X did this piece the last time the orchestra played it.
‘I work mainly with professional orchestras and if they are working day in, day out there is a great danger that they can end up with a feeling that simply getting things right is their job, whereas with an amateur orchestra people are playing simply for the love of playing music. They may not be so accurate, but the one thing they don’t lack is the spirit.
‘With a professional orchestra they will have played most of the repertoire many, many times, but with an amateur orchestra it may well be the first time that this group of people have played that piece. So there is a freshness in the discovery and in the way that they play which is, I think, a huge advantage that a good amateur orchestra can have over a professional orchestra.’
Another regular conductor, Jason Lai, who will be conducting the orchestra when it performs Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2 in June, has worked as Assistant Conductor at the BBC Philharmonic and was one of the judges for the BBC series ‘Classical Star’. Hopefully the popularity of X-Factor type shows such as ‘Classical Star’ and ‘Operatunity’ will encourage more people to try out a classical concert as they recognise the high standards that amateur musicians can achieve.
If you come to an NBS concert you will see the hidden talents of a lot of people who earn their living doing something else. Mark, whose day job is as a clinical nurse specialist, feels that this gives the NBS an edge when it comes to performance: ‘We always rise to the occasion. It is attitude and enthusiasm. Everyone who comes to our concerts enjoys them and they see the orchestra enjoying themselves, which helps. We want to be there, we enjoy being there and we love making music. It isn’t a chore to us, it is something that everyone passionately believes in.’
James agrees: ‘The word amateur conjures up the whole idea of dilettantes messing around with something, which is very different to what this orchestra is about. These people have a very high level of skill at something and have a very great passion for it and the passion comes across in the music-making. That’s the big difference that you get from a non-professional orchestra. The people on the stage are doing it purely for the love of it and the energy that you get from that is something very special.’ .
COME AND HEAR THE NEW
BRISTOL SINFONIA LIVE
Saturday 18 October 2008
7.30pm, Victoria Rooms
Programme
Mozart: Overture Magic Flute
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Bruckner: Symphony No 7
Conducted by James Lowe
To find out about future concerts and how you or your company could support the New Bristol Sinfonia, visit: www.newbristolsinfonia.org.uk .You can read more about James Lowe and hear a clip of the New Bristol Sinfonia in performance at www.jameslowe.co.uk/media.htm
