A Forte To Be Reckoned With

Life on the high Cs

itting all the right notes – pretty much – for over three decades now, the Greystones Orchestra are clearly a forte to be reckoned with.

With members from all around the globe, this roving gang have long been filling halls and hearts across this fine county of ours.

And as they get ready for their next series of concerts, new conductor Cillian Ó Breacháin and the crew are putting out the call for new members.

Over to the bould and the beautiful Valerie…

The Greystones Orchestra have been together for over 30 years, fostering local talent and providing a platform for local musicians to get together and experience the joy of making music with others.

We have now grown to over 40 people and include members from Lithuania, Germany, Moldova, Latvia, France and Wales. We tend to have 2 concerts a year – a winter concert, which is traditionally classical, and a summer concert, with lighter music.

We recently played in The Mermaid Theatre in Bray where we performed Schubert’s Symphony no.3 and Mozart’s Oboe concerto with soloist Jessica Harris to a packed audience. We are due to play there again in February 2024, and we’ll be pulling together a great program, including, as always, some big surprises.

We rehearse on a Monday night in St Patrick’s National School, Greystones from 8pm to 10pm.

We are currently doing a ‘shout out’ for brass players to join us. We are particularly keen to find French horns, percussion and trumpets. We would also love to have an oboist join the orchestra. Perhaps there is someone who recently moved to Greystones who plays one of these instruments? Or perhaps someone played the trumpet in the past and now feels like they would like to return to playing music again? We would be delighted to have them join us.

In terms of other players, we always welcome string instruments: violin, viola, cello. We would also love to have a percussionist join us as we are currently short on crash, bang, wallop.

In terms of flutes and clarinets, we currently do not have any vacancies but by all means get in touch with us and we can contact you if a spot becomes available!

We are back to our regular Monday rehearsals on September 25th, and we would encourage interested players to come along and play with us. For the sheer joy of playing. And the fame.

And we’re talking Grade 6 or over, people. To find out more, you can email The Greystones Orchestra here, check out their website here, or you can contact Valerie on 0874161361.