How it all began …
Nailsea Concert Orchestra was founded by cellist Anne Dube in April 1995. She spent three months prior to that advertising, cold calling, hiring music, booking rehearsal rooms. At the time, there weren’t that many adult orchestras in North Somerset and she was playing with an ad hoc group for various events, but nothing regular. Someone suggested putting an orchestra together.
Anne was very aware of the many musical people in the Nailsea area, as lots of children who had played instruments would still be living in and around Nailsea as adults. Nailsea always had a reputation as being a ‘talent pool’ for young musicians and Anne hoped to tap into this opportunity of getting the now grown up musicians together to have fun playing a wide variety of music. Anne worked very hard to find an excellent professional to conduct, Robert Jenner, and the first rehearsal took place with around thirty members. Many musicians have come and gone over the past eighteen years with a handful of the original members still playing in the orchestra. Many players are Grade 8 and beyond.
In October 2023, the members voted to change the orchestra name to North Somerset Philharmonia. This reflects the wider repertoire that we now perform and will make it easier for the orchestra to encourage players and audience from further afield.
Our first Conductor
Our original conductor was Robert Jenner who stayed with the orchestra from its inception in 1995 until the summer of 2017 when he retired.
Robert studied trumpet and conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and, after working as a free-lance player in London, was appointed Principal Trumpet with the (now Royal) Scottish National Orchestra in 1961. He was a member of the teaching staff at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama for several years and took up the position of Head of Brass at Cheltenham College in 1981. He was also on the panel of brass examiners with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He worked for many years as a free-lance musician in the Midlands and the West Country, both as a performer, teacher and conductor before his well deserved retirement.
Our Conductor 2017 – 2025: Ben England BEM
Ben England BEM is an internationally celebrated conductor and music educator. He studied music at the University of Bristol, specialising in composition and conducting before becoming an Advanced Skills Teacher and leading music in schools across two counties. Ben’s innovative work combining music education and technology have led to him being nominated for four National Music and Drama Education awards, including the Francesca Hanley Inspiration award in 2022. He has conducted many of Bristol’s finest ensembles, including the Bristol Ensemble, Bristol Opera, the Bristol Cabot Choir and more.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 Ben established a number of digital ensembles rehearsing on YouTube, and is widely regarded as the world leader in online rehearsals and music-making. These groups included the Self-Isolation Choir (with 6000+ singers) which produced Handel’s Messiah in its entirety and was seen all around the world, and Homechoir – a free online singing group which has grown to nearly 3000 regular members and still meets together several times per week (homechoir.org for details). As a result of this pioneering work, he was awarded the British Empire Medal by the Queen for his services to choral music and the community.
Additionally, Ben was commended by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2020 as one of the inspirational musicians of the year. Ben continues to lead thousands of singers globally in unique performances of digital music, rehearsed and recorded through the internet. His work with digital choirs has featured prominently in national and international media, including BBC Evening News and World Service, BBC Radio 3 and 4, Classic FM, Scala Radio, NHK Evening News (Japan), CBS Evening News (USA) and many more. He has worked with prominent musicians such as Patrick Hawes, Nigel Short and Tenebrae, John Suchet, Laurence Cummings, Marina Mahler, Ralph Allwood MBE and John Rutter CBE.