Welcome to The Rhondda  Symphony Orchestra

The Rhondda Symphony Orchestra is one of the oldest amateur orchestras in Wales.  It was formed in Tonypandy in 1968, and gave its first concert in 1970. Today it draws musicians from across South Wales and performs between 4 and 6 concerts annually in venues across Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.

We have a playing strength of over 60, and our players include a whole range of enthusiastic amateurs, school children and students, many music teachers, and some of the original orchestra members.

The great symphonies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are at the core of our repertoire.  Over the last few years, we have performed symphonies by Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms, Dvorak and Mahler, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky, and Vaughan Williams.  Concertos recently performed include Mozart’s Flute Concerto and Arutunian’s Trumpet Concerto. We like to perform with local young soloists whenever possible.

Performances of film music such as William’s Harry Potter Suite, and show music such as Bernstein’s West Side Story add popular variety to our repertoire on a regular basis.

We also enjoy opportunities to perform with choirs.  We are proud to have been an ever-present part of the Corau tradition of festivals for mixed choirs since the first performance in the Royal Albert Hall in 1983.  Biennially we accompany the ‘Voices for Hospices’ performances at venues throughout the Valleys. Choral works performed range from Handel’s Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem to Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

We celebrated our 40th anniversary in 2008, with a exciting concert tour to the Netherlands and a Gala Concert at the Parc and Dare Theatre where, amongst other pieces, we premiered Damian Rees’ Symphony no.2 for solo percussion and orchestra, with soloist Sarah Cresswell.