On Sunday we had the pleasure of playing at the wonderful Milford on Sea Music and Arts Festival.  We've played at Milford Festival many times over the years, drawn back by the upbeat atmosphere, talented performers and friendly crowds. This year was no exception, a similarly brilliant event in a wonderful village and one we are proud to be part of.

With this year marking 50 years since the first moon landing, our programme featured numerous moon-related works, opening with Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra (also known as the opening to 2001: Space Odyssey) and including Moon River with a rousing audience sing-along and Rusalka’s Song to the Moon with talented soprano Sally Prince. The second half of the performance featured two orchestral favourites - Mendelssohn’s Hebrides and Smetana’s Vltava.

A slide show playing above the orchestra added to the excitement, with beautiful shots of the moon, song lyrics and images relating to Hebrides and Vltava. The slides are available to download below:

This recent article in the Guardian caught our attention... 'It's never too late to terrify yourself by playing music badly in front of strangers'. Here at the NFO, we couldn't agree more.

Whilst we hope that as a group we manage to play well in front of strangers, it's true that returning to an instrument after a break or taking your playing from private to public can be a daunting prospect, and we have all made mistakes at one time or another. But, as the article says "what’s the point of playing an instrument if no one ever hears you?"

There are so many reasons to join an orchestra - we listed just eight of them in a previous post - and with a supportive group like the New Forest Orchestra you'll be glad you did!

If you’d like to join us we'd love to hear from you, please get in touch and come along to a rehearsal soon!
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