Neath is getting its symphony orchestra back. Fifty years after it last played, a revived Neath Symphony Orchestra takes the stage at St David’s Church on Friday 16 October at 7.30pm.
The players have been rehearsing in the town with Music from Gladiator on the stands, timpani at the back and a row of double basses along the wall.
Conductor Paul Lewis leads a programme of Mozart, Bizet and Strauss alongside stage and screen favourites, including music from The Lord of the Rings.
The teacher behind it
Lewis is one of several members of the new orchestra who played under the baton of John Jenkins, the founding director of the original and, in the words of Neath Arts Festival, a “well-beloved music teacher”. He has since died.
The orchestra has been formed, the festival says, to give Neath Port Talbot a regular home for live classical music, and to give amateurs and up-and-coming players a place to share their passion for orchestral music.
Anyone who wants to get involved can contact the orchestra’s manager, Cliff Gagliardo, on 07913 783237.
Four days in the town centre
The concert is one of three headline nights at the festival, which runs from Thursday 15 to Sunday 18 October.
Jazz pianist Joe Webb, who grew up in Neath, plays Neath Little Theatre on Saturday 17 October, and Gavin and Stacey star Larry Lamb reads his own poetry at the Gwyn Hall on the Sunday.
The rest of the programme takes in comedy, books, photography, art clubs and the Neath Antiquarian Society’s archive, across venues in the town centre.
The festival is run by a volunteer-led charity, which says it relies on Neath Town Council and its sponsors to make it happen.
The full programme is at neathartsfestival.cymru.
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