A warm welcome to potential new players

We welcome new members to our orchestra whenever and wherever there are vacancies, although membership needs to be selective in order to retain musical standards and balance.

Our regular rehearsals are on Thursdays, 7.45 - 10.00 p.m., on average 36 per season (September to early July with breaks for Christmas, Easter and school half-terms). We are very fortunate to be able to hold these in our regular concert venue (seen on our home page; see also the location map). Trinity Church, Nether Street, Finchley N12 is a large ‘open-spaced’ church that is warm and well-lit, with supportive acoustics, comfortable seating and full catering facilities.

At present, we are particularly keen to recruit violinists and viola players to balance our strong cello section. During the last two seasons in particular, several long-standing members have departed to have babies, take jobs in other parts of the country, emigrate, and so forth.

We can (and do) maintain our high concert standards by recruiting professional players where necessary, but at a substantial cost to the remaining amateur members, whose membership fees rise accordingly. Our regular Thursday evening rehearsals are also more enjoyable for everyone if the orchestra is balanced throughout.

So, if you play the violin or viola to an advanced amateur standard and have good sight-reading ability and some orchestral experience, or if you have been professionally trained but no longer make your living by playing, we would love you to contact us (details below) with a view to arranging to come, informally, to a rehearsal. Cellists are also welcome to contact and rehearse with us, although we may not have an immediate vacancy for regular membership.

Vacancies also occur in the wind, brass and percussion sections from time to time. Formal solo auditions are not normally required. If you are an advanced amateur or professionally-trained player with good sight-reading ability, you are invited to contact us (details below) so that we can arrange for you to join a deputies list, to play for occasional rehearsals before any commitment is made on either side.