Once "rusty" violinist is loving life with Chichester Symphony Orchestra

She now looks back on her decision to join Chichester Symphony Orchestra as the best thing she has ever done.

Ana is delighted to join them for their Festival of Chichester concert on Saturday, July 5 at 7:30pm at St Paul's Church, Churchside, Chichester, PO19 6FT. They will present an America-themed concert performing Dvorak's Symphony No 9 (From the New World), plus

Bernstein's Candide: Overture and Delius's Florida Suite [1. Daybreak 2. By the River 3. Sunset, near the Plantation 4. At Night] under conductor Simon Wilkins. Tickets £17 from The Novium.

Ana said: “I have been with the orchestra coming up for four years now. I came back to the violin after a break of about 30 years. Having done music at university in the 80s I then had a family and other things got in the way. My career wasn't in music as I expected but before the pandemic I had just decided that I would pick up my violin again. I was very rusty but I persevered and I contacted Chichester Symphony Orchestra saying would they have room for a very rusty violinist! And it really is one of the best things I've ever done. It is so lovely to be playing again.

“I think it's given me friendship and also a sense of belonging. The camaraderie of being in an orchestra was the thing that I loved most when I was in the youth orchestra and also playing at university, but it's also the fact of playing together and creating music together. I'm not a soloist. I'm not a particularly wonderful player. I am a serviceable player but I love the sense of belonging and of being part of the whole. It's a wonderful feeling.

“We had a wonderful concert in March in collaboration with the university, and I was a big part of organising that. It was great playing with the young folk from the university and showing them what a more mature orchestra can be. We are very keen to pursue the collaboration further and it has been agreed in principle that we will.”

As for this year: “The music planning sub-committee open it up to the orchestra for them to suggest pieces that they might like to play and there was a wide range of suggestions. We've got maybe a 60-year age range in the orchestra from the oldest to the youngest and so there was a number of pieces that people suggested. New World was one that came up and also the Florida Suite. Our conductor casts his eye over the suggestions and tries to put a theme together and we realised that this could be an American-themed programme.”

The 2025 Festival of Chichester is delighted to welcome Edward Cooke Family Law as its principal sponsor. The Festival is generously supported by Chichester City Council, firm friends to the Festival since its inception.