The BSO Music-Making Competition (sponsored by Lark Music) is now closed! Thanks so much for entering 🙏

Are you wondering which BSO concert to come to this September? We’ve made a handy list of September highlights to help you decide ✨ There’s music taking place in Barnstaple, Bridport, Exeter, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Truro, Swanage and Weymouth! bsolive.com/news/6-note-... #music #september

According to recent research, commissioned by London Concertante, ‘more than a third of adults say they regret not continuing to make or study music when they were younger’.

“…a barnstorming performance” says Tom Wickson on last week’s BBC Proms performance at @bristolbeacon.bsky.social with conductor Adam Hickox and cellist Maximilian Hornung.

Playing to a 120-strong audience at Bradford-on-Avon Library last month was so special! 🎺🎻🎹🎷 Musicians joined players from Bournemouth NOYO and BSO Resound to perform an inspiring programme on the theme of ‘Dusk to Dawn’ 🌄

Have you met our fantastic line-up of judges for this year’s BSO Music-Making Competition, which is sponsored by Lark Music? 🪄 Here are a few inspiring words from some of them about what they’re looking for… so you can glean a couple of handy hints and tricks 😉

📢📢If you’re close to Weymouth or Barnstaple prepare for an exciting programme showcasing the beauty of the violin this September. We’ll join star violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen 🎻 and our new Calleva Assistant Conductor Michal Oren 🪄 for a moving programme of popular classics charting a journey...

We're pleased to announce an exciting opportunity offering four children (aged 9-13) the chance to join the BSO on stage as soloist for 'Walking in the Air'! ☃️🎤 Applications are now open, so if you know a talented young singer...

YouTube star and guitarist Dagan Wilkin is one of the brilliant judges for the BSO Music-Making Competition (sponsored by Lark Music)… and he dropped in to say a few words about the competition.

Were you at @bristolbeacon.bsky.social for the weekend’s BBC Proms performances? Don’t miss the chance to listen again to our concert with Maximilian Hornung and Adam Hickox, it’s presented by Sarah Walker and is on BBC Sounds now: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... [📸: Soul Media]

In just over a week, we’ll return to the BBC Proms - at @bristolbeacon.bsky.social ✨ Join us for a programme of music by Shostakovich, Gubaidulina and Rachmaninov. Read all about it here ➡️ bsolive.com/news/sparkli... @artscouncilengland.bsky.social

There’s just one week to go until our Southampton-based community choir, BSO Voices, takes to the stage at St Michael and All Angels Church in Lyndhurst. On Saturday 1 August the choir serenades with a selection of summer songs ☀️ including 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' by Simon and Garfunkel...

📢 We are thrilled to announce two concerts at @mayflower.org.uk in Southampton! Jedis and Siths, prepare for an out-of-this-world concert celebrating Star Wars 50th Anniversary on Sunday 3 October. www.mayflower.org.uk/whats-on/bso...

Just announced! The BSO's Music-Making Competition (sponsored by Lark Music) is coming back… and we're calling to hear your music, your way. Competition opens 14 July. Full details ➡️ bsolive.com/press-releas... @artscouncilengland.bsky.social @southcoastmusic.bsky.social

Come on, let us entertain you! 🎤 Let the world see what you have got when we bring it all back to the 90s! Join us at Meyrick Park on Saturday 8 August and let your body groove to the music and live la vida loca! 💃 🎶

Our friends at The Old School House (TOSH) are hosting a Garden Celebration on Sunday – and we’re so proud that weekly community music group features. If you’re in Boscombe don’t miss the chance to pop along and support them. There will be lots of other lovely things too including...

📢 Attention, teachers! You can book to join us for our FREE 'Explore the Orchestra' schools’ concert at @exeter.ac.uk 's Great Hall (Friday 22 January 2027, 10.15am and 1.30pm) and Portsmouth Guildhall (Thursday 25 February 2027, 1.30pm) 📸 Corin Messer

🎸 The search has begun for the next cohort of BSO Young Associates! If you’re a young creative who would like to build a career in community music-making we’d love to hear from you ✨ This programme provides participants with the opportunity to hone their skills, through practical experience...

Just announced 📢 Popular training programme returns to empower next generation community music leaders ✨ The search is on for our next cohort of BSO Young Associates! We’ll be supporting more brilliant young people from the South West with training, mentoring and practical experience...

We had a brilliant time with our Principal Guest Conductor Chloé Van Soeterstède and organist Anna Lapwood at @bristolbeacon.bsky.social last Wednesday 💪 Hearing Poulenc’s beautiful Organ Concerto brought to life by Anna – and experiencing the audience’s reaction – was a memorable moment.

To celebrate the launch of the new partnership between the BSO and Care South, BSO supporters and guests of Marjorie House were recently treated to a string quartet performance – featuring BSO musicians – in the beautiful garden at Marjorie House, overlooking Poole Harbour...

The BSO Brass Ensemble visited Poole’s Alderney Hospital to perform a special celebratory summer concert last week 🎺 bsolive.com/news/smiles-...

We can’t wait to welcome audiences to The Spire, Poole, this Saturday (3pm) when we share the brilliant music-making of the Bournemouth NOYO ensemble this term. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear this fantastic youth ensemble – it’s free to attend and everyone is welcome.

5,275 children and their teachers came to Lighthouse, Poole last week to experience four performances of ‘Explore the Orchestra: Sing Out!’ - with Enyi Okpara, James Redwood, and Felicity Buckland.

📢📢Tickets for our 2026/27 Poole, Solent and Exeter concerts are on sale now… We’re thrilled to be returning to Lighthouse Poole, University of Exeter's Great Hall, Portsmouth Guildhall, Fareham Live and many more venues across the South West… bsolive.com/whats-on/bso...

Did you hear our Chief Executive, Dougie, and Head of BSO Participate, Lucy, on BBC Radio Solent this morning? They spoke to both Rick Jackson and Steve Harris ahead of our four performances of ‘Explore the Orchestra: Sing Out!’ taking place today and tomorrow at Lighthouse, Poole.

We bid farewell to Artist-in-Residence Roderick Williams, following two stunning final performances. In his concluding week, Roddy also made a surprise visit in a local primary school assembly and to Southampton Hospitals Charity to perform for staff, visitors and patients of all ages.

Just announced! 📢 Road to Joy: we’re touring 100+ concerts across the South West in 2026/27 as our two-year Beethoven series begins, welcoming: 🎶 Thomas Adès – Celebrated Composer 🎹 Boris Giltburg – Artist-in-Residence 📺 Lark Music – Digital Concert Sponsor

Our new Calleva Assistant Conductor Michal Oren won a thrilling competition just a couple of weeks ago, following stiff competition from the very best next generation conductors 🪄 Following a vote from the Orchestra, she was appointed our Calleva Assistant Conductor for the 2026/27 season!

Our Head of Development, Jackie Tanner, visited Marjorie House – Care South’s beautiful new home overlooking Poole Harbour – at the recent launch of a new 12-month series. “A new partnership between the BSO and Care South has taken its first step: a year-long programme of shared music-making...