Mid Sussex Sinfonia: Nathan Williamson

Performing around Haywards Heath for more than 40 years, the Mid Sussex Sinfonia orchestra is busy preparing for the new season ahead. 

A chance meeting of two violinists travelling to London from Haywards Heath train station to play in a concert sowed the seed to form a local orchestra all those years ago – indeed, there are still players from those early days amongst the ranks, together with instrumentalists from all parts of Sussex and beyond. Professional violinist Martin Palmer has led the orchestra for several years now and together with their relatively new conductor, Peter Fender, they continue to present concerts to the community. In recent years, the orchestra has been invited to accompany the Ardingly Choral Society conducted by Robert Hammersley, best known for their marvellous Remembrance Concerts held each year at the Dolphin Centre, this year featuring the Mozart Requiem, Verdi Choruses, and Borodin Polotsvian Dances on 10th November.

To open their 2013/14 season, and with grateful thanks to the school for their generous support, MSS will be performing at Great Walstead School, Lindfield on 12th October. The main focus of the concert will be Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor played by the superb pianist, Nathan Williamson, who was at the school as a boy, and is a former BBC Young Musician Finalist - www.nathanwilliamson.co.uk . Nathan is one of the country's talented young musicians and as well as performing internationally, he is a composer and stages a series of acclaimed concerts each year in Southwold, Suffolk.

Music lies at the very heart of life at Great Walstead School and is performed in class lessons, at the numerous concerts held in the school Chapel and Performing Arts Centre and in the various school productions staged throughout the year. Music scholarships are available at Great Walstead for outstanding musicians and our pupils are prepared for scholarship auditions to their senior schools, with a good number of music scholarships and awards having being gained by our year eight pupils in recent years.

Nathan Williamson