MEMBERS of Helensburgh Orchestral Society are getting ready to celebrate their return to in-person rehearsals at the Victoria Halls next week.

The group’s musicians have been rehearsing online throughout the pandemic, and were awarded more than £7,800 by Creative Scotland to commission a composition by composer Peter Longworth for the orchestra to rehearse and perform online.

The piece, ‘Mosaic’, has been written specifically for the Helensburgh Orchestral Society, and exploits the distinctive characteristics of online music-making, including latency and the isolation of individual players.

The piece will be premiered online on Saturday, October 30.

In a further success for the orchestra, its musical director, Robert Baxter, has won the prize for best instrumental music director in the 2021 Making Music awards, the winners of which were announced last week.

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The orchestra’s members nominated Robert for his enthusiasm, dedication and innovation during the past year, as evidenced by the group’s continued musical and social sessions, throughout the pandemic.

Robert said: “I’m delighted to have won this award, which recognises some of the challenges many community music groups have faced recently.

“The Helensburgh Orchestral Society continues to go from strength to strength, and our online piece ‘Mosaic’, written for the orchestra by Peter Longworth, is a demonstration of how we as an ensemble have risen to these challenges.”

The orchestra rehearses at the Victoria Halls on Monday nights, starting on September 20, and there are currently vacancies in the strings and brass sections.

For details of how to join, and further details of the Mosaic performance, see helensburgh-orchestra.co.uk.