Musical Director
JONATHAN TRIM
Jonathan grew up in Stroud and studied Music at Birmingham. He teaches violin and viola and coaches ensembles and orchestras across Gloucestershire including the county youth orchestra, Stroud Symphony Orchestra and Capriol Chamber Orchestra.
He has been involved with National Children’s Orchestra coaching and conducting since 2009 and presently tutors for the Benedetti Foundation.
Several of Jonathan’s orchestral compositions have been performed widely including Celtic Fantasia for massed strings, Heart of the Five Valleys a musical depiction of the Cotswold landscape, and Symphonia a musical response to the global pandemic and performed at the Stroud Arts Festival in 2021.
Jonathan was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship in 2015 for his contribution to the work of Rotary International.
Other Officers and Committee Members
Jim Hutton (Chairman)
Andrew Pemberton (Treasurer) email: treasurer@stroudsymphony.org.uk
Mary Gellhorn (Secretary)
Rachel Power (Membership Secretary) email: membershipsec@stroudsymphony.org.uk
Gemma Butcher (Librarian)
Angela Spencer (Orchestra Leader)
Penny Church
Fiona Henderson
History of the Orchestra
THE STROUD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA was formed as the New Stroud Orchestra in 1980 by Bruce Critchenson and through his enthusiasm and encouragement grew from a dozen assorted players to a full symphony orchestra.
In 1987, having brought the orchestra through a period of improving musical standards and ever more successes, Bruce retired and handed the baton to the then principal clarinettist, Nick Spain, who for two years continued Bruce’s work. The orchestra was then fortunate to secure the services of Jan Vriend who was, and is, best known as a composer producing music in the tradition of Debussy, Varese and Xenakis. When Jan retired from conducting to devote himself full time to composing, the orchestra appointed Jonathan Trim.
In 1997 the orchestra members voted to change the name of the orchestra to its present name as it was felt that a seventeen-year-old orchestra hardly justified the title ‘New’ and that Symphony Orchestra was a more accurate reflection of the type of orchestra into which it had developed.
The orchestra draws its members almost entirely from the Stroud district, and is proud to be able to present three concerts each year to the high standard which the people of Stroud have come to expect. The orchestra has, over time, been supported by sponsors who include Stroud-based businesses and Stroud Town Council.
For many years it has been the custom of the orchestra to allow a charity to hold a retiring collection and among charities benefiting have been the British Heart Foundation, Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, UNICEF Children’s Fund, Survivors of Child Abuse, Homestart, and the Pied Piper Appeal.