Play for Pleasure!

Are you a player?

Every year, after our summer break, we get together for an afternoon to rehearse and then play through a symphony, just for the fun of it – no audience, no pressure! This year, on Sunday afternoon, 7^th September, we’ll be doing Tchaikovsky’s 2^nd Symphony, a work that was instantly successful. It was written largely in Ukraine, and incorporates three Ukrainian folk songs.

If you’d like to join us for the afternoon, please use our contact form to let us know what instrument you play. Music and cake provided! We will start at 2.30pm and finish around 5pm.

Sevenoaks Symphony Orchestra 

We are celebrating eighty years of bringing live orchestral music to Sevenoaks and the surrounding area. Continuing to grow in size and popularity, we are proud to attract some of the finest young solo artists who are carving out impressive careers on the world stage. Recent performances to sellout audiences have firmly established our reputation for excellent musicianship and challenging repertoire - see reactions below to our most recent subscription concert.

Each season we put on three traditional concerts, mostly of 19th and 20th century masterpieces, and a Family Concert each October. During the 2025 Sevenoaks Summer Festival we joined forces with the Sevenoaks Philharmonic choir for a very successful concert of music by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Arnold Bax.

Details of the concerts for our 2025-26 season are available via the 2025-26 Season menu item. If you would like to receive information from us, or have questions, please see our Get in touch page.

If you wish to attend our three traditional symphony concerts in November, March and May you can save money by buying a Season Ticket (opens in a new tab).

Recent audience reactions

“The orchestra played really well on Sunday and gave of their very best and produced a memorable evening for audience and orchestra alike.”

"This was my favourite performance by SSO since we came to Sevenoaks. It started with Carl Nielsen’s Helios Overture which describes the progress of the Aegean sun from dawn to sunset. It was spectacularly well played - especially by the horns and trumpets. Next came Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no 2, with a powerful and dazzling performance by young Cypriot soloist Christos Fountos. Christos has played with SSO before, and in this event both were excellent. For the second half we heard two Sibelius pieces - Valse Triste and Symphony no 5. As a Sibelius fan I was in my element!"

"...just wished to say what a splendid evening the Orchestra gave us. All the items in the programme were challenging in different ways .....to my ears this concert demanded and received an outstanding control of dynamics, with all the works securing both delicacy and power and everything in between. The string section tiptoed and fizzed in turn, offering great accuracy even when working against the backdrop of the resounding brass passages. I was totally gripped throughout."

"What a delight! Christos' Rachmaninov was extraordinary and the rest of the programme was superb. I have never been to a SSO concert which I have not enjoyed but Sunday's concert was to the proverbial "next level". My compliments and thanks to all.”