Symphonic programme of works by Frank Bridge, Paul Lewis, Hubert Parry and Camille Saint-Saëns, with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra and conductor John Gibbons.
Worthing Symphony Orchestra are back at the Assembly Hall on Sunday 25 April 2027, with a programme they've called Symphony By The Sea. It's a matinee, starting at 2:45pm, and the whole thing is built around two things: the ocean and the organ.
The first half stays with the water. Frank Bridge's The Sea is a vivid tone poem that does exactly what the title says, and it's followed by Paul Lewis's Seaside Concerto, performed by Richard Hills. From there, the programme shifts to Hubert Parry's Jerusalem, a piece most of us know by heart. The day closes with Camille Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3, better known as the Organ Symphony, where the organ is woven right into the orchestral fabric rather than just sitting on top of it. The orchestra describes the whole afternoon as pairing the power of the ocean with the majesty of the organ, and the Saint-Saëns is the moment those two things finally meet.
There's a fair bit of history behind the name, too. The Worthing Symphony Orchestra traces its life back to Worthing Pier in 1874, when it started as a nine-piece ensemble. A full-time municipal orchestra formed in 1926 and moved into the Assembly Hall in 1935. The hall itself is an Art Deco room that opened in 1933; it seats just under 1,000 and is prized for its acoustics, a sprung dance floor, a Steinway piano and one of Europe's largest Wurlitzers. It's hosted BBC Radio 2 concerts and Pierre Boulez's BBC Symphony Orchestra debut. Over the years, the orchestra has attracted world-class soloists like Nicola Benedetti, Jess Gillam, Johan Dalene and Julian Lloyd Webber, and conductor John Gibbons opens each performance.
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Tickets are £18.75 for WSO Advance Members, plus a £1.75 transaction fee, and under-26s pay £7.75 including the fee. Season tickets are also available. The concert starts at 2:45pm on Sunday 25 April at the Assembly Hall, Stoke Abbott Road, BN11 1HQ.
