It is one of the best youth orchestras in the United Kingdom. It consists of nearly 100 musicians from the Hampshire region of southern England. Many of these musicians will continue their musical studies at conservatories in Europe and train the next generation of professional musicians.The orchestra has won many awards in recent years, including the award for ‘Most Outstanding Performance’ at the National Festival for Young Musicians (UK). It has recorded a number of broadcasts for the national radio station, Classic FM, and is a favorite orchestra of the British classical music sponsor, Sainsburys.The orchestra’s repertoire is varied–from concertos and symphonies of the Classical and Romantic periods to contemporary music specially commissioned for the orchestra. It has presented pieces by Beethoven, Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Rachmaninov in the most important theaters in the United Kingdom.
The orchestra has often traveled abroad and gained respect and friendship around the world for its performances full of energy and passion. The orchestra has been to the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia. In 1998 Hampshire County Youth Orchestra became the first orchestra to visit South Africa since the fall of Apartheid. In 2001 the orchestra toured Chile, where it was a guest of the Santiago Municipal Theater. In the summer of 2004 it performed a tour in Leipzig, Prague, and Bohemia. Its performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in the Rud2olfinum in Prague was highly acclaimed by critics.