Ipswich Symphony Orchestra

Update - June 2025

We hope you are as excited as we are that it's nearly time for our Summer Concert, on Saturday 28 June, when we are privileged to have Junyan Chen - Leeds Piano Competition Silver Medalist - joining us to perform Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 3. Our concert will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich's death, with one of his most performed works - his famous Fifth Symphony. Treat yourself and book your tickets today!

Tickets are available from the online box office: Quick Link to Box Office and on the door.

Remember to visit our Concert Dates & Programmes Page to see the exciting programmes we will be performing from now until the end of 2025 - and to save the dates! We're delighted to welcome Leeds International Piano Competition 2024 prize winner, Junyan Chen, to Ipswich in the Summer, before Jeneba Kanneh-Mason makes a welcome return in the Autumn.

Ipswich's Own Orchestra for 123-Years

Registered Charity No 276724

Ipswich Symphony Orchestra has performed concerts in Ipswich since 1902 and is one of the oldest amateur orchestras in the UK.  During more than a century of high quality music making, the Orchestra has built up an enviable reputation for performing adventurous and challenging programmes.

Previous conductors include Sir Colin Davis and Rumon Gamba. Our present conductor, Adam Gatehouse, has worked with the Orchestra since 2000, during which time the repertoire has been expanded and developed to encompass some of the greatest works of the symphonic repertoire - including symphonies by Mahler, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, as well as music by Beethoven, Strauss, Debussy and Leonard Bernstein.

In recent years the Orchestra has worked with some major world-renowned soloists including Alexandra Dariescu, Benjamin Baker, Martin James Bartlett, Savitri Grier, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Pavel Kolesnikov, Steven Osborne, Pavel Kolesnikov, Imogen Cooper, Jennifer Pike, Laura van der Heijden, Nicola Benedetti, Dame Felicity Lott, Julian Lloyd Webber and the Orchestra’s Patron, Noriko Ogawa, bringing some of the very best international talent to Ipswich audiences every season. 

Working within our community is important to the Ipswich Symphony Orchestra. Our Summer concert has been a significant component of Ipswich Summer Events for many years.  In March each year we present an afternoon Family Concert which, by careful choice of popular music, aims to engage and inspire a new, young audience to take part in live musical performance.  

All our concerts are performed in the Ipswich Corn Exchange. Tickets are available from the Ipswich Arts and Entertainments Booking Office and orchestra members. Further information is available on the Tickets page. 

Please explore our website to see what we do, and join us on our social networks: 

The Ipswich Symphony Orchestra is a Member of the Ipswich Arts Association and the Making Music organisation.

If you wish to contribute to this website or contact the Ipswich Symphony Orchestra,

please send an email to ios@wheatstone.co.uk

#ipswichsymphonyorchestra

Website Updated 5 June 2025