The Haffner Orchestra is Lancaster’s own symphony orchestra, comprising amateur players and local professionals drawn from across the North West.
The orchestra gives three regular concerts a year in Lancaster. These take place in November or early December, February or early March and June, and there is always a pre-concert talk, free of charge. We play a broad range of music from the baroque and classical periods to romantic and contemporary works including new commissions.
Alex Robinson is our current Musical Director, taking up the position in Summer 2023. Alex graduated from the University of Manchester (with a first class degree in Music and where the Haffner’s former MD Justin Doyle, was one of his conducting teachers) and from the Royal Northern College of Music with an MMus in Performance at Distinction level (Conducting). He is not only an accomplished conductor but he also plays the violin, viola, piano and harpsichord. And once upon time he played in a jazz group called the Watermelon Men!
We like to be out and about in Lancaster and Morecambe, bringing music to community events and engaging new audiences. The orchestra has played in Marketgate and St Nics Arcade, as part of Lancaster Music Festival, in the Town Hall as part of the Bay Health Festival and in Morecambe’s iconic Midland Hotel during ‘Bard by the Beach’. Small groups representing the orchestra play around the city in pubs and the market square for events such as ‘Festa Italia’ and ‘Light up Lancaster’.
We contribute to musical education in the community as much as we can, running workshops and masterclasses. We have organised free concerts for large numbers of primary school children, most recently a performance of Peter and the Wolf for Year 6 pupils; events demonstrating the art of conducting (with would-be conductors as “trainees”); events when anyone of any age can come and play with the orchestra, experiencing playing great music with a professional conductor and events in the local library.
