From royalty to the regular classical music fan, Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) has welcomed all to the joys of grand orchestral productions over the years.

Now it is marking its 100th anniversary with a centenary season of that will run until April next year.

The first programme will be The Rite of Spring: Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky  at  Brighton Dome tomorrow at 2.45pm, conducted by musical director Joanna MacGregor and award-winning solo pianist Aidan Mikdad.

Joanna MacGregor became the fourth musical director of BPO in 2020  (Image: Pal Hansen)  “This is a really big concert and I deliberately designed it to be very big and very exciting as it’s the very opening of the centenary season,” said Joanna.

“Tchaikovsky is a wonderful concerto and it’s wonderful for the orchestra not just the soloist and the Stravinsky is sensationally exciting for us all.

“I’m bringing in a very young pianist who actually studied with me a few years ago, he’s now studying with Alfred Brendel, he’s only 23, so it’s also a way to show off this young talent that we have as well.”

The BPO at the Brighton Dome prior to its renovation   (Image: BPO)

The BPO started life in 1925 when Herbert Menges and his mother Kate founded The Symphonic String Players (TSSP), as BPO was formerly known, in Hove Town Hall.

Their orchestra was 75 per cent women, which at the time was unheard of, with Molly Paley as their leader.

In 1928 TSSP moved to the Dome and started performing a series of annual concerts.

Over the next two decades they had notable names such as Russian composer Rachmaninov, Henry Wood, Moura Lympany and Hungarian violinist Szigeti attend their performances.

Princess Elizabeth attending a concert at the Brighton Dome in 1945 (Image: BPO)

In 1945 royalty graced the Brighton Dome as the then Princess Elizabeth, later Queen, attended a grand concert performance on December 4. Herbert Menges was the conductor and the world-renowned Ida Haendel the soloist. The programme was a carefully arranged concert with an Overture, Carnival Romain by Berlioz and closed with Symphony No 5 in C Minor, Op 67 by Beethoven.

In 1947, Ralph Vaughan Williams was appointed president of the renamed Southern Philharmonic. In the period of his presidency, guest appearances from Malcolm Sargent, Yehudi Menuhin, Norman Del Mar and Janet Baker to name a few.

In that time the named moved from the Southern Philharmonic to the Brighton Philharmonic marking a shift to focus on the city. Then in 1967, Benjamin Britten was appointed as the president.

Herbert Menges, the founder and the beating heart behind BPO, died in 1972 after 47 years and 326 concerts.

Herbert Menges founded the first version of the orchestra in Brighton  (Image: BPO)

In 1973 John Carewe became principal conductor and later John Bradbury was appointed leader. Together they introduced more contemporary works by HK Gruber, Roberto Herhard and Richard Bennett.

Barry Wordsworth became music director and principal conductor in 1989. He stayed in charge for over 26 years, overseeing the BPO's return to Hove Town hall during Brighton Dome refurbishments and then its return to the Dome in 2002.

By this time the BPO had sold more than 250,000 tickets to their concerts.

In 2020 professor Joanna MacGregor took the helm, being only the fourth music director and principal director.

The BPO are always looking for new members (Image: Sarah Hickson)Joanna said: “It’s a great achievement to reach 100 years, especially these days with the lack of funding that’s available and difficult regional climates. These players are very dedicated and have been playing for the BPO for a very long time, a lot of them often travelling down to Brighton to be involved.

“When I started of course Covid happened so straight away I had planned this season to go forward with and it didn’t happen. Instead, we put some online concerts and got together in small groups, when it was allowed, and now we are bursting back with the centenary season and grand concerts, it’s remarkable really.”

The BPO, a registered charity, are always looking for new members to join. There are many benefits including free tickets, early access and priority bookings.

'We want to give back to the community as the community here has given us so much' (Image: Sarah Hickson) Guy Morley, general manager at the BPO, said: “This philharmonic orchestra is from Brighton and for Brighton.

“We want to give back to the community as the community here has given us so much. Many of our loyal and constant supporters are from the city and without their help a century would not have been possible.”