The First Movement – A String Orchestra Concert

A new orchestra. Its very first concert. And a Chapel that has been standing for centuries.

This November, we’re delighted to welcome The Orchestra Session to the Hospital of St Cross for The First Movement – the debut performance from Winchester’s newest orchestra.

Twenty string players will come together in the extraordinary surroundings of our medieval Chapel for an evening featuring some of classical music’s best-known and best-loved works, alongside pieces that might introduce you to something new.

The programme opens with J.S. Bach’s exhilarating Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and beautiful Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3, before moving through Pachelbel’s instantly recognisable Canon in D and selections from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

There will also be Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 10 in B minor, before the second half is given over to Dvořák’s glorious Serenade for Strings, Op. 22.

It’s a programme with plenty for seasoned concert-goers to enjoy, but also a very approachable place to start if you don’t regularly find yourself sitting in front of an orchestra.

And The Orchestra Session itself is doing things a little differently.

A new kind of orchestra

The Orchestra Session brings professional and exceptional amateur musicians together on equal footing, with every player paid the same professional rate for the same role.

It’s not simply a nice principle sitting in the background; fair treatment of musicians is part of the foundation on which the orchestra has been built.

Established as a Community Interest Company, The Orchestra Session also has ambitions that stretch beyond its own performances. A fixed share of ticket revenue will be donated to organisations helping children and adults access instruments, tuition and ensembles they might otherwise be unable to afford.

So your ticket helps make this first concert possible – and helps open the door to music for somebody else too.

Be there from the first note

There’s always something rather exciting about witnessing the beginning of a new venture, and The First Movement offers the chance to do exactly that.

The setting should make the occasion particularly memorable.

The ancient stone and soaring arches of the Chapel at St Cross have provided a place for worship and music for hundreds of years. On a November evening, with twenty string players filling that space with Bach, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn and Dvořák, it promises to be rather special.

Whether you can name every piece on the programme, recognise a few without quite knowing where from, or simply like the sound of an evening of beautiful live music in one of Winchester’s most remarkable historic buildings, you’ll be very welcome.

Come and take your seat for The First Movement – and be there at the beginning.

Event details

The First Movement – The Orchestra Session
Saturday 21 November 2026
7.30pm
The Chapel, Hospital of St Cross, Winchester

Tickets:
£23 standard
£12 concessions – students, under-25s and unwaged

Tickets are available directly from The Orchestra Session: www.theorchestrasession.com