Previous Programs

What sort of music does the orchestra play?

The orchestra has a wide repertoire and performs music of many periods and styles. Being primarily a symphony orchestra, the
emphasis is on symphonic works, concertos, modern musicals,
works for concert band and string orchestra, and children's music.



Whitehorse Orchestra at Kingswood College
3rd June 2017

Whitehorse Orchestra at MLC with soloist
Matthew Rigby, 2nd Sep 2017

2017 - In our April concert at MLC we enjoyed two wonderful soloists, Stephen Coutts and Samantha Robertson, as they sang their way through a variety of great songs from various shows. In addition the orchestra performed three huge pieces: The Great Gate of Kiev by Mussorgsky, Die Moldau by Smetana and Bolero by Ravel, and Philip Carrington performed the lovely violin solo from Ladies in Lavender.

Our children's concert in June was Dragons and Magic, with a variety of music from the movies including The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Dukas.

In September we held an all-Beethoven concert, with superb soloist Matthew Rigby performing the violin concerto. The program commenced with the Egmont Overture and was completed by the popular 5th Symphony.

Our final concert in November included the Dvorak Slavonic Dances and the Borodin Polovtsian Dances. Our soloist, Jason Xanthoudakis, gave an exciting performance of the Weber Clarinet Concerto No.1. Our encore was Sleigh Ride by Delius.

2016 - In our April concert at MLC we repeated a program that we performed in the Box Hill Town Hall two weeks previously. This program consisted entirely of music from movies and stage shows. Some of the works were the Dam Busters March, excerpts from Mame, The King and I, Phantom of the Opera, and other shows. Stephen Coutts sang beautifully in Stars (from Les Mis) and Some Enchanted Evening (from South Pacific). Nicole Gee played wonderfully in the oboe solo Gabriel's Oboe, by Morricone.

Our children's concert was Alice in Wonderland, performed twice at Kingswood College. It was well received by the enthusiastic children and delivered by Stephen Coutts and Felicity Pitcher, with beautiful slides by Eun-ju Lee. We repeated the concerts at Mooroolbark Community Centre to good audiences.

In our September concert we were fortunate to have Ji Won Kim as soloist in the Mozart Concerto no 4 for violin, K218, and with 3 wonderful students in the Vivaldi Concerto for Four Violins RV580. In addition the orchestra played the Copland Fanfare for the Common Man, Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien, and Bizet's Carmen Selection.

Our November concert included two concerti, these being the Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, and the Concerto for Trumpet in D Major by Telemann. The soloists in these two works were Massimo Folliero, again visiting us from Italy, and Dennis Stevenson. It was a great pleasure to work with these two soloists. At the beginning of the program was the Overture to Candide by Bernstein, and at the end, Symphony No 1 in D Major by Mahler, movements 1, 3 and Triumphal finale. Overall it was a very challenging and exciting concert.

2015 - In our March concert at MLC we programmed two Chinese pieces, "Spring Festival Overture" and "Good News from Beijing Reaches the Border Villages" in celebration of the coming trip to China by the orchestra. Other works played were the Southbank Overture by Colin Brumby, items from the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky, the Rondo by Beethoven for Piano and Orchestra with welcome soloist John Grayling, and Finlandia by Sibelius.

Our children's concerts in June held at Kingswood College provided two versions of Paddington Bear's First Concert. The first was narrated in English, and the second in Chinese (Mandarin)! This was a new experience for us. Both performances were greeted with pleasure by good-sized audiences.

On 12th July we repeated our performance of Paddington Bear, with two concerts at the Mooroolbark Community Centre. The audiences were excellent and despite the weather, the concerts were enjoyable for everyone.

On 29th August, the program for the orchestra consisted of Elgar's 4th Pomp and Circumstance March, Dvorak's Symphony No.4, and a Bamboo Flute Concerto by Ma Shui-Lung with soloist Tsen Wei-Lin. She also brilliantly perfomed a solo item and an item with piano accompaniment on several different sized bamboo flutes.

On 21st November, we gave a program at MLC of Russian music and others, consisting of The Mastersingers Overture by Wagner, Caucasian Sketches by Ippolitov-Ivanov, the Red Poppy Ballet Suite by Gliere, and an audience favourite, the first movement of the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 with young soloist Jessica Wu.