Concert Day Details

Family Concert, Central Hall

Saturday, 24th January 2026

HELP NEEDED:

Percussion moving - van loading / unloading - Friday evening / Sunday morning at Tauntons - see PETE HACKSTON (1st horn)
Front of House Stewards - being co-ordinated by Lucy - please contact her on the email - csorchestra.foh@gmail.com

PARKING:

Parking at the hall is very restricted and ALL slots have been reserved (those individuals will be communicated with separately.)
Public parking at St Mary's Church is NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
Please DO NOT PARK at the hall or Church unless you have been allocated a slot and been issued with a PERMIT.
UNLOADING - if you are in the allocated St Mary's car park or the public parking AND have a large instrument to unload you may use the car park briefly, but please be patient as the space is very small. If you expect to need to do this please let me know beforehand.
The nearest public car parks are:
- College Street, SO14 3EJ
- Eastgate Street, SO14 3HB

ARRIVAL:

Enter through the back of the hall, via the car park. The rear entrance door is on the right hand side of the building. The car park space is now much reduced so please take care when moving around, especially when loading and unloading is taking place.
Go to your designated GREEN ROOM areas before going through to the auditorium to assist with setting up. Leave cases and belongings there - DO NOT take cases / bags (unless needed when playing) through to the auditorium.
If you have family or friends coming that might need assistance getting to their seat and might need to use the lift, it would be helpful to know in advance.

GREEN ROOMS (they will be labelled on the day):

Orchestra - THE STUDIO (it used to be called the small hall) - to the right of the entrance corridor at the rear. Despite it's name - it is a LARGE AREA - there are toilets off this room.
Dancers - Room 4 - opposite the café area. Please use main public toilets.
Conductor - small lounge at front of building - opposite foyer.

TIMINGS:

8am - Percussion Van and team arrive and unload
8:15 onwards - Players / performers arrive and set up - PLEASE COME AND HELP, DON'T EXPECT IT ALL TO BE DONE FOR YOU!
9-10:20 - Rehearsal / lighting and sound check
10:30 - vacate auditorium so that audience can enter
11am - CONCERT
1:30 - audience start entering for afternoon performance
2pm - CONCERT
3:15 - pack up personal belongings; assist with communal packing and percussion, then depart

REFRESHMENTS:

The hall coffee shop WILL NOT be open at all on the Saturday.
Please make your own arrangements for refreshments and lunch.
If remaining in the venue there is seating in the THE STUDIO green room area and the coffee shop area.

TOILETS:

Main hall toilets are near the front entrance BUT ARE SHARED with the audience.
Toilets for orchestra use are available just off the The Studio.

CONCERT DRESS:

Black trousers, skirt or dress and shoes accompanied by a polo shirt in the nominated section colour. Black long sleeved tops may be worn underneath. The main hall is quite warm as it has under floor heating.
- Strings - blue
- Woodwind - red
- Brass - black
- Horns - green
- Percussion - pink

CONCERT ORDER:

Powell    How To Train Your Dragon

Tchaikovsky ‘Pas de deux’ from The Nutcracker

Copland Hoe Down’ from Rodeo

Brahms Hungarian Dance no.5

MacKinnon    Voice Leading

Saint-Saens    Danse Macabre

Coleridge-Taylor ‘Dance’ from Othello

MISCELLANEOUS:

Stand lights - some are being provided (CSO owned) but if you have your own please bring it. We are NOT anticipating dimming the house lights during any music.

HALL LOGISTICS:

Audience capacity - the hall will seat about 600 but please note that the lowest row of seats is not used by the audience.
A seating area by the stage will be reserved for dancers.
Emergency Gap - we need to leave a 1 metre gap between the rear seats of the orchestra and the front row of audience for emergency evacuation purposes.

PLEASE GET IN TOUCH IF ANY OF THIS IS UNCLEAR OR YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.

Back to Top