About us

The idea for a professional orchestra for Romsey came about during 2017 by George Richford, then Director of Music at Romsey Abbey and Conductor Craig Lawton. The initiative at the time was to build a professional ensemble based at the Abbey to serve the Music Department when needed at services, recordings and other Abbey events. In addition it was hoped the orchestra would be self-sustaining with its own season of regular concerts both in the Abbey and elsewhere in and around Romsey.

The orchestra’s debut performance was in December 2017 with sell out performances of The Snowman playing to over 1000 people. This high took the orchestra into 2018 with its first concert with the Choirs of the Abbey. There followed two more hugely successful performances of The Snowman in 2018 and 2019.

During major changes at Romsey Abbey including the departure of George Richford and structural changes of the leadership and governance the orchestra sadly did not come to its full fruition as originally intended. After this hiatus and with no Snowman in 2020 due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, in 2021 Craig Lawton and a small team intend to resurrect and build Romsey Sinfonietta in to a lively and energised ensemble offering high quality music in the Romsey area.