Bude Concert Orchestra
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Recent Soloists

After growing up in Bude, Idony attended the Royal College of Music and graduated with a First Class Degree in 2019. She then returned to study on their Master of Performance course, from which she has just graduated with a Distinction. She has been fortunate enough to play with prestigious orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the English National Opera Orchestra, the Young Musicians’ Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Idony has been teaching woodwind and piano for 7 years and has recently started a teacher training course with the aim of combining her two passions of music and learning.

I am very grateful to the Blanchminster Trust, without whom I wouldn’t have been able to afford my instruments or my studies. They have been a huge support throughout my career so far and I look forward to working with them and the Bude Concert Orchestra in the (hopefully not too distant!) future.
Always popular with our audiences, you may remember Mike Grieff's mesmerising performances in the past few years, notably the Cimarosa Oboe Concerto and Gabriel's Oboe

Mike has a wealth of experience as a performer both in England and abroad and the audience will be in for an absolute treat of virtuoso playing. As a student, Mike received oboe lessons in England as well as at the Conservatoire d’Aix-en-Provence, in the South of France and then became principal oboist of the Durham Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. 

Since 1996, Mike has performed with the Surrey Mozart Players and has often been singled out for his brilliant playing. Previous reviews include ‘The conductor rightly offered special praise for Mike Grieff’s playing of the particularly challenging oboe part in Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin. ‘Particular mention must be made of the oboe solo played by Mike Grieff which opens the slow movement of Brahms’ violin concerto. Mike moved to Cornwall in 2014 and is now a regular performer with the Bude Concert Orchestra.


Keith Ramsell
Born in 1933 among the moors and crags of the Yorkshire Peak into an intensely musical family, Keith received his first violin lessons from his father, a pianist and composer who believed this would help the boy overcome a disability of his right hand. At 13, a founder-member of the National Youth Orchestra, he went on to win the A. Gambier Holmes Scholarship to the London College of Music, and later the Margaret Ann Knowles Scholarship together with a State Scholarship to Manchester University. . A year with the Royal Ballet and at Covent Garden led to a position with the English National Orchestra. However advice and encouragement from YehudiMenuhin and, in America, Ivan Galamian led to notable solo performances of the Elgar, Bruch, Tchaikovsky and Nielsen concertos and regular South Bank recitals. For 15 years a Professor at the London College of Music, he was also Orchestra Tutor for 33 years at the London School of Economics, where many solo performances included the first British performances of Schumann’s posthumous Fantaisie in A minor and, with Alan Lowson, Martinu’s Concerto for violin and piano. In 1973 he gave a notable performance of the, then, sadly neglected Elgar Concerto. On the advice of David Oistrakh he became the first British violinist to perform the Khachaturian violin concerto, which, as many will recall, he performed with the present orchestra under Barry in 2010.
He returns this evening to add another neglected work, the exciting Kabalevsky Concerto, to his repertoire.


“A rapturous reading of Vaughan Williams’ “Serenade to Music” from solo violinist Keith Ramsell…” (Royal Festival Hall, 15/3/76) (The Times)

“The performance of the Elgar Sonata was a total success, while Sarasates‘s Carmen Fantasia generated great excitement in the audience.” (Purcell Room, 26/8/84) (The Strad)

“A spectacular concert. The audience were transfixed by his virtuoso playing: exceptional mastery combined with outstanding precision and beautiful warm tone” (Bude & Stratton Post 18/03/2010)









​Elizabeth Hobbs delighted us again in our March Concert 2017 with her exceptional performances of four most beautiful, and emotive, pieces. Elizabeth sang one of Puccini's finest and most popular arias 'One Fine Day' from Madam Butterfly beautifully and emotionally leaving the audience reaching for their tissues before returning after the interval to further entertain us with the famous 'Nun's Song' from Casanove and 'Where'ere you walk' from Semele. She was joined by Andrew Pitt who ably supported the audience with their contribution!

Mike Grieff performed Gabriel's Oboe from The Mission by Ennio Morricone, and moved the audience with his mesmerising rendition. We are proud to have Mike as a regular member of our orchestra and are always keen to share his exceptional talents with our audiences and orchestra members alike, some of whom have especially requested this piece be included on our program.


John Osbourne                                      Mike Grieff 

John Osbourne is an extremely talented clarinettist who  introduced us to the Clarinet Concerto by Krommer.  John has been playing the clarinet since the age of 10 and began his musical career after doctors recommended he should play a wind instrument to assist his breathing as he suffered from asthma. John has never looked back and, after moving to Cornwall aged 16, has gone from strength to strength playing with Triggshire Wind Orchestra, Cornwall Wind Orchestra, Cornwall Clarinet Choir and numerous pit orchestras. John lists his highlights as playing Bass clarinet in the Nutcracker ballet and also playing clarinet in the Opera Southwest production of The Magic Flute in South Wales.
John is a busy dairy farmer but is also surrounded by music at home. He is married to Michelle, a peripatetic music teacher, and is a very proud Dad of three daughters, all of whom are following in their parents' footsteps. We can surely look forward to hearing more from John and his talented family in the future. We hope you enjoyed listening to this most powerful performance from John as he showcased this prolific Czech composer's work.
Mike Grieff has a wealth of experience as a performer both in England and abroad and the audience will be in for a treat of virtuoso playing. As a student, Mike received oboe lessons in England as well as at the Conservatoire d’Aix-en-Provence, in the South of France and then became principal oboist of the Durham Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. 

Since 1996, Mike has performed with the Surrey Mozart Players and has often been singled out for his brilliant playing. Previous reviews include ‘The conductor rightly offered special praise for Mike Grieff’s playing of the particularly challenging oboe part in Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin. ‘Particular mention must be made of the oboe solo played by Mike Grieff which opens the slow movement of Brahms’ violin concerto. Mike moved to Cornwall in 2014 and is now a regular performer with the Bude Concert Orchestra.

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  • Next Concert
  • Our Soloist
  • About our Orchestra
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  • Recent Soloists
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