Rita French

Rita needs very little introduction in Worthing as she has been part of the local music scene for many years, leading the Worthing Philharmonic and co-leading the Worthing Symphony Orchestra.

She started playing the violin at the age of 7 years (and also the piano), making her concert debut when she was 10, playing a Bach Concerto. She has won many prizes for both instruments, and was fortunate to play in the National Youth Orchestra with many of this country's finest young musicians. From here she went on to study at the Guidhall School of Music with Peggy Radmall and in Austria with Max Rostal.

Rita enjoys all aspects of music-making, combining a very busy orchestral schedule with solo, recital work and chamber music, and also toured France and Spain with a London based chamber ensemble. She leads the Sussex Camerata, described as one of the finest chamber groups in the South of England, regularly performing with them in London and the South East. She has featured as soloist in many of the great concertos, including Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy and the famous G minor; Beethoven; Dvorak; Glazunov and Prokofiev plus the Brahms Double and Beethoven Triple Concertos.

She is in demand as a specialist in advanced teaching and is currently on the staff at University College, Chichester.

Steve Dummer

Our Musical Director is Steve Dummer. The 2011-2012 season is the third season he has directed the Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra since taking up his appointment in September 2009.

Steve originally trained as a clarinettist under the late, great Jack Brymer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and subsequently studied conducting with Christopher Adey and Edwin Roxburgh at the Royal College of Music.

After attending master classes at Dartington International Summer School with french conductor and contemporary music specialist Diego Masson, her was described as "one of the best young conductors I have ever met".

In 1998, with funding from an "Arts for Everyone" grant, he formed the highly acclaimed group Talkestra, which reaches new audiences for concert music with a new way of concert giving. "Strongly recommended" by the BBC, Talkestra performances feature a "tour" of the music to give a better starting point for listening, while making the atmosphere of the concert hall much  less intimidating.

He is director of the wind band course at Dartington International Summer School, and regularly conducts concerts there with both amateurs and professionals, including collaboration with Harrison Birtwistle on a programme of his music with the Concillium Orchestra, concertos with David Campbell, Nona Liddell, Andrew Ball, Gerard McChrystal amongst others and some Pro-Am spectaculars. He is also a conductor for the European Youth Summer Music Summer School.

Other groups he has conducted include:

• Jena Philharmonic Orchestra (world premiere of 'Nomade' by German clarinettist Michael Riessler)
• Essential Opera
• Connecticut Comic Opera Company
• Concillium Orchestra
• Oxford University Chamber Orchestra
• Southampton University Symphony Orchestra
• Clifton Camerata
• Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra
• Opera Up Close - the British premiere of Milhaud's Medeé

He regularly works with student and community groups including Horsham Symphony Orchestra and Aylesbury Choral Society (1993-2002), and is a guest conductor and wind coach for Brighton Youth Orchestra which includes performances around UK and tours to Hong Kong, Germany and France.

He is a regular collaborator with New Music Brighton, the largest composers collective in the UK giving many first performances as a conductor and player and he is musical director of the newly formed COMA Sussex (Contemporary Music making for Amateurs) which recently played as part of the Brighton Live Festival.

As a clarinettist, Steve still gives regular concerts throughout the UK and in Europe including recitals at Dartington International Summer School and the Chapel Royal, Brighton.

In the last year he has given the world premiere of Peter Copley's Clarinet Sonata and the British premieres of 'Nintendo Music' by Australian composer Matthew Hindson (with a CD release to follow later this year) and Mulatash Stomp by American composer Derek Bermel. He was a member of Juan Martin's Flamenco Group featuring on the much admired CD 'Musica Alhambra' and is a founder member of the zany jazz band Itchy Feet. As a composer and arranger, he has had music played throughout the country including orchestral and ensemble scores, big band charts, a film score for the Brighton Live Festival, and educational music.

The Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra makes a unique contribution to the musical life of the region. It attracts players from a wide area and continues to develop with an ever more varied repertoire. As a non-professional orchestra it consists of players who are united by one principle – producing fantastic performances for all.

A sign of the orchestra's success is that it now thrives without the financial support of the Borough, quite unthinkable for a professional orchestra! Yet we perform works that a municipal professional orchestra, based in a town of modest size, could not envisage staging because of sheer expense. Examples of such works are our performances of Mahler's Second and Sixth Symphonies, and the forthcoming performance of Mahler's Symphony No 1. It is particularly gratifying that the necessary "extra" players have flocked to participate in these works. We have not bought them in!

Any successful artistic organisation owes a debt to its traditions and to former members. Herbert Lodge, Worthing's Music Director from 1935, was the inspiration behind the launch of the Citizens' Orchestra in 1948 and its development with two subsequent Music Directors, James Kershaw (1954-1967) and Jan Cervenka (1968-1996). In recent years the repertoire has expanded to include many works from the twentieth century, particularly under the guidance of the previous Music Director, Robin Page. The Orchestra has embraced young musicians of the area, particularly the pupils of Boundstone Community College and many highly talented local soloists.

We are delighted to use Worthing's cultural centre, the Assembly Hall, for our rehearsals and concerts. The committee has continued to press for the Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra to be seen as an integral part of the musical life of the town. We feel certain that the excellence which is a hallmark of so many performances in Worthing will be cherished by all music lovers. To that end, the Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra has established itself as a self-governing charity, truly dedicated to the musical well-being of the community.