Midleton College Orchestra has been running in its current form since 2007 under the direction of Colin Nicholls, with much valued assistance from his wife Angela. With a membership of around fifteen, the orchestra’s regular commitments include Prize Day, the Christmas and Easter Services and the Summer Music Evening. 

The music played is mostly specially arranged and tailored to the skills and experience of each member, so that every player has a part that is manageable yet challenging. This approach has made it possible to accommodate some unusual and ‘non-orchestral’ instruments in the group over the years – bass guitar, xylophone and harmonica alongside the more usual violins, flutes, clarinets and trumpets, for instance. A downside is that players are often confronted with handwritten music, but the computer-illiterate director argues that what was good enough for Bach and Mozart should be good enough for us!

The discipline involved in ensemble playing is a valuable adjunct to the work covered in individual lessons. The group practice done in school time is backed up by the players own preparation at home. The standard of performance is consistently high in a wide-ranging repertoire – Mozart to the Muppets, Handel to Louis Armstrong!