The Really Terrible Orchestra

The Really Terrible Orchestra (RTO) is a British amateur orchestra, founded in 1995 by the Edinburgh-based businessman Peter Stevenson and the author Alexander McCall Smith. The inspiration for Stevenson and McCall Smith was the enjoyment that their children were having with their school orchestras. They decided to look for a local amateur orchestra with which they could enjoy playing music for the fun of it.[1] They could not find such an orchestra, and formed the RTO as a result, with Richard Neville Towle as its conductor. The orchestra website describes its mission as follows:

The Really Terrible Orchestra exists to encourage those who have been prevented from playing music, either through lack of talent or some other factor, to play music in the company of similarly afflicted players. The policy of the orchestra is to make no distinction between the various grades of ability and the various forms of music, or time signature. The RTO looks forward to a further lowering of standards, in order to underline its commitment to accessibility and relevance.

McCall Smith has expressed the low quality of the orchestra's playing very directly:[2]

The name was carefully chosen: what it said was what you would get.

Aside from their yearly concerts at the Edinburgh Fringe, the orchestra also features in the novel The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. In the foyer of the Canongate Kirk, an Edinburgh church and their regular venue, the orchestra sells CDs of their performances.

In 2005 a documentary film about the RTO, The Really Terrible Orchestra, directed by Edward Brooke-Hitching, was selected for the 60th International Edinburgh Film Festival in 2006. It won the Baillie Gifford Award for best short Scottish documentary.

The RTO made their London debut on 3 November 2007 at the Cadogan Hall, London, in a sold-out concert.[3][4]

On 1 April 2009, the RTO travelled to the United States and played at the New York Town Hall on its first (one-date) overseas tour.[5]

The orchestra ventured onto Continental Europe for the first time on 16 April 2011. They played two concerts at Utrecht's Academiegebouw as part of the City2Cities Utrecht International Literature Days. The proceedings were dignified by Dutch poets J. Bernlef and Anna Enquist.[6]

See also

References
  1. Michael White (26 August 2007). "Lousy Is the Best They Can Ever Be". New York Times. Retrieved 3 November 2007.
  2. Alexander McCall Smith (1 November 2007). "Terrible Orchestra?". Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2007.
  3. Matthew Westphal (2 November 2007). "Really Terrible Orchestra Sells Out London Debut Concert". Playbill Arts. Retrieved 3 November 2007.
  4. Patricia Cleveland-Peck (4 November 2007). "Musical no-hopers strike chord". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007. Retrieved 17 November 2007.
  5. Deborah Hoffman (3 April 2009). "Alexander McCall Smith and His 'Tuneless Wonders'". New York Times. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  6. "Really Terrible Orchestra, with J. Bernlef and Anna Enquist". City2Cities. 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
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