October 2026
Our next meeting will be on 12th October when Alan Doel will present ‘Steve Reich at 90’ and take us a pulsating journey from Minimalism. Starts at 7:30 and parking is free to the rear of the Guides Centre.
Category: Forthcoming meeting
New season gets underway
New season starts Monday
September 2026
Our first meeting in this new season will be at 7.30 on Monday 28th September 2026, when we shall be very pleased to welcome Roy Bexon of Salisbury Music Society who will present “My life and music”.
For existing members of the Society at this meeting our annual membership fee of £25 will be due. This is unchanged from last year. It will be gratefully received in cash or by cheque payable to SRMS. We regret cannot accept payment by card. For visitors it will be £5.
The programme is available on our previous post and hard copies are in Salisbury, Wilton and Amesbury libraries and in the Tourism Office in Butcher Row. If members who live elsewhere know of other places to display them, space copies will be available on Monday.
Last year was a great success and we were pleased to welcome some new members. This year’s programme is equally interesting …
PC
New programme available!
Programme for 2026/27 season now available
We are pleased to publish our programme for the new season which contains lots of interest for listeners to classical music. The printed version will be in the Library and in the Tourism Centre in Salisbury soon.
You can see it is an interesting programme with a wide variety of topics and speakers on a diverse range of themes. We have a large screen in the room so we can display visual material as well.
Copies of the programme are in the TIC, Salisbury, and the libraries in Wilton, Amesbury and Salisbury.
At £5 – less if you sign up for the whole season – it is a good value evening. We kick off on 28th so we may see you there …
Peter Curbishley
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Final meeting
Final meeting of the season tomorrow, 11th
Well, another season comes to an end and we are delighted to welcome back Simon Coombs who will entertain us with the music of the Iberian peninsular.
It has been an excellent year with a wide range of topics (see previous posts) and although we call ourselves the ‘recorded’ music society, we have had a live performance this year and much greater use of the big screen now available in the Guides’ Centre. This has enabled us to explore some historic performances captured on film and broaden our experience of the music. We have been pleased to welcome several new members this year.
The programme is all but finalised for 2026/27 and will be published sometime in the summer – August probably. On we go …
PC
Tonight!
April 2026
Tonight, Monday 27th April, we will now have, postponed from February, Tim Rowe and Alan Doel will present: “Eric Satie: Gymnopediste!” 7:30 start as usual.
Erik Satie was born May 17, 1866, Honfleur, Calvados, France and died July 1, 1925, Paris). He was a French composer whose spare, unconventional, often witty style exerted a major influence on 20th-century music, particularly in France.
Satie studied at the Paris Conservatory, dropped out, and later worked as a café pianist. From 1898 he lived alone in Arcueil, a Paris suburb.
Free if it’s your first visit.
Next meeting
Our next meeting will tomorrow Monday 13th April when Rosemary Pemberton will present, with slides, a talk entitled ‘Black Musicians in Scenes of English Life, 1500-1850’. Jeremy Barlow will provide the music, with commentary.
Unfortunately our next scheduled speaker is unwell, so we will be amending the rest of this season’s programme as follows:
On Monday 27th April, we will now have, postponed from February, Tim Rowe and Alan Doel will present: “Eric Satie: Gymnopediste!”
Then our final session this season, on 11th May, we will welcome Simon Coombs who will present: “Music from the Iberian Peninsula”
We hope you had a good Easter break and that we shall see you at one or preferably more, of these evenings.
Next meeting
An evening focusing on women composers
March 2026
We are delighted to welcome the ‘cellist Catherine Wilmers to the next meeting on Monday 23 March starting at 7:30 as usual. Catherine is a professional musician and played for many years with the LPO. You can read about her on her extensive website which will also give you a flavour of the evening’s presentation.
She will focus on female composers who all too rarely appear on programmes
and in performances. It seems that Dr Johnson’s disparaging comment is still true when told about a woman preaching at a Quaker event: ‘Sir, a woman’s preaching is like a dog walking in his hind legs. It is not done well but one is surprised to see it done at all’ (Boswell).
She will focus on works for the ‘cello and piano by women composers. No doubt she will show it can be done well.
Free if it is your first visit then £5 if you come again. The next meeting is on 13 April. We are at the rear of St Ann St in the Guides Centre with free parking. Access from Carmalite Way. We finish at 9:30.
PC
Photograph from her website.
Tonight’s meeting
March 2026
Tonight’s meeting will be on Monday 9th March at 7.30 when Peter Curbishley will be presenting “My Musical Journey – Half a century of listening””
At the following meeting on Monday 23rd March we will welcome Catherine Wilmers who will present “Works for ‘cello and piano by British women composers”
At our previous members’ evening several members expressed interest in having a copy of the play list, and of the final two YouTubes. If you would like me to send these to you, please would you respond ‘Yes please’, to this email.
We hope to welcome you to one or both of these evenings.
Next meeting
CANCELLED
We regret to announce that we are cancelling tonight’s meeting because of the forecast bad weather.
February 2026
The next meeting takes place on Monday 9 February starting at 7:30 as usual and aims to finish at 9:30 with a break in the middle. It will be presentation by two of our members on the French composer, Eric Satie. Born in Honfleur in 1866 he had a French father and English mother. He went to the Conservatoire and left without qualifying spending much of his early life playing in Paris cafes.
He is famous for a narrow range of compositions but, as a member of Les Six he was influential particularly with Ravel, Debussy and Poulenc. It will be interesting to hear a range of his pieces in a concentrated programme.
Non members are welcome and the first visit is free and £5 thereafter. Parking is on the doorstep and there is reasonable access for people with limited mobility. Satnav SP1 2HB.
PC
Second half restarts Monday
Second half of the season starts 26th January
January 2026
Our first meeting in 2026 will be on Monday 26th January at 7.30 when Ed Tinline will be presenting “With few strings attached” – a programme of music for wind ensemble.
At the following meeting on 9th February 2026, Tim Rowe and Alan Doel will be presenting “Erik Satie – Gymnopediste!”
Look forward to seeing you there. For non-members it is £5 but the first visit is free. Happy New Year to you all.
PC
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