South East London Orchestra is one of south London’s leading orchestras with a reputation for exciting, high quality concerts and a genuine connection with our community.

Our concerts feature great pieces of classical music by composers such as Beethoven, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Weber. SELO is equally at home with the music of the twentieth-century, performing works by Bartok, Copland, Britten, Shostakovich, Debussy, Nielsen, Ravel and Sibelius.

We are proud of our tradition of performing music by British composers, from Boyce, Elgar and Vaughan Williams to more recent works by Lennox Berkeley, Joseph Horovitz and Richard Rodney Bennett. In 2016 we gave the UK premiere performance of a work by Fung Lam.

Based in Beckenham, we have many members from the local area and others from further afield. Our short rehearsal periods, led by conductor David Smith, are designed to appeal to busy musicians, and rehearsals are a fine balance of hard work and enjoyment.

SELO was founded in 2012 by our Music Director, David Smith, and Natalie Cole. Since then we have grown the orchestra and embedded ourselves in the heart of Beckenham’s cultural life.

How to join

We are very interested to hear from all strings and brass players of grade 8 standard or above and/or substantial experience of playing with large ensembles. See our joining page for more details