The Haffner Orchestra is Lancaster’s own symphony orchestra, comprising amateur players and local professionals drawn from across the North West.

​The orchestra gives three regular concerts a year in Lancaster.  We play a broad range of music from the baroque and classical periods to romantic and contemporary works including new commissions. 

Alex Robinson is our current Musical Director, taking up the position in Summer 2023. Alex graduated from the University of Manchester and from the Royal Northern College of Music with an MMus in Performance at Distinction level (Conducting).  He is not only an accomplished conductor but he also plays the violin, viola, piano and harpsichord.  And once upon time he played in a jazz group called the Watermelon Men! 

We like to be out and about in Lancaster and Morecambe, bringing music to community events and engaging new audiences.  The orchestra has played been part of Lancaster Music Festival, the Bay Health Festival as well as Morecambe’s iconic Midland Hotel during ‘Bard by the Beach’.  Small groups representing the orchestra also play for events such as ‘Festa Italia’ and ‘Light up Lancaster’.

We contribute to musical education in the community as much as we can, running workshops and masterclasses. We have organised free concerts for large numbers of primary school children including a performance of Peter and the Wolf; demonstrated the art of conducting for would-be conductors as “trainees”; as well as events when anyone of any age can come and experience playing great music with a professional conductor.