Tag Archives: past

Priston Festival

What: A festival in a lovely village

When: 4:45pm, Saturday 17th September 2022

Where: Priston, Somerset, main stage

Tickets: Free

The orchestra is excited to once again be playing at Priston Festival!

Priston festival and map

Wanderfal Festival

What: A festival in Falmouth

When: 9th April 2022

Where: Falmouth

Tickets: See here

The orchestra will be taking a trip to Falmouth to play in this exciting festival!

Christmas Gig

What: The fantasy orchestra christmas concert

When:  Friday 17th December, 19:30

Where: St Stephen’s Church

Tickets: (coming soon)

Details coming soon!

Bowie Party

What: A return of our celebrated Bowie party!

When:  Friday, 25 February 2022, 19:30 (Rescheduled!)

Where: St Michael’s on the Mount Without

Tickets: £10 adv (early bird) or £15 on the door

Once again it’s time for us to celebrate all that is weird, wonderful and Bowie with Bristol’s own 60 piece Fantasy Orchestra!
Bowie fashion, costumes, lights, extravagance will abound aplenty. The Orchestra, with a full choir, in full regalia, will be bringing to life a multitude of Bowie classics and lesser known gems.
Come dressed as your favourite Bowie and bring the spirit of the many incarnations of DB! (there will be facepainters available as well).
For those musically inclined, we’ll be starting the proceedings with a David Bowie open mic session. People from all musical walks encouraged! Please get in touch with chef d’orch, Jesse, at bowie@fantasyorchestra.org for more information and if you would like to take part.
Tickets are £12 in advance or £15 at the door.

Age restriction is 14+

See also the Facebook event

Sun Ra and Moondog

What: An evening of music by visionary composers Sun Ra and Moondog

When:  Wednesday December 1st, 19:30

Where: Bristol Beacon

Tickets: (coming soon)

The Fantasy Orchestra perform a selection of music by two cosmic artists: Sun Ra and Moondog.
Sun Ra and Moondog
Sun Ra, who claimed to have been born on the planet Saturn led a free jazz big band known for its innovative instrumentation and the theatricality of its performances. His widely eclectic and avant-garde music echoed the entire history of jazz, from ragtime and early New Orleans hot jazz, to swing music, bebop, free jazz and fusion. His compositions ranged from keyboard solos to works for big bands of over 30 musicians, along with electronic excursions, songs, chants, percussion pieces, and anthems.
Moondog was an American musician, composer, theoretician, poet and inventor. He is well known for his Viking costume playing home-made instruments on the streets of New York and respected by the likes of Charlie Parker and Stravisnsky. Largely self-taught as a composer, his work drew inspiration from jazz, Classical, native American music, and was strongly rhythmic and contrapuntal, in some ways anticipating the minimalism of Steve Reich and Philip Glass.
This will be at the newly re-opened (and renamed) Bristol Beacon!

For more information see the the Facebook event.

Mini album-launch at Rough Trade

What: Playing in a record shop

When: Monday 2nd March, 7.30pm

Where: Rough Trade, Nelson Street, Bristol

Tickets: Free / info here

In celebration of our recently released debut album, The Bear and Other Stories, the orchestra will be playing a short gig at Rough Trade, a record shop in Bristol. Entry is free but you are enthusiastically encouraged to buy the album while you’re there! See the Rough Trade website or the Facebook event for more information.

Bicycle Tour in Normandy

What: A tour around France with instruments on bikes

When: 7-16 August

Where: Various locations around Normandy

Tickets: –

This event is happening in a reduced form, but may not be accessible to the public.

The orchestra’s annual bike tour will this year take in the sights of Normandy/Brittany. There will be lots of small gigs along the way.