Jonathan Pinnick, bassoon

How long have you been playing with the orchestra?: 3½ years

How did you first become involved with PSO?: I moved to Perth for work in 2010 and was keen to find a local orchestra to play in. Music has always been a big part of my life so when I found PSO's website I got in touch and was invited along to a rehearsal. I've been a member ever since and for the last couple of years have been on the management committee as Publicity Officer.

What's the best thing about being a member of PSO?: Everyone in the orchestra is very friendly and we have a lot of fun together. Allan (Young) creates a light-hearted atmosphere in rehearsals (most of the time!) but at the same time pushes us to achieve our full musical potential. We play a wide range of music to suit all tastes. Trips to the pub after rehearsals are also a highlight of my week!

What's your most memorable moment with PSO?: Performing Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sheherezade" in the last concert (November 2013). There were some fabulous solo bassoon passages which were great fun to play and stretched my abilities to the limit. There was some superb solo playing throughout the wind section and Lorna (leader & solo violin) was the star of the show. I'd previously played "Sheherezade" with my youth orchestra over a decade ago so it also brought back happy memories for me.

Carolyn Bell, oboe

Once the kids were settled at school I took up the oboe as an engrossing hobby. I enjoyed practising but wished there could be a purpose to my playing. So when I moved to Perth in 1995 I was delighted to find that there was an orchestra that I could join and even more delighted when I found everyone friendly, kind and encouraging and the choice of music manageable. In time I was invited to join the committee and have served in the roles of secretary and chairperson and am gradually building an archive of the orchestra's history both on the website and in paper form.

I find it life enhancing to be part of a large and diverse group of people all working together to create an entertainment which is 'more than the sum of the individual parts'. Every rehearsal and performance is different and on a good day the music really takes on a life of its own. As well as the orchestral repertoire members meet in smaller groups and explore chamber music too.

My most memorable moment with PSO? ... I have many, many happy memories of my time in the orchestra. Socially the 50th Anniversary Dinner was a special event with all the orchestra's former leaders and most of the conductors present. Musically I really enjoyed playing the second symphony of Sibelius, being part of his fascinating landscape of sound, the Italian Girl in Algiers by Rossini and playing my part in the story of Scheherazade. There are wonderful moments of humour too: rehearsal comments such as Allan's cheerful "rests shouldn't be called rests, they should be called counting opportunities" ...

Julia Banks, flute

I have been playing with PSO since I moved to Perth in 1976. I could hardly believe my luck at finding myself in a town with a symphony orchestra with flute vacancy. I was immediately made to feel very welcome.

Over the years I have made many friends through a shared love of music, and I feel very fortunate to have worked through such a wide orchestral repertoire: symphonies, overtures, and concertos with soloists who have gone on to successful international careers. It is thrilling to hear some work or soloist on the radio and to think: "We played that" or "…with him or her".

Quite early on I was invited to join the committee and served for several years as an ordinary member and, in the last few years, as Friends' Secretary.
It is hard to pick out particular highlights, as all the concerts have been memorable and exciting, and it is always thrilling to feel oneself a part of a huge body of sound. I have particularly enjoyed playing in all the Brahms symphonies and felt particularly challenged by Scheherazade and Rachmaninov 2nd Symphony. The big event concerts have been great fun: the Choral Symphony with Perth Choral Society; the 50th anniversary concert; Perth 800 playing the music for the Royal Fireworks by the Tay, in the snow; last February's concert with PYO…

Rehearsals are good fun too. Allan has a wonderful sense of humour, endless patience, a way of getting us to listen carefully to other sections of the orchestra and the gift of building up confidence, so that the scary moments of exposed entries, tricky rhythms and seemingly impossible rapid passages become manageable.

I have been playing the violin since the age of 7 and began orchestral playing a couple of years later. Orchestral playing has always been the leisure activity I enjoyed the most, but unfortunately I lost all my musical contacts when my family relocated to Muthill in 1993. I first became aware of PSO some years later, but childcare and transport problems, and later work commitments, meant I was unable to join until recently.

I finally took the plunge in September 2013, joining the 1st violin section as rehearsals were beginning for what I was assured was the most difficult programme so far! Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, which gave me the confidence to just join in and enjoy it. The atmosphere at rehearsals is always very relaxed- you get the sense that everyone is there because they enjoy playing - even if Allan does have to bully us into smiling!

The high point of my time with PSO so far would have to be the end of the first rehearsal- I really could still play well enough to keep up! Having practised hard to make up lost ground, I now feel as if I have reached a slightly higher standard than before I stopped playing, and am looking forward to playing with the orchestra for many years to come.