CHRISTMAS is coming, there is a festive atmosphere afoot and the Ten Tors Orchestra has its own birthday to celebrate.

As a result this year its Gala Christmas Concert at St Eustachius Church, Tavistock on December 20 will resonate with a vibrant party atmosphere.

The orchestra has just celebrated its fifth birthday and feels it has, as an established part of the music scene, come of age.

Ten Tors Orchestra conductor Simon Ible said: ?The Ten Tors Orchestra and Choir gave their combined inaugural concert at the Wharf in Tavistock in December 1998.

?By 2000 we had to move to the larger venue of Tavistock Parish Church to accommodate the ever-increasing audience. This will be our sixth Christmas event and we are celebrating in style with a programme of popular classics and carols.?

After being originally funded for an 18-month project which involved ten concerts ? two in each of five towns ? the Ten Tors was clearly an orchestra growing in demand.

At the tenth and final concert which was in Tavistock in December 2000 the funding had come to an end.

Simon said an appeal was made for £10,000 of independent money to allow the orchestra to carry on.

?Within three weeks we had raised £7,000 which was enough to start promoting,? he said.

Simon says the success of the orchestra is in part due to filling an artistic void by being a professional chamber orchestra for the region; and the quality of its playing.

?The people that come to see the orchestra feel that they have something which is theirs. It is the spirit of shared experience from something that is indigenous. It is something that they can boast about because there is an element of ownership,? he says.

Simon has always believed in a community spirit and a sense that something belongs to a particular region.

?Often the higher quality professionals are exclusive to the Metropolis and the big cities and larger towns. Unfortunately there isn?t an investment in rural professional music making.?

However Simon says that the Ten Tors Orchestra has enjoyed the support of the Arts Council and is currently in discussion regarding rural development opportunities for the orchestra.

?The audiences like to be able to talk to the musicians and for the musicians to talk to them. It is immediate and direct. The whole ambience of the concerts are not stuffy,? says Simon.

?People come to a concert for the first time and they realise that classical music can be fun and exciting. As a result they come back year after year.?

The Ten Tors Orchestra has become a vibrant and vital part of the classical music scene in West Devon and beyond.

And it is because of the fact that, against seemingly impossible odds in the early days, it is now established that the fifth birthday celebrations seemed so appropriate.

?It is often felt in organisations that the first hurdle is the first five years. We can turn around and show the strength both artistically and commercially.

?It demonstrates that there is commitment from the trustees of the orchestra; commitment from the players, and there is obviously a commitment from the audience and sponsors,? says Simon.

He hopes that all the positive things the orchestra stands for will attract both audiences and sponsorship for the next five years.

?Now that we have had five years we can look back at we can now look forward to what the next five years will bring.

?It is really good after five years to give yourself a pat on the back. We have gone from five concerts a year to 14 a year, from working in West Devon to performing in North Cornwall, North Devon, West Somerset, the South Hams and Plymouth.?

The orchestra draws from a nucleus of around 50 players and puts out an orchestra of between 20 to 40 players depending on the size of the venue.

Simon believes there is no doubt that the Ten Tors Orchestra is the highest quality ensemble in the area and has a big loyalty factor in its favour.

?There is this idea that if you have an orchestra with the name London attached that is the only real thing. Our object is to make people realise that both players and quality are available close to home.

?It is more likely that you will get regular concerts from indigenous groups than visiting ensembles because you might just get them once a year.?

He says Devon and Cornwall can produce the players and that people should have faith in that.

?It is also ultimately cheaper because it keeps the ticket prices down. Here you are paying £12 a ticket ? but if you brought some orchestra in from outside you would be paying at least £20. Also, what you get from us is a fresh and exciting performance even if it is 250 year old music!?

Some of the Ten Tors musicians have played in top London, European and International orchestras.

Some members have been or still are members of the English Chamber Orchestra.

?People like to move away from the cities for all sorts of reasons, fresh air, new life style, a better place to bring up their children . . .

?In some way it can be a sacrifice ? but for me, I?d rather take a cut in earnings and have a happy life working with a group of happy people.

? People who are playing Mahler?s Symphony every night for six months are living out of a suitcase and not always that happy? he says.

?There is a fantastic camaraderie about the Ten Tors Orchestra ? every one really gets on and rehearsals are fun. I think some of that rubs off in a performance. The players are smiling and the audience responds to that because they see the orchestra enjoying itself.

?It is a shared experience ? that?s what makes it so great and, I think, so successful.?

Simon recalls that the first Christmas concert the orchestra performed back in 1998 had a choir of 18 singers.

At this year?s Christmas concert on Saturday, December 20 there will be 30 musicians and 50 singers.

?When we did the first one no one had ever heard of me let alone the Ten Tors Orchestra. This year we are up to around 50 singers. People value this opportunity to sing with a professional orchestra. With that size choir you can be sure that the leading of the carol singing will be fantastic,? he says.

?We will be whooping it up. It?s like an end of term. It?s a great party atmosphere. It?s great fun ? and if we could have fireworks we would!

l THIS year?s Ten Tors Orchestra Gala Christmas Concert at St Eustachius Church on Saturday, December 20 at 7.30pm features opera baritone, Eddie Wade.

Eddie?s home is near Wellington, Somerset. He is currently touring the country with Glyndebourne Touring Opera?s new production of Verdi?s La Traviata.

Eddie will sing opera arias from Mozart?s The Marriage of Figaro and Verdi?s La Traviata with the orchestra and join the Ten Tors Choir to perform excerpts from Handel?s Messiah, including the famous ?Trumpet Shall Sound? and with TTO principal trumpeter David Shead providing the brilliant obligato.

The programme will also include two major orchestral works, Haydn?s Symphony No 82, The Bear, and Johann Strauss? Blue Danube Waltz.

The audience will also be invited to join the orchestra and choir and participate in the singing of traditional Christmas carols.

The orchestra will have a guest lead violinist for the evening.

Nona Liddell will step into the place of regular TTO leader Malcolm Latchem who is taking a few weeks out for an operation on his left hand.

Nona Liddell is an honorary patron of the Ten Tors Orchestra and has performed concertos with the orchestra at Dartington Great Hall.

Tickets £12 (£5 children and students) in advance from Mansbridge and Balment Estate Agents, 9 Brook Street, Tavistock. Telephone 01822 612345, and on the door at the concert from 6.45 pm.

For further information telephone the Ten Tors Orchestra office of 01566 783138, http://www.tentorsorchestra.co.uk">www.tentorsorchestra.co.uk