Sisters return to town ready to rock
The Stanford sisters, Laura, Ellie, and Amy grew up in Northampton. They all went to Stimpson Avenue School, Kingsthorpe Middle School, Northampton School for Girls and Kingsthorpe Upper School.
During their school days they took the opportunities offered by Northampton Music School to play in their bands and orchestras having been taught to play the violin by their Mum, Susan Stanford.
They all also enjoyed becoming members of Pitsford Sailing Club where they learned to sail. They became Youth Sailors and competed in National and International competitions.
After their A levels, they were talented enough to gain places at the Royal Academy of Music where they studied to become successful members of the music profession.
As well as performing classical music they liked to play for several bands and artists to provide string players where required. They played several times at Glastonbury, notably providing strings for Goldfrapp.
As well as Goldfrapp they worked with The Specials, Paul Weller, Ellie Goulding, The Zombies, Ocean Colour Scene, Cliff Richard, Il Divo and many others in recording studios and live on stage.
In 2018, Laura formed the London Symphonic Rock Orchestra that began touring with Festival of the Dead as The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight after lockdown. The orchestra toured the UK and Europe to sold out halls. A fan said that they were, ‘a classical orchestra with a metal heart’. So, they are known for performing great metal classics with an orchestral wall of sound created by Laura and her co- writing partner Jess Cox.
Now performing as the London Symphonic Rock Orchestra and following on from a highly successful Scandinavian tour with great reviews, the orchestra has a UK tour in January that brings them to the Derngate on Saturday the 25th.
Ellie Stanford is the orchestra’s lead violinist; she will be playing some awesome metal guitar solos on her semi acoustic violin. Amy Stanford will be on viola; she is returning to the orchestra after taking maternity time out with her one yar old son. Amy will play a soul-searching guitar solo from Iron Maiden’s Trooper on her viola.
The sisters will relish the opportunity to rock out at the Derngate and will be hoping to make some re-unions with old friends. I hope this article has jogged a few good memories. Don’t miss the show. You can see clips and more with, The London Symphonic Rock Orchestra on YouTube and Facebook.