Changing Seasons

programme notes

Vivaldi The Four Seasons

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

The Four Seasons

I Spring

II Summer

III Autumn

IV Winter

For 30 years Vivaldi held the appointment of music master to the Pieta Orphanage in Venice, and most of his compositions were originally written for the well-attended public concerts there. All the orphans or abandoned children were girls, and many of them seemed to have been accomplished musicians. Vivaldi could count on a good orchestra which included every kind of string or wind instrument in use during the early eighteenth century. Like all composers of his time, he had specific performances and individual performers in mind for his works, and if he gave his players difficult instrumental parts, he knew they could play them. The Four Seasons are the first four concertos for strings of Vivaldi’s Op. 8 (published 1725), which bears the poetic subtitle ‘Il cimento dell ‘armonia e dell ‘invenzione’ – the trial between harmony and invention. Each concerto has a programme of its own based on a sonnet, and words to indicate it appear throughout the score, including the goatherd’s faithful dog, summertime mosquitoes, drunkards dancing at the Harvest festival or teeth chattering by the fireside.

Jonathan Bloxham conductor
Ruth Rogers violin
Simon Blendis leader

Violin 1
Simon Blendis
Ruth Rogers
Jessica Coleman
Nicoline Kraamwinkel
Anna de Bruin
Hatty Haynes
Martin Smith

Violin 2
Gemma Sharples
Clare Hayes
Jeremy Metcalfe
Jayne Spencer
Nemanja Ljubinkovic

Viola
Judith Busbridge
Sophie Renshaw
George White
Oliver Wilson

Cello
Leo Popplewell
Sarah Butcher
Daisy Vatalaro

Double Bass
Benjamin Russell
Catherine Elliott

Flute
Michael Cox

Oboe
Rachel Harwoos-White

Clarinet
Tim Lines
Lewis Graham

Bassoon
John McDougall

Horn
George Strivens

Trumpet
Alan Thomas

Harpsichord
Martin Ennis

Peter Small lighting design
Charles Lewis videography
Simon Hendry Sound Engineer

With thanks to:
Arts Council England
Croydon Council and Cat Loriggio
The Radcliffe Trust
BH Live

Management Team

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Flynn Le Brocq

CONCERTS

Artistic Projects Manager Sophie Haynes
Orchestra Manager & Fixer Jason Weir
Artistic Projects Coordinator Alex Mackinder

DEVELOPMENT

Development Manager Tristen Hennigs
Fundraising & Operations Peter Wright
Fundraising Consultant Paul Hudson
Outreach & Evaluation Consultant Bec Britain

Honorary Chair – Friends of LMP Christine Robson

MARKETING

Senior Marketing & PR Manager Anna Bennett
Marketing and Development Coordinator Bethany Penny
Digital Marketing Manager Charles Lewis

EVENTS

Royal Event Manager Rachel Rae
Freelance Events Producer Sophie Branscombe

FINANCE

Bookkeeper Debbie Charles

LMP Sponsors

Leader Debbie Beckerman & Keith Jones
Leader Sophie and Jeffrey Prett

Co-Leader Michael Southwell
Violin 1.3 Liz and Alistair Milliken
Violin 1.4 currently not sponsored
Violin 1.5 Christine Robson
Violin 1.6 Della Brotherston
Violin 1.7 currently not sponsored
Violin 1.8 currently not sponsored
Violin 1.9 currently not sponsored
Associate First Violin currently not sponsored

Principal Second Violin currently not sponsored
Violin 2.2 The Angel Family
Violin 2.3 Mia and Keith Ball
Violin 2.4 Alastair Fraser
Violin 2.5 currently not sponsored
Violin 2.6 Catherine Shaw – Allbone and Trimit
Associate Second Violin currently not sponsored

Principal Viola Mark and Vanessa Petterson
Co-Principal Viola currently not sponsored
Viola 3 Gill Cox
Viola 4 currently not sponsored
Associate Viola currently not sponsored

Principal Cello Anonymous
Sub-Principal Cello Leslie Aarons
Cello 3 Gillian Noble
Cello 4 Richard Morgan
Associate Cello Colin and Helen Snart
Associate Cello currently not sponsored

Principal Double Bass John Clarke
Co-Principal Double Bass The Bristow Family

Principal Flute currently not sponsored
Sub-Principal Flute Raymond Calcraft

Principal Oboe Pat Sandry
Co-Principal Oboe currently not sponsored
Sub-Principal Oboe currently not sponsored

Principal Clarinet Deirdre Lea
Sub-Principal Clarinet Graham Harman

Principal Bassoon currently not sponsored
Sub Principal-Bassoon Barbara Tower

Principal Horn currently not sponsored
Sub-Principal Horn Chris Harman

Principal Trumpet Ishani Bhoola
Sub-Principal Trumpet Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Principal Trombone currently not sponsored
Sub-Principal Trombone currently not sponsored
Principal Bass Trombone currently not sponsored

Principal Timpani Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Principal Percussion currently not sponsored

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Flights of Fancy
Friday 25 April 2025
St. Martin-In-The-Fields

From The Lark Ascending to Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings, we perform music that has meaning beyond the page.

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biographies

Subrang Arts

represented by Praveen Prathapan

Subrang Arts is a Registered Charity, a Not for Profit voluntary organisation dedicated to the promotion and development of Asian Art and Culture. ‘Subrang’ means spectrum of colour and it represents the rich cultural heritage of the Indian Sub Continent. One of our objectives is to foster an appreciation and understanding of the rich and diverse heritage that originates from the Sub-Continent, and to help in maintaining its identity in a multicultural society .

They believe that education and entertainment can be combined and to achieve this objective, they organise numerous cultural programmes, exhibitions, heritage projects, music concerts, talks, lectures and demonstrations. They actively engage young people in their activities with a view to develop them holistically. The positive influence on youth by the virtue of their immersion into Subrang’s activities has exposed them to people with qualities of selfless voluntary work, exceptional management, organisational and creative skills, Knowledge of their culture & heritage, Time management, Social skills, Mental-physical coordination, Understanding commitment, Confidence in public, Cooperation and team work.

Many of their productions have helped raise funds for various charities like Better Lives Foundation (for Ebola victims of West Africa), Care Education Trust (Education projects in India), Lions International (famine victims of Africa), SEWA International (SEWA projects in England and India).

Queer Croydon

represented by Kars Dodds

Queer Croydon is a community organisation dedicated to amplifying queerness in Croydon and the wider South London area. Rooted in celebration, advocacy, and connection, they honour the rich history of Queer lives in the region while championing a vibrant, inclusive future.

Their mission is to amplify and promote Queer artists, stories, and voices, ensuring that the wide diversity of identities and experiences within our community is visible and celebrated. By creating platforms for expression, collaboration, and representation, they seek to ensure that Queerness thrives in all of its beautiful forms.

At Queer Croydon, they recognise the importance of solidarity and wellness within our community. Through social events, workshops, and support services, they aim to combat isolation, foster connection, and promote mental and emotional wellbeing. By providing safe, inclusive spaces for queer people to gather, express themselves, and share experiences, they strengthen the bonds that unite us.

Whether through community-led events, creative collaborations, or advocacy initiatives, Queer Croydon celebrates creativity, uplifts underrepresented voices, and provides opportunities for connection and support.

A further note on Hlaeder by Sarah Freestone

A ladder – two fixed points with a journey between. The note changes between the fixed high and low note – the start and end of our journey – all come from the divisions of the old Greek tetrachord and relate to various ladder references in different cultures (e.g. the mathematical Greek ladder of square roots, the ladder of divine ascent) and the mood and the listener’s attitude to those notes changes as the journey of the inner notes change. A violin cadenza trying to assert the higher note is forced into a tango before cascading into a peaceful resolution of the opening idea with the heartbeat fading out. The final chord is one note only – the listener will hear the implied harmony of a chord as an individual choice according to their mood.

Club Soda

represented by Luminous Starchild

Club Soda are a community of Creatives, Gig Goers and Campaigners with learning disabilities. They create exciting social and creative opportunities in Croydon and beyond, pushing boundaries in music and media.

Their events and workshops are:

Empowering – A place for freedom of expression and to learn new skills.

A Community – Connect with new and old friends.

Trendsetting – We break boundaries in music and media.

A Party – ‘Lively, Rocking, A brilliant night out!’

They aim to change:

Croydon’s social scene – More accessible gigs, events and venues!

Attitudes towards people with Learning Disabilities – don’t underestimate us!

The Music Industry – More learning disabled artists in mainstream spaces.

And they believe:

‘Music is important because it allows you to express feelings and what you’re thinking.’

‘The neurotypical (without learning differences) way of doing things is not always the most creative, interesting, or fun way of doing things.’

‘Music is a powerful tool to bring people together.’

‘Every person with a learning disability is different – We deserve to have a choice, be understood and be respected!’

Croydon Music and Arts

CMA is a Lead Delivery Partner for Southwest London Music (SWLM), the Hub Lead Organisation for delivering the National Plan for Music Education in SW London. They work to ensure children and young people in the borough have access to creative opportunities. They work as part of a network of local partners that include Croydon’s schools, cultural organisations and services for children and young people. CMA is the lead organisation for Croydon’s Cultural Education Partnership and Music Education Hub.

Their mission is to amplify young people’s voices and enhance their lives and life chances through the arts. Central to their mission is recognition of the importance of culture and identity for engaging families, schools and communities.

Fiona Brice
composer

Fiona Brice COLLABORATIVE COMPOSER IN ASSOCIATION

Fiona Brice is a British solo artist, classically trained composer/arranger and multi-instrumentalist (violin, viola, piano, voice). She is signed to Bella Union, also releases music on Bigo & Twigetti Records, and writes for film & TV.

Alongside her solo career she collaborates with other artists writing orchestrations for studio albums, live concerts and TV and radio performances. Her work has been commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Metropole Orchestra, Heritage Orchestra (BBC Proms), Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra and London Mozart Players (where she is Collaborative Composer in Association), with several ‘live in concert’ album releases eg. John Grant and the BBC Philharmonic (Bella Union), Lanterns on the Lake & Royal Northern Sinfonia (Bella Union), Placebo MTV Unplugged (Virgin EMI).

Solo releases include Piano Preludes (2022 Bigo & Twigetti), Scissors Paper Stone (Thesis Drive 2019, String Quartet No.1 (2018 Bigo & Twigetti) and Postcards From (Bella Union 2016). Her latest album And You Know I Care will be released on Bella Union in October 2022.

As a session violinist she has performed and recorded with an eclectic list of artists including Anna Calvi, Ariana Grande, Elbow, Kanye West, John Grant, Kelly Jones, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Liam Gallagher, Passenger, Phoebe Bridgers, Placebo, Roy Harper, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Stereophonics, Vashti Bunyan.

Sarah Freestone
composer

One of the UK’s leading multi-instrumentalists, Sarah trained at the Royal Academy of Music as a classical guitarist, violinist (joint-principal studies) and bass guitarist, winning the Julian Bream Prize and semi-finalist in the Tarrega International Guitar Competition. As a violinist she is a member of the BBC Concert Orchestra and as a guitarist/mandolinist she freelances with orchestras including the Royal Opera House, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and English National Opera. She performs in the West End and the Royal National Theatre on stringed instruments which also include viola, cello, banjo and ukulele. She has also appeared as backing vocalist with major pop artists and has performed as an actor/musician for several productions including the UK premiere of Arthur Miller’s Playing for Time.

As a composer Sarah has most recently been commissioned by the BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, The Royal Ballet, Opera North, London Mozart Players, Britten Sinfonia, Scottish Ensemble, Trondheim Soloists and Ensemble Resonanz. Her community compositions, enabling groups to come together and create their own music whatever their musical background or experience, have been performed at the BBC Proms, on Radio 3 and BBC TV. In 2019 her Requiem – An Act of Remembrance was nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award.

Sarah has devised and delivered Creative Group Composition CPD programmes for education and arts institutions around the UK including for Trinity Laban, BBC Proms, Kent Music and the South Riverside Music Partnership. She is a Creative Lead for the National Children’s Orchestra, a Music Mentor for Music For Youth and has been a guest speaker for the past three years on the Spitalfields Music Skills Lab training programme for community music practitioners. She has been a judge on the BBC Young Composer competition since 2020 and a Creative Director of the renowned young people’s creative orchestral project Animate Orchestra for over ten years.

Sarah writes, conducts and presents schools and education concerts, most recently for the BBC and Trinity Laban, and recently collaborated with Children’s BAFTA Award winning writer Andrew McCaldon on two orchestral family shows which toured the UK.

Jeremiah Brown
poet

Jeremiah Brown is a British Jamaican writer, photographer and poet based in Croydon.

His art is centred on archiving people and place, with intergenerational relationships directing and informing his practice. Jeremiah’s first solo exhibition ‘I consent for you too’, was a promise to his hometown which spoke to the vital need of active archiving.

Projects such as ‘LIKKLE ArchiveXR’ and ‘Likkle Rum with Grandma’ exemplify Brown’s commitment to crossing the intergenerational bridge to ensure his elders are remembered.

Jeremiah was a recent recipient of an Arts Council DYCP Grant, to help the expansion of his practice into the realm of XR.

He is a B3 Media TalentLab XR Associate Artist, former Roundhouse Resident Artist, Barbican Young Poet alum, Royal Court Writer’s Group alum and former Soho Theatre’s Writers’ Lab participant.

Winner of Best Script at the EVCOM London Film Awards for his work on UNESCO’s Internet for Trust Opening Film with Studio Giggle. His other notable commissions and collaborations include RSA Films, Nationwide Building Society, Talawa Theatre Company, TNT Sports, Barbican, Roundhouse and Thames Festival Trust.

Jeremiah Brown is an archivist committed to remembering the people and places that help define him.

Jonathan Bloxham
conductor in residence and artistic advisor

British conductor Jonathan Bloxham was appointed Music Director of the Luzerner Theater in 2023, having debuted there in 2022 with Bluebeard’s Castle. After achieving great success last season with acclaimed new productions of La Bohème (“the opera highlight of the season”, Luzerner Zeitung), I Capuleti e I Montecchi and Dido and Aeneas, in 24/25 Bloxham conducts Idomeneo, Fledermaus, Luisa Miller and Hansel and Gretel. Bloxham made his Glyndebourne Festival debut in 2021, conducting Luisa Miller with the London Philharmonic. In the same year he conducted Glyndebourne Touring Opera’s production of Don Pasquale, having performed Rigoletto with the orchestra in 2019.

After first debuting with the orchestra in 2020 this season Bloxham begins his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie following in the footsteps of Andris Nelsons and Jonothan Heyward, and conducting concerts on two German tours as well as in their subscription season in Herford. In 2021 he recorded a CD of Strauss and Franck with the orchestra, described as “irresistible” by Musicweb International.

Conductor in Residence and Artistic Advisor of the London Mozart Players since 2022, Bloxham continues his close relationship with the orchestra this season, leading their concert series at St Martin-in-the-Fields and Fairfield Halls, and on a four-concert Swiss tour. Last season they celebrated the orchestra’s 75th birthday with a recreation of Mozart’s 1783 Vienna concert, and marked Croydon’s year as Borough of Culture with ambitious multi-disciplinary community projects.

Guest highlights of the past couple of seasons have included London Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Tokyo Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteumorchester, Halle Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Belgian National, Residentie Orkest, Tonkuenstlerorchester Wien at the Grafenegg Festival, Bonn Beethovenorchester, Trondheim Symphony and Philharmonic Brass (musicians from Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras) – many of these on multiple occasions. This season he returns to the BBC Symphony to conduct Wagner and Charles Ives, conducts the BBC Philharmonic in an opera gala, and debuts at the Enescu Festival with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra.

Bloxham’s conducting career was launched in 2016 when he took up the Assistant Conductor position at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Mirga Grazynte-Tyla. Before taking up conducting he enjoyed a prolific career as a cellist, performing regularly at the Wigmore Hall and across Europe, making his concerto debut at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2012. He learnt cello at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Royal College of Music and then at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (Master’s), and later took conducting studies with Sian Edwards, Michael Seal, Nicolas Pasquet and Paavo Järvi.

Ruth Rogers
solo violin/leader

Ruth Rogers studied with Itzhak Rashkovsky and Herman Krebbers. Described as “the finest of the younger generation of violinists” (Musical Opinion) and hailed by the Guardian as “superb”, Ruth is in demand as soloist, leader, and chamber musician. She was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal – the Royal College of Music’s highest accolade. She appears regularly at such prestigious venues as The Wigmore Hall with Aquinas Piano Trio and has made many recordings as part of that ensemble, including recent releases by Naxos which have been very well received by the critics.

Ruth was appointed as Leader of the London Mozart Players in 2015 and Leader of the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra in 2022. She worked as Co-Leader of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra from 2008 until 2012 and appears as a guest leader of many other major orchestras including the Hallé, BBC Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Ruth has played to orphans, landmine victims and malaria patients in refugee camps on the Thailand-Burma border.

Simon Blendis
leader

Simon joined LMP as leader in 2014. He was a member of the Schubert Ensemble for twenty-three years, from 1995 until the group retired in 2018, leaving a legacy of over 80 commissions, 25 CD recordings and a large library of live performances on YouTube.

Simon is in demand as a guest-leader and has appeared in this role with most of the UK‘s major orchestras. He has also appeared as a guest-director with orchestras such as the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Scottish Ensemble. Since 1999 he has shared the position of leader of Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan, with whom he has recorded Vivaldi‘s Four Seasons for the Warner label. As a soloist he has appeared with orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the RPO and the CBSO.

During the Coronavirus lockdowns Simon spent time researching the light music legacy of legendary violinist Max Jaffa. The resulting CD of 25 lost or forgotten gems from this archive, entitled Love is Like a Violin, was released in July 2022 to critical acclaim, and has already garnered over 4 million streams.

Increasingly sought after as a teacher, Simon is a professor of violin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.