Jess Gillam & LMP at the Festival of Chichester

London Mozart Players
Jess Gillam saxophone
Ruth Rogers director

23-year-old saxophone superstar Jess Gillam has wowed audiences with her dazzling virtuosity ever since the 2016 BBC Young Musician competition. She joins the London Mozart Players at the Festival of Chichester in the exquisite surroundings of Chichester Cathedral for an evening that balances Mozart and Haydn with Marcello’s baroque trills and Glazunov’s lyricism. Don’t miss an extraordinary night of music making!

Haydn Symphony No. 44 in E minor (‘Trauer’)
Marcello Concerto in C minor for soprano saxophone
Glazunov Concerto in E flat major for alto saxophone Op. 109
Mozart Symphony No.29 in A, K.201

LMP at the Cheltenham Music Festival

London Mozart Players
Martin James Bartlett piano/conductor
Ben Goldscheider horn
Ben Johnson tenor

Arvo Pärt Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No 9 in E flat major ‘Jeunehomme’, K271
Benjamin Britten Young Apollo, Op. 16
Benjamin Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings Op. 31

LMP joins forces with three exceptional soloists for a fabulous concert at the Cheltenham Music Festival.

The tolling bell of Pärt’s poignant Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten sets the scene for a celebration of Britten, whose early work evoking the brilliance of the dazzling young sun-God contrasts with the Serenade for tenor, horn and strings – a setting of six poems on the subject of night and one of the great masterpieces of 20th century music. Mozart’s elegant piano concerto is performed by Martin James Bartlett who achieved early success as the winner of the 2014 BBC Young Musician of the Year.

Concert kindly supported by Philip Loubser Foundation

London Mozart Players ‘Take Time’ in Bexhill

London Mozart Players
Simon Blendis (director/solo violin)
Jeff Moore (conductor –Take Time)
musicians from Create Music

Mozart Symphony No. 29
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Bartok Romanian Dances
Bacewicz Concerto for String Orchestra: II. Andante, I. Allegro
Jeff Moore Take Time

This year marks Vaughan Williams’ 150th anniversary, and the elegiac The Lark Ascending perfectly showcases his work. Full of nostalgic, lyrical melodies, it evokes glorious images of the English countryside, with the violin taking the role of the lark, soaring ever higher on a silver chain of sound. LMP leader Simon Blendis takes the solo spot for this most popular of works.

The tempo changes with Bartok’s Romanian Dances, an upbeat arrangement of folk tunes from Transylvania, bringing the colourful variety of Romanian villages to the Sussex coast. Staying with the Eastern European theme we move to Poland for two movements from Grazyna Bacewicz’s Concerto for String Orchestra, which combines Polish folksongs with neoclassicism, drawing on the classical greats for inspiration. LMP’s preferred ‘classical great’ is Mozart, and his Symphony No. 29 is the perfect choice for LMP’s spring seaside sojourn! It’s a gem, full of light-hearted charm and elegance, designed to entertain and delight.

But the work which may stay longest in the memory is Jeff Moore’s epic Take Time, a rousing and exuberant work designed to bring together musicians of all ages, abilities and experience, from near-beginners to professional players. Young musicians from all over Sussex will join the LMP to play this exciting work, in a performance which is bound to be truly memorable!

 

 

University of Essex Choir Spring Concert

Bernstein Chichester Psalms
Mendlessohn Psalm 42
Haydn Missa in tempore belli (Mass in Time of War)

University of Essex Choir
Ben Vonberg-Clark conductor
London Mozart Players

This is the first concert to be put on by the University of Essex Choir at Snape since 2019. It is also the first under the new and dynamic Musical director Ben Vonberg-Clark.

The choir is swelled by a host of new and enthusiastic students who give the University choir its unique sound. The London Mozart Players will accompany the choir, as they have done many times before.

Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony

Cecilia McDowall Shipping Forecast
Grace Williams Sea Sketches
Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony

London Mozart Players
Joanna Tomlinson 
conductor
Constanza Chorus
Eleanor Dennis soprano
Matthew Brook bass-baritone

Constanza Chorus is delighted to be joined once again by the London Mozart Players at Cadogan Hall for a performance of Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, during the 150th anniversary year of the composer’s birth. This choral symphony sets poems by Walt Whitman in a folk-inspired epic masterpiece.

The nautical theme is continued in Cecilia McDowall’s Shipping Forecast and Grace Williams’ Sea Sketches.

Constanza Chorus, under Music Director Joanna Tomlinson, has previously performed with the London Mozart Players and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at Cadogan Hall, and sung Mass at St Peter’s Basilica, Rome and Thomaskirche, Leipzig.

Newbury Spring Festival

Mozart  Vespers
Mozart  Soprano Aria: Il tenero momento
Mozart  Concert Aria: ‘Ah lo previdi! …. Deh non varcar’
Interval
Mozart  Divertimento k.136 for strings
Mozart  Coronation Mass

London Mozart Players
Newbury Spring Festival Chorus
Stephen Barlow  conductor
Tom Primrose  chorus master
Sophie Bevan  soprano
Ema Nikolovska  mezzo-soprano
James Way  tenor
Julien Van Mellaerts baritone

Newbury Spring Festival Chorus returns after an enforced three-year break with Stephen Barlow conducting masterpieces by Mozart, culminating in the Coronation Mass.

In this concert, delayed from 2020, he is joined by the world-renowned London Mozart Players and a stellar cast of young soloists is led by Sophie Bevan.

Sophie Bevan is amongst Britain’s finest sopranos and we are delighted to welcome her back to the Festival, following her memorable appearance at closing night of 2019. Ema Nikolovska made a remarkable Festival debut in September 2021 and will perform Ah lo prevedi as part of tonight’s all-Mozart programme.

 

London Mozart Players with Ben Goldscheider

Mozart Serenata Notturno
Telemann Horn Concerto
Cecilia McDowall Off the Ground
Arnold Horn Concerto No. 2
Coleridge-Taylor Four Novelletten

London Mozart Players
Ben Goldscheider horn
Ruth Rogers director

London Mozart Players, in association with Orchestras Live, returns to Suffolk with an adventurous programme of music for horn and strings, including a world premiere written especially for soloist Ben Goldscheider – rising star and BBC Young Musician brass champion.

Composers across the centuries have written music for the French horn, with Telemann one of the first to explore its unique solo sound. His adventurous Concerto for horn and strings is the perfect piece with which acclaimed soloist Ben Goldscheider can show off his prowess on the instrument. Goldscheider is destined for stardom – ‘one of our youngest and most succulent horn players’ said The Times. Malcolm Arnold’s outstanding second horn concerto, written for Dennis Brain in 1956, requires superb cantabile playing of the soloist, something that Ben delivers with every performance.

Alongside works for the French horn, LMP’s strings get their moment in the spotlight. Mozart’s Serenata Notturno is a delightful serenade for two orchestras – one of solo violins, viola, and double bass, and the other of strings and timpani – that marries formal dignity with a romantic minuet, and shows off Wolfgang’s more playful side. The dance theme continues with Coleridge-Taylor’s Four Novelletten, a brilliantly-crafted series of four dance-like pieces that recall Elgar and Dvorak. And to top this off is Cecilia McDowall’s inventive and invigorating Off the Ground. Buckle up for a musical whirlwind!

LMP & Leia Zhu – Mozart at St Martin-in-the-Fields

Mozart Serenata Notturna
Mozart Concerto for Violin No.5 in A, K.219, ‘Turkish’
Mozart Symphony No.29 in A, K.201

London Mozart Players
Leia Zhu violin
Ruth Rogers director

Mozart found his hometown of Salzburg a bit dull, but you can’t keep a genius down. An elegant violin concerto suddenly breaks into an earthy folkdance; a symphony by a teenager sends hunting horns galloping through an Archbishop’s palace. And at an all-night party, two separate orchestras come together and dance, in the extraordinary Serenata Notturna. This is Amadeus Unbound: expect elegance, outrage and melodies without end as the 16-year old violin phenomenon Leia Zhu and the London Mozart Players hit the town for a big night out with classical music’s most irrepressible boy wonder.

Lauded for her musical maturity, expressive interpretations and impressive technical ability, 15 year-old British violinist Leia Zhu is recognised as a star of the future. Since her debut at age four, she has performed at prestigious festivals and venues in more than 15 countries around the world, and with numerous established orchestras and international artists.

Appointed Artist-in-Residence with the London Mozart Players in October 2021, she embeds herself within the orchestra, performing as featured soloist, leading play/direct programmes and in chamber music. Leia also plays a crucial role in the orchestra’s community residencies in Croydon and Hastings, inspiring and motivating her peers through educational projects.

2021/22 season highlights include multiple engagements with London Mozart Players, a return to English Chamber Orchestra at Cadogan Hall, concerts at KKL Luzern with Festival Strings Lucerne and Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Sage Gateshead with Royal Northern Sinfonia and at Marvão International Music Festival, a three-city tour to Italy, and recital debuts at Tonhalle Zürich, Biblioteksaal Polling, Menuhin Festival Gstaad and Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London.

She regularly posts videos on her popular YouTube channel, where she shares her joy of music, composers and creativity, which attract thousands of subscribers and views.

Elgar, Mozart, McDowall & Britten at St Martin-in-the-Fields

Elgar Introduction and Allegro
Mozart Concerto for Horn No.4 in E flat, K.495
Cecilia McDowall Off the Ground
Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings

London Mozart Players
James Gilchrist tenor
Ben Goldscheider horn
Simon Blendis director

LMP’s concert at SMITF in May is simply a ‘must-see’. Dazzling young horn virtuoso Ben Goldscheider performs two giant works in the repertoire, Mozart’s best loved Horn Concerto, the No. 4, and Britten’s expressive and beautiful Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, in which he is joined by tenor James Gilchrist. When Benjamin Britten combined a tenor voice, a string orchestra and a horn in the raw; he discovered a fantastic new world – where old poems surge and toss on fresh sea breezes, and distant music echoes and rustles through the night. With sublime works by Elgar and Cecilia MacDowall also on the programme, this really is the dream ticket.

Please note that this performance will last approximately 75 minutes without interval.

James Gilchrist began his working life as a doctor, turning to a full-time career in music in 1996. His musical interest was fired at a young age, singing first as a chorister in the choir of New College, Oxford, and later as a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. A prolific and versatile recitalist, James enjoys imaginative and varied programming in collaborations with pianists Anna Tilbrook and Julius Drake, and harpist Alison Nicholls. Recent appearances include a Schubertiade weekend at St John Smith Square and Schwanengesang coupled with Beethoven An die Ferne Geliebte at the Wigmore Hall. James recently returned to the Wigmore Hall to begin his project with Anna Tilbrook, Schumann and the English Romantics, pairing Schumann song cycles with new commissions from leading composers, Sally Beamish, Julian Philips and Jonathan Dove, setting English poetry of the Romantic period.

Nominated by the Barbican as an ECHO Rising Star, during the 2021/22 season Ben Goldscheider gives recitals at major concert halls including the Concertgebouw, Musikverein, Elbphilharmonie and Köln Philharmonie, including an especially commissioned new work by Mark Simpson. At the age of 18 Ben was a Concerto Finalist in the 2016 BBC Young Musician Competition. Since then he has made his debut at the BBC Proms, and appeared as soloist with the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, the Aurora, Britten Sinfonia, English Chamber, Royal Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, Lucerne Symphony, Manchester Camerata, Prague Philharmonia and Sinfonie Orchester Berlin. He has worked with conductors James Gaffigan, Nicholas Collon, Mark Wigglesworth, Kristiina Poska, Radek Baborak, Andrew Gourlay and Jessica Cottis, and recorded the solo horn call from Wagner’s Siegfried with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

Born in London, in 2020 Ben completed his studies with honours at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin with Radek Baborák. He was a prize-winner at the 2019 YCAT International Auditions.

Peter & the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals

Prokofiev Peter & the Wolf
Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals

London Mozart Players
Tim Henty conductor
Baroness Floella Benjamin narrator
James Mayhew artist

Running Time: 1hr15 including 15 minute interval

London Mozart Players was the first orchestra to offer daily online content during the first Covid lockdown, including an array of enchanting films for children (much appreciated by parents!). This June sees their two big lockdown hits, Peter & the Wolf (more than 200,000 views on YouTube) and Carnival of the Animals, come to Fairfield Halls with the orchestra playing live, and the lockdown films and brand new paintings projected overhead on the concert hall’s big screen.

The brilliantly comic suite Carnival of the Animals is perfect for younger listeners. Acclaimed artist James Mayhew will paint along to the music, bringing Saint-Saëns’ roaring lions and braying donkeys to life. The tortoise, kangaroos and hens will then be joined by the duck, bird and big bad wolf from Prokofiev’s iconic musical drama, Peter & the Wolf. We are delighted that national treasure Baroness Floella Benjamin will narrate both stories, with the LMP musicians, their families and pets joining the film cast as Peter, his pets, the huntsmen and, of course, the wolf!

If your children enjoyed these stories online, bring them along to Fairfield to hear the music performed by Croydon’s resident orchestra, and watch them fall in love with them all over again!

Note start time: 4pm

The Armed Man

Karl Jenkins The Armed Man (Mass for Peace)
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Britten Simple Symphony

London Mozart Players
Simon Blendis (director/violin)
Choirs and young players from Trinity School,
Whitgift School, Old Palace School

Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man is one of the nation’s best-loved contemporary works. A choral tour de force beloved the world over, this evocative work is inspired by texts from a variety of Eastern and Western sources, including poetry, the Muslim call to prayer, the medieval tradition of the ‘l’homme armé’ and the Mahabharata, among others, which are combined with the texts of the traditional Latin mass. From the menacing air of the Sanctus to the serenely beautiful cello solo of the Benedictus, The Armed Man ranges from the intense heat of battle to poignant reflection, maintaining the narrative that peace is always better than war.

In Vaughan Williams’ 150th anniversary year, LMP performs one of his most popular works The Lark Ascending, with LMP director Simon Blendis performing the iconic solo. Suffused with nostalgic melodies evoking the English countryside, the work was first performed in 1921, and is perhaps an elegiac lament for a generation lost in the trenches of the First World War. Also on the programme is the delightful Simple Symphony by life-long pacifist Benjamin Britten.

At a time when war is in the headlines, this concert brings together hundreds of young people from the Whitgift Foundation Schools who will join Croydon’s resident orchestra, the London Mozart Players, under the baton of Nicholas Chalmers, to perform these emotionally charged works at Fairfield’s iconic concert hall.

 

World Premiere of Blue Pearl: A One World Oratorio

Blue Pearl: A One World Oratorio
Text by Ken Wilber, Thich Nhat Hanh and Steve Banks.  Music by Steve Banks.

London Mozart Players
Excelsis and Vox Farnham Chamber Choirs
Rob Lewis musical director, Excelsis and Vox Farnham Chamber Choirs
Angela Hicks soprano
Luthien Brackett mezzo-soprano
David de Winter tenor
Geoff Williams bass

Blue Pearl is a wonderful, inspiring new sacred choral work for the 21st century, a time when humanity needs to act ‘in concert’ as never before. It expresses and celebrates the unity of the earth and of humanity – ‘Blue Pearl’ is the earth seen from space: a fragile, precious, living planet.

Blue Pearl includes an extraordinary musical journey through the whole of evolution. It expresses a ‘human’ spirituality, which integrates the mystical heart common to the great spiritual traditions with modern science and psychology.

“Blue Pearl evokes the full compass of human experience: from joy, humour and sexuality to the opening of our hearts in compassion, to the spiritual mystery we encounter in stillness and silence – a profound and moving celebration of our shared humanity.”  – Rob Lewis, Musical Director, Excelsis

“An extraordinary work. The music is, by turns, witty, moving, exciting, and transporting.” – Julian Marshall, composer. ARCM, FHEA

You can get an idea of Blue Pearl by listening to the demo recording at www.stevebanks.info, where you can also read more about the piece and about composer Steve Banks.

We hope you can join us for what is going to be an unforgettable evening of beautiful and profound music.

Tickets:
In-person concert: £25, £15 low income, £10 under-16’s
Live stream with 7 days on demand viewing: £9, £5 under-16’s

Exeter Philharmonic Choir: Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem

Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem
Finzi Lo, The Full, Final Sacrifice

London Mozart Players
Exeter Philharmonic Choir
Howard Ionascu conductor
Jessica Cale soprano
Timothy Nelson baritone

Exeter Philharmonic Choir celebrates its 175th anniversary with a performance of Brahms’ great work, Ein deutsches Requiem. The programme includes Lo, The Full, Final Sacrifice by Gerald Finzi, a rare opportunity to hear this piece accompanied by full orchestra.

Eilat Chamber Music Festival – Beethoven and Schubert

London Mozart Players Chamber Ensemble

Beethoven Quintet for horn, violin, 2 violas & cello after Op.17, arranged by Sebastian Comberti after Carl Khym
Schubert Octet in F, D803

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

In the spot where the desert meets the sea and the red mountains cast their shadow from above; at a meeting point between Asia and Africa, the greatest musicians from all over the world meet once a year to play music, give master-classes and workshops. Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city is its leading tourist resort, visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. The Eilat Chamber Music Festival was founded seven years ago by Leonid Rozenberg, who serves today as the artistic and general director of the festival. In its six years of existence, the festival hosted the best international and Israeli musicians, who gave exciting performances to music from the time of Monteverdi and until the very recent musical compositions.

The 14th Eilat International Chamber Music Festival will present renowned classical music artists from Europe alongside other established world-famous artists. This year, the festival is hosting two orchestras, famous soloists, programs of classical and Baroque music, jazz, music for various instruments, vocal music, with a rousing, foot-tapping Flamenco event to wind up the festival.

 

Eilat Chamber Music Concert – Mozart Delights

London Mozart Players
Simon Blendis director
Michael Cox flute

Symphony No.34 in C major K. 338
Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major, K. 313
Symphony No.40 in G minor, K. 550

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

In the spot where the desert meets the sea and the red mountains cast their shadow from above; at a meeting point between Asia and Africa, the greatest musicians from all over the world meet once a year to play music, give master-classes and workshops. Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city is its leading tourist resort, visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. The Eilat Chamber Music Festival was founded seven years ago by Leonid Rozenberg, who serves today as the artistic and general director of the festival. In its six years of existence, the festival hosted the best international and Israeli musicians, who gave exciting performances to music from the time of Monteverdi and until the very recent musical compositions.

The 14th Eilat International Chamber Music Festival will present renowned classical music artists from Europe alongside other established world-famous artists. This year, the festival is hosting two orchestras, famous soloists, programs of classical and Baroque music, jazz, music for various instruments, vocal music, with a rousing, foot-tapping Flamenco event to wind up the festival.

 

Eilat Chamber Music Festival – Prokofiev and Mendelssohn

London Mozart Players
Graham Ross conductor
Jonian Ilias Kadesha violin

Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 in D major, “Classical”
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Opus 64 in E minor
Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 “Italian”

The concert kicks off with a truly celebratory work, Prokofiev’s effervescent ‘Classical’ Symphony, which cleverly juxtaposes 20th-century style with the traditional four-movement symphony – with some added parody and humour. This is contrasted with cornerstone of the violin repertoire — Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, his last major work. From the fast and passionate opening with its haunting melody and breathtaking cadenza through to the thrilling coda of the final movement, there is quicksilver beauty in every bar. Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony brings the concert to a joyful close.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

In the spot where the desert meets the sea and the red mountains cast their shadow from above; at a meeting point between Asia and Africa, the greatest musicians from all over the world meet once a year to play music, give master-classes and workshops. Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city is its leading tourist resort, visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. The Eilat Chamber Music Festival was founded seven years ago by Leonid Rozenberg, who serves today as the artistic and general director of the festival. In its six years of existence, the festival hosted the best international and Israeli musicians, who gave exciting performances to music from the time of Monteverdi and until the very recent musical compositions.

The 14th Eilat International Chamber Music Festival will present renowned classical music artists from Europe alongside other established world-famous artists. This year, the festival is hosting two orchestras, famous soloists, programs of classical and Baroque music, jazz, music for various instruments, vocal music, with a rousing, foot-tapping Flamenco event to wind up the festival.

Eilat Chamber Music Festival – Haydn’s Creation

London Mozart Players
Graham Ross conductor
Clare Alumni Choir
Jennifer Witton soprano
James Way tenor
Frederick Long bass

Haydn The Creation, Hob. XXI:2

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

In the spot where the desert meets the sea and the red mountains cast their shadow from above; at a meeting point between Asia and Africa, the greatest musicians from all over the world meet once a year to play music, give master-classes and workshops. Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city is its leading tourist resort, visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. The Eilat Chamber Music Festival was founded seven years ago by Leonid Rozenberg, who serves today as the artistic and general director of the festival. In its six years of existence, the festival hosted the best international and Israeli musicians, who gave exciting performances to music from the time of Monteverdi and until the very recent musical compositions.

The 14th Eilat International Chamber Music Festival will present renowned classical music artists from Europe alongside other established world-famous artists. This year, the festival is hosting two orchestras, famous soloists, programs of classical and Baroque music, jazz, music for various instruments, vocal music, with a rousing, foot-tapping Flamenco event to wind up the festival.

 

Eilat Chamber Music Festival – Mozart and Brahms

London Mozart Players Chamber Ensemble

Mozart Clarinet Quintet K, 581 in A major
Brahms Clarinet Quintet Opus 115 I B minor

The London Mozart Players Chamber ensemble open the Eilat Chamber Music Festival 2022 with two famous clarinet quintets. Clarinet Quintets form a firm favourite in the chamber music catalogues, with the Brahms and Mozart quintets frequently performed and much loved. In both cases the composer was inspired by the playing of a great clarinettist: for Brahms it was Mühlfeldt, for whom he also wrote the two clarinet sonatas Opus 120, while Mozart’s inspiration came from Anton Stadler, who was also the fortunate recipient of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

In the spot where the desert meets the sea and the red mountains cast their shadow from above; at a meeting point between Asia and Africa, the greatest musicians from all over the world meet once a year to play music, give master-classes and workshops. Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city is its leading tourist resort, visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. The Eilat Chamber Music Festival was founded seven years ago by Leonid Rozenberg, who serves today as the artistic and general director of the festival. In its six years of existence, the festival hosted the best international and Israeli musicians, who gave exciting performances to music from the time of Monteverdi and until the very recent musical compositions.

The 14th Eilat International Chamber Music Festival will present renowned classical music artists from Europe alongside other established world-famous artists. This year, the festival is hosting two orchestras, famous soloists, programs of classical and Baroque music, jazz, music for various instruments, vocal music, with a rousing, foot-tapping Flamenco event to wind up the festival.