Wimbledon International Music Festival: I Shall Hear in Heaven

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Tama Matheson I Shall Hear in Heaven
With music by Ludwig van Beethoven

London Mozart Players
Tama Matheson Beethoven
Suzy Kohane
Adam Karrie

A dramatic portrait of a child prodigy oppressed by his drunken father, to his emergence as the greatest musician of his day: Beethoven – a titan of will and imagination, a man who refused to be crushed by the buffeting of fortune, who overcame the worst obstacles that fate could put in his way.

Actor Tama Matheson (EastEnders, Heartbeat) breathes life into the tortured composer, presenting a man of deeply human qualities, who wore heavily the burden of his own genius and who, despite the frangible condition of his own mortality, pushed the world of music to a blazing new level. This powerful depiction will be interspersed with Beethoven’s incredible music, performed by the London Mozart Players.

Director, actor and writer Tama Matheson is Artistic Director of The Brisbane Shakespeare Festival and has worked as a freelance director in both theatre and opera around the world. He is an award-winning stage actor and has played a variety of TV roles, including EastEnders and Heartbeat. Tama has written several plays and one man shows including a series of collaborative plays about the lives of great composers.

For further information, take a look at the flyer.

 

LMP Chamber Ensemble at the Seaford Music Society

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Devienne Bassoon Quartet, Op.73 No.3
Paul Lewis Seaford Snapshots (world premiere)
Beethoven Septet, Op.20

London Mozart Players Chamber Ensemble
Simon Blendis violin
Judith Busbridge viola
Sebastian Comberti cello
Ben Russell double bass
Tim Lines clarinet
Sarah Burnett bassoon
Andrew Budden horn

Seaford Music Society continues its long tradition of promoting Professional Chamber Music with a 2021-2022 Season. The first chamber concert of the season opens with Devienne’s Quartet for bassoon, violin, viola and cello which may be new to many, but it is a stunningly beautiful work that demands virtuosity from all the players and closes with Beethoven’s Septet, which was apparently modelled on Mozart’s D Major Divertimento, and certainly it retains the light-hearted mood of Mozart’s work. The centre piece of the concert is the world premiere Brighton-born John Lewis’s Seaford Snapshots, which was commissioned by a member of the Seaford Music Society.

Little Red Riding Hood

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‘Wolves aren’t always as clever as they think they are…’. In a half-term musical treat for children of all ages, the London Mozart Players presents Paul Patterson’s lively orchestral version of Roald Dahl’s wickedly witty ‘Little Red Riding Hood. Taken from Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes this is ideal for 5–11-year-olds but is also a sharply funny and inspiring treat for adults. Rebecca Kenny narrates this hilarious twist on the fairy-tale classic, performing with LMP in the stunning Hastings Library. It’s half an hour of pure magic that never fails to entertain, and a wonderful way to introduce budding musicians to the instruments of the orchestra.

Spotlight On… Júlia

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Mozart Overture, Don Giovanni, K.527
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64
Beethoven Symphony No.4 in B flat, Op.60

London Mozart Players
Bedros Shetilian conductor
Julia Pusker violin
Ruth Rogers leader

London Mozart Players deliver drama with Mozart’s villainous paramour Don Giovanni, warmth and wit with Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, and pure romance with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto – performed by rising star Júlia Pusker.

London Mozart Players’ ‘Spotlight On…’ series continues with brilliant young violinist Júlia Pusker joining LMP on stage at St John’s Smith Square to perform a cornerstone of the 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. Júlia, one of Hungary’s finest musicians and a founding member of the Ensemble Mirage, which featured in the 2016/17 St John’s Smith Square Young Artists’ series, will give a virtuoso performance of this beloved work.

‘A supple Greek girl between two giants’ is how Robert Schumann described Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony. Eclipsed by its formidable neighbours – the groundbreaking Eroica and the iconic Fifth – the Fourth Symphony is often overlooked, but it is a sensational work, full of freshness and spontaneity, with a character all its own

The concert opens with a dramatic scene-setter – the overture to Don Giovanni, one of Mozart’s most popular operas. Its spine-tingling opening is one of the most memorable in all opera. US conductor Bedros Shetilian takes the baton for a concert of classical treasures in the intimate and cherished surroundings of St John Smith Square.

 

Grand Opera Gala with the City of London Choir

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Rossini Overture to The Barber of Seville
Mozart Pasha Selim (Il Seraglio)
Puccini Quando me’n vo’ (La bohème)
Puccini Che gelida manina (La bohème)
Puccini O soave fanciulla (La bohème)
Bizet Au fond du temple saint (The Pearlfishers)
Mascagni Intermezzo (Cavalleria rusticana)
Mascagni Easter Hymn (Cavalleria rusticana)
Saint-Saëns Mon cœur (Samson and Delilah)
Verdi Pietà rispetto amore (Macbeth)
Verdi Chorus of Scottish refugees (Macbeth)
Verdi Quartet (Rigoletto)
Bernstein Overture to Candide
Bernstein Glitter and be gay (Candide)
Delibes Flower Duet (Lakmé)
Verdi Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (Nabucco)
Mozart Non più andrai (The Marriage of Figaro)
Tchaikovsky Polonaise (Eugene Onegin)
Tchaikovsky Kuda, kuda (Eugene Onegin)
Bizet Habenera (Carmen)
Verdi Dite alla giovine (La traviata)
Verdi Libiamo ne’ lieti calici (Brindisi) (La traviata)

London Mozart Players
City of London Choir
Benjamin Pope conductor
Tali Ketzef soprano
Catherine Carby mezzo-soprano
Alexander James Edwards tenor
Colin Schachat baritone

At long last the London concert platform is open again… and what could be more welcome now than an evening of total immersion in the glorious world of opera? An international cast of soloists, the London Mozart Players and the City of London Choir present a glittering evening of romance, tragedy and high spirits: a fabulous selection of highlights from the world’s most popular operas. Heart-warming arias sit alongside rousing choruses from La Bohème, The Pearlfishers, Carmen, The Marriage of Figaro, Candide, Nabucco, La Traviata, Cavelleria Rusticana and more, all under the baton of conductor Benjamin Pope.

Mass in C Minor with Wimbledon Choral

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Panufnik Letters from Burma
Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Mozart Great Mass in C Minor K.427

London Mozart Players
Wimbledon Choral
Neil Ferris conductor
Jeni Bern soprano
Llio Evans soprano
Thomas Elwin tenor
Jamie W Hall bass
Gareth Hulse oboe
Richard Watkins horn

This will be the first public performance by Wimbledon Choral, together with the London Mozart players, since Christmas 2019, and what greater way to celebrate than with Mozarts’s glorious Mass in C Minor, widely regarded as his masterpiece in the field of religious composition. With dramatic choral writing and wonderful solo scoring, this formidable work is studded with gems from operatic skill to baroque counterpoint.

Roxana Panufnik’s Letters from Burma, composed in 2004, was inspired by Aung San Suu Kyi’s vivid description of life in Myanmar while under house arrest.

Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and String offers a contemplation of night and sleep through the poetry of Keats, Jonson, Blake and Tennyson.

Mozart Requiem with the Crouch End Festival Chorus

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Mozart Requiem
Jessica Curry Echo (World Premiere)
Brahms Schicksalslied

London Mozart Players
Crouch End Festival Chorus
David Temple conductor
Francesca Chiejina soprano
Kathryn Rudge mezzo-soprano
Ronald Samm tenor
Benjamin Bevan baritone

Crouch End Festival Chorus, under its conductor David Temple, joins with the London Mozart Players to perform Mozart’s Requiem, one of the greatest works in the choral repertoire. Commissioned in 1791 when the composer’s health was failing, Mozart created a work which was completed after his death by Süssmayr and contains some of his most sublime and evocative music.

 

CEFC also presents the World Premiere of a work by Jessica Curry, renowned for her award-winning scores for video games. Echo is based on an evocative Christina Rossetti poem combining passion and mystery.

 

Completing the programme is one of Brahms’s greatest choral pieces, the Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny).

Spotlight On… 2-concert package

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Please choose your ticket price in the dropdown menu above before you click the ‘Buy & Watch’ button.

 

This 2-concert package gives you access to both the Jess Gillam concert and the Leia Zhu concert. Please note our ‘Spotlight On…’ videos are only available for 30 days from date of initial broadcast. Once you have purchased your package, click the link below to watch the film.

Spotlight On … Jess: No longer available
WATCH – Spotlight On … Leia: available from Tuesday 19 October at 10am

A note on ticket prices:

The 2-concert package is only available while the Jess concert is online (ie until 11:59 BST Wednesday 13 October). You only need 1 ticket per concert per household and can pay the Standard £15 package price to access each concert. If you would like to pay a higher amount that equates to your usual ‘live concert hall’ price, and by doing so kindly support the LMP, then choose the £30 ‘Supporter’ or £45 ‘Premium Supporter’ packages. You can also add a donation (which will attract gift aid) during the payment process. Please choose your ticket price in the dropdown menu above before you click the ‘Buy & Watch’ button.

Christmas Classics at St Mary’s

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Programme includes:
Traditional Once in Royal David’s City
Traditional Silent Night
Traditional Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Barnes Let the Carols Ring (new commission)
Traditional 12 Days of Christmas
Strauss Pizzicato Polka
Strauss Blue Danube
Anderson Sleigh Ride
Anderson Waltzing Cat
Elgar Salut d’Amour
Tchaikovsky excerpt from The Nutcracker
Handel Pifa from Messiah

London Mozart Players
Ruth Rogers director
and our Musical Star Competition Winner

We continue our series at St Mary’s Putney with a Christmas concert that has something in it for everyone, whether you love traditional carols, yuletide songs, or just mulled wine and mince pies! Full of the music we all turn to at this time of year, this fun and informal concert will be a wonderful opportunity for families and friends to gather at St Mary’s to share the joy and memories that these melodies evoke. Festive favourites Sleigh Ride, The 12 Days of Christmas and The Nutcracker will get us in the Christmas groove, alongside perennial favourites Silent Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, and many more. We also have an exciting première of a newly commissioned seasonal piece by young local composer Georgia Barnes

For more information about our Musical Star competition, and how to audition to sing with LMP at the concert, click here.

Mostly Mozart at Crystal Palace

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London Mozart Players
Leia Zhu violin
Ruth Rogers director
Croydon Music & Arts

Bartok Romanian Dances
Mozart Violin Concerto No.3 in G major, K.216
Massenet Meditation from Thaïs
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Four Novelletten

Since 2017, London Mozart Players’ annual community concert at St John’s has welcomed top classical stars to SE19 including Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Nicola Benedetti. In January 2022, it hosts another virtuoso soloist, 15-year-old Leia Zhu, performing Mozart’s enchanting third violin concerto.

Since her solo debut at the age of four, Leia Zhu has performed with orchestras around the world, including a performance of Tchaikovsky’s concerto with LMP at Fairfield Halls in October 2021. Her awe-inspiring talent will shine through Mozart’s graceful and witty writing in this sublime concerto. Also on the programme, alongside Bartok’s Romanian Dances and Massanet’s Mediation from Thaïs, is Coleridge-Taylor’s Four Novelletten, a brilliantly-crafted series of four dance-like pieces that recall Elgar and Dvorak.

At the heart of LMP’s residency at St John’s is the desire to inspire young people and widen the reach of classical music. This vision is the foundation for this community concert, which enables students, or those who do not normally go to concerts due to financial or health reasons, get the chance to experience the transformative power of classical music. A limited number (100) of tickets are also available to purchase. Buying your ticket ensures that someone less fortunate can attend.

This is an amazing opportunity to experience live classical music from this internationally celebrated chamber orchestra and its very special young guest, who is surely an inspiration for every fledgling and aspiring musician.

Tickets – £25 (includes reserved seating, programme and interval drink) – only 100 available.

Create Yarmouth

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Joao Domingos Bomtempo 3rd Movement from Symphony No.2
Bartok Romanian Dances (arrangement)
Bacewicz 1st Movement from Concerto for String Orchestra
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Britten Simple Symphony
Sarah Freestone New Commission

London Mozart Players
Young Musicians from Great Yarmouth

A special performance by the London Mozart Players and 100 young musicians from Great Yarmouth, featuring a brand new piece they have created with composer Sarah Freestone, as well as orchestral music from around Europe.

Come and be inspired by a world class professional orchestra and emerging young talent from the local area.

London Mozart Players at Fidelio Café

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Rossini Sonata no 1 in G major for Two Violins, Cello and Double Bass
Borodin Trio for Two Violins and Cello
Rossini Duet for Cello and Double Bass
Rossini Sonata no 3 in C major for Two Violins, Cello and Double Bass

London Mozart Players String Ensemble
Simon Blendis violin
Jennifer Godson violin
Sebastian Comberti cello
Ben Russell bass

LMP’s chamber group will be performing at the unconventional and captivating Fidelio Orchestra Café in Clerkenwell, London, in September – do join us for food, wine and music! The café’s opening weeks hosted sell-out performances by Steven Isserlis and Alina Ibragimova, described by The Times as ‘life-enhancing’. We are proud to be following such esteemed soloists, and look forward to performing a selection of works by Rossini and a trio by Borodin.

There are two ticket options:
£100 which includes a 3-course dinner as well as the concert.
£50 for dinner and concert for under 30s

 

Tchaikovsky in Grayshott

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Mozart The Magic Flute Overture
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D
Haydn Symphony No.104

London Mozart Players
Leia Zhu violin
Jonathan Bloxham conductor
Simon Blendis leader

14-year-old Leia Zhu prodigy will perform Grayshott’s first-ever performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D. Also on the programme are Mozart’s Overture Marriage of Figaro and Haydn’s Symphony No.104.

Mill Hill Music Club proudly presents London Mozart Players

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Mendelssohn  String symphony No. 10 in B minor
Bartok  Romanian Dances
Max Jaffa Arrangements of popular tunes for solo violin and strings
Barber Adagio
Mozart Sinfonia Concertante

London Mozart Players
Simon Blendis director/violin
Judith Busbridge viola

Mill Hill Music Club opens its 66th Season of Concerts with the the London Mozart Players under the direction of Simon Blendis.

Peace and Harmony

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London Mozart Players String Quartet
Sijie Chen violin
Jenny Godson violin
Sophie Renshaw viola
Ben Chappell cello
Fiona Brice Collaborative Composer in association with the LMP

Sanjay Guha artistic director
Saleel Tambe tabla
Dr Vijay Rajput vocals
Robin Christian flute
Sunil Jadhav keyboard
Subrang Arts Dancers

Peace and Harmony is an exciting cross-cultural collaboration between a quartet from Fairfield Halls’ resident orchestra, the London Mozart Players and a collective of Indian musicians and dancers. Collaborative Composer in association with the LMP, Fiona Brice, will arrange and orchestrate both the new compositions and music from the classical repertoire, bringing together musicians from both cultures in this exciting project.

Exploring the different musical worlds of the ancient but continuous tradition of Indian classical music and dance alongside traditional Western classical music, the musicians and dancers will perform together to present a unique and fascinating East/West fusion of musical art forms. Improvisations on traditional instruments from both sides of the cultural divide will create a musical ‘dialogue’ with the music expressed in dance form, particularly influenced by Kathak style dances from North India.

A Crowne of sharpest Thorns

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Howard Goodall Invictus: A Passion

London Mozart Players
Ralph Woodward conductor
Kirsty Hopkins soprano
Mark Dobell tenor
Ruth Rogers leader

Howard Goodall’s Invictus: A Passion is a modern masterpiece, setting 17th-century narrative verse alongside heart-rending poetry that explores the Passion story’s great themes: compassion, courage, love. We are proud to collaborate with the London Mozart Players and two illustrious soloists (Kirsty Hopkins and Mark Dobell) in what promises to be an unforgettable performance. Because we are all still finding our feet after COVID, the audience will be socially distanced, and the performance will last only an hour. We request that audience wear masks if possible; all performers will be double-vaccinated and tested.

London Mozart Players at Chipping Campden Festival

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Mendelssohn String Symphonie No.10 in B minor
Mozart Horn concerto No.4 in E Flat K.495
Cecilia Mcdowell New commission for strings
Haydn Symphony No.44 in E minor Hob.1:44

London Mozart Players
Richard Watkins horn
Ruth Rogers leader/director

Originally this concert would have taken place on May 14th of this year, just three days before the 100th anniversary of the birth of Denis Brain. Denis came from an extraordinary dynasty of horn players, regarded by many as perhaps the greatest horn player of all time, and is particularly remembered for his 1953 recordings of the Mozart Horn concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Herbert Von Karajan. His tragic death on September 1st 1957 at the age of just 36 remains one of the greatest ever losses to music. We are delighted to welcome Richard Watkins to perform the 4th concerto with the LMP, directed by our much loved CCFAO leader Ruth Rogers. This concert is also a celebration of the 70th birthday of distinguished composer Cecilia Mcdowall.

Not now, Bernard and Other Stories

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London Mozart Players
Ruth Rogers director
Polly Ives narrator
Rosie Brooks artist

Words, music, pictures and lots of laughs for children and grown-ups! London Mozart Players’ family concerts are always popular, and this will be no exception.

What would you do if you found a monster in the garden? Bernard tries to tell his parents but keeps getting the brush off – with dire consequences! David McKee’s classic story Not Now, Bernard is beloved by youngsters and has a powerful message for parents too!

Also on the programme is the thoroughly engaging Isabel’s Noisy Tummy, David McKee’s delightful laugh-out-loud story of a little girl’s gurgling tummy and how it takes her from zero to hero. While in James Mayhew’s The Knight Who Took all Day, a vain and foolish knight manages to loses both the girl and the dragon because he’s such a big show-off!

Narrator Polly Ives tells these hilarious tales with sparkling verve and energy, while Bernard Hughes’ lightly-scored and child-friendly music, performed by LMP, effortlessly builds an enchanting musical framework that anchors the stories, conveying all the necessary drama and colour. To add the pictures to the words and music, artist Rosie Brooks will sketch along to the stories live, with her illustrations projected behind the orchestra, bringing the characters to life. What an irresistible combination!

PLUS: all ticket holders can buy a copy of Not Now Bernard at Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace after the concert – £1.50 off each copy.

Ticket prices:
Standard £15
Concessions (65+) £13
Child (under 18) £5