Summer String Serenade

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Britten Simple Symphony
Ireland Downland Suite
Finzi Eclogue
Holst St. Paul’s Suite
Elgar Serenade for Strings 

No interval

London Mozart Players
Mark Bebbington piano
Simon Blendis director

The opening concert of the third Summer Music in City Churches is a glorious programme of British music for strings. Celebrating the longed-for return of live music and the re-opening of churches, the festival’s theme is SUNSHINE AFTER RAIN: concerts filled with joyful, optimistic music to lift the spirits, with interludes for reflection too. Summer String Serenade sets the scene perfectly, with lively, evocative music rooted firmly in English folksong and countryside, and characterised by masterful orchestration. An abundance of timeless, bucolic sunniness characterises both Holst’s St Paul’s Suite and Ireland’s Downland Suite; between them the London Mozart Players are joined by pianist Mark Bebbington for Finzi’s Eclogue: ‘a rapt but not untroubled meditation’ (in the words of the composer’s biographer) in which the summery, pastoral scene is permeated with aching nostalgia and bittersweet tenderness. The programme opens with Britten’s exuberantly witty and youthful Simple Symphony and culminates with another early masterpiece: Elgar’s evergreen and much-loved Serenade for Strings. It all takes place in the historic church of St Giles-without-Cripplegate in the heart of the Barbican. 

Seaford Music Society

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Mozart Oboe Quartet in F Major for Oboe and Strings K370 K368b
Britten Phantasy Quartet for Oboe and String Trio Op.2
Beethoven Variations from The Magic Flute WoO46
Beethoven Eyeglass Duo WoO32

London Mozart Players Chamber Ensemble

The London Mozart Players Chamber Ensemble returns to Seaford, this time as an Oboe Quartet, to play Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F Major for Oboe and Strings, K370, K368b, Britten’s Phantasy Quartet for Oboe and String Trio, Opus 2, Beethoven’s Variations from The Magic Flute, WoO46 and his Eyeglass Duo, WoO32.

CANCELLED: The Waynflete Singers: 50th Anniversary Gala Concert

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Eves Waynflete Fanfare
Parry arr. Lawson I Was Glad
Howells arr. Neary A Hymn for St. Cecilia
Roderick Williams To Autumn
Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs
Barber Toccata Festiva
Wesley Ascribe unto the Lord
Tavener Svyati
Parry Blest Pair of Sirens

London Mozart Players
The Waynflete Singers
Roderick Williams baritone
Andrew Lumsden organ
Alice Neary cello
Martin Neary conductor
David Hill conductor
Andrew Lumsden conductor

The Waynflete Singers conclude their fiftieth anniversary season in celebratory style with a Gala Concert which re-unites them with former music directors Martin Neary and David Hill. Both musicians have chosen to conduct works that reflect their own particular tastes, while at the same time showcasing the typically wide repertoire of the Waynfletes. Martin Neary’s long association with John Tavener will ensure a very special musical experience while David Hill’s love of English music will illuminate the magic of Vaughan Williams.

Thaxted Festival

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Haydn arr. Salomon Symphony No.102
Hummel Concertino
Beethoven arr. Lachner Piano Concerto No.3

Howard Shelley piano
Simon Blendis leader

LMP and Howard Shelley perform three pioneering arrangements of symphonic works all dating from the closing years of the eighteenth century. Haydn’s Symphony No 102, one of his twelve London symphonies, marks an expansion of the symphony’s musical ambitions, frequently flouting Classical conventions. Hummel’s bright and graceful Concertino is considered his first mature concerto. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 3 brings the programme to a high-spirited conclusion.

CANCELLED: Grayshott Concerts: Tchaikovsky in Grayshott

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

Jonathan Bloxham conductor
Leia Zhu violin
Simon Blendis leader

13-year-old Leia Zhu will perform Grayshott’s first-ever performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D. Also on the programme Mozart’s Overture Magic Flute and Haydn’s Symphony No.104

Online Concert: Ryedale Festival: The Lark Ascending

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Vivaldi Spring
Grieg Holberg Suite
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending

London Mozart Players
Ruth Rogers (violin)

Spring is in the air! London Mozart Players is delighted to be performing in the annual Ryedale Festival, a wonderful gathering of performers who come from around the world to perform in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, an area of outstanding natural beauty that’s also packed with history. The best news is that we can ALL enjoy the festival this year, as it is now going online: tickets are free (donation requested).

Filmed in the stunning surroundings of Castle Howard, LMP will be performing a programme that’s perfect for this time of year. ‘Spring’ from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Grieg’s Holberg Suite are on the programme, with Vaughan Williams’ ever-popular The Lark Ascending as the centrepiece. LMP’s own Ruth Rogers takes the solo spot in what is going to be a truly ravishing concert. Do support this exciting and enterprising festival!

Content will be free-to-view via the Ryedale Festival YouTube channel, but please make a donation to support Ryedale’s digital programme if you can.

Live Concert: Spotlight on…Jess

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Mozart  Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.385 (Haffner)
Glazunov Concerto in E flat for alto saxophone & string orchestra
Nyman Saxophone Concerto, Where the Bee Dances

London Mozart Players
Jess Gillam saxophone
Ruth Rogers leader
Jonathan Bloxham conductor

Former BBC Young Musician finalist and now BBC broadcaster Jess Gillam joins London Mozart Players in two spectacular works for saxophone including Nyman’s electrifying ‘Where the Bee Dances’. Gillam brings virtuosity and ‘life-affirming talent’, as described in the BBC Young Musician final, to an evening that takes in Glazunov’s romantic and beautifully lyrical Saxophone Concerto. The programme, under the baton of Jonthan Bloxham, is completed by an LMP favourite – Mozart’s ‘Haffner’ Symphony No.35.

Gillam burst onto the music scene in 2016 as the first saxophonist ever to reach the final of the BBC Young Musician competition. She has wowed audiences and inspired young musicians with her passion for music ever since – her first album, Rise, released in April 2019, shot to No.1 in the UK’s Official Classical Charts, while her second album Time was released in autumn 2020. If you thought the saxophone was just for jazz, think again: this will be an extraordinary night of music-making from a Classical Brit-winning soloist and an internationally celebrated orchestra.

There will be two concerts on the same day to accommodate social distancing. 

This concert will be filmed for later release on the LMP website. 

As part of LMP’s 100k Challenge (to reach 100,000 children and young people through music in 2021) we are working with schools and music hubs across the UK to make our Spotlight concert films available to schools for a limited time, for free, along with specially curated ‘listening guides’ for different age groups.

If you would like your schools to be part of this initiative, please contact Tegan Eldridge for more information.

Grayshott Concerts: Howard’s Way

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Haydn arr. Salomon Symphony No.94 “Surprise”
Beethoven arr. Lachner Piano Concerto No.3

London Mozart Players
Howard Shelley piano/conductor

Our very good friend Howard Shelley performs Beethoven’s great Piano Concerto No 3 and conducts Haydn’s ever-popular Surprise Symphony.  

Grayshott Concerts: Best of Baroque

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Vivaldi Concerto for Strings in G minor RV157
Bach Violin Concerto in A minor BWV1041
Vivaldi Mandolin Concerto in C major RV425
Telemann Viola Concerto in G major TWV51:G9
Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D minor BWV1043

Adrian Butterfield violin
Sijie Chen violin
Judith Busbridge viola
Simon Mayor mandolin

We return to Grayshott with Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, the super-sparkling Vivaldi Mandolin Concerto in C and Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G.

ONLINE EVENT: Piano Explored – Hummel Zoom Q&A

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Join us for our second ‘Watch Party’ Zoom Q&A with Howard Shelley and members of the LMP directly after the third Piano Explored concert (Hummel Piano Concerto No. 4) on Thursday 22nd April at 2.30pm. If it’s anything like our first zoom Q&A after the Mozart No.21, it will be full of enlightening (and amusing) answers from Howard and the LMP team. Tickets are free, but numbers are limited!

Please note registrations via the website close at 1pm.

The Zoom link will be sent to all participants before 1:00pm on Thursday 22nd April. If you don’t receive the link by then, please check your spam folder. If you wish to register after 1pm, then please email [email protected] for the link.

ONLINE CONCERT: Beethoven & Britten

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Britten Simple Symphony
Beethoven Concerto for Violin in D

Jonian Ilias Kadesha violin
London Mozart Players

If you missed LMP’s Classical Club concert with Jonian Ilias Kadesha last November, when he performed Beethoven’s epic Violin Concerto, then you won’t want to miss a futher opportunity to see this incredible musician in action. A leading talent of his generation, Jonian joins LMP for another electrifying performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D. The lyricism and exuberance of Beethoven’s work are complemented by the characterful movements of Britten’s Simple Symphony, labelled by the composer as ‘boisterous, playful, sentimental’ and ‘frolicsome’.

This performance, filmed at St Martin-in-the-Fields is part of the SMITF Fresh Horizons concert series, and is for online viewing only. Concert goes live on Thursday 25th February at 7.30pm and will be available to view on demand for the following 30 days.

Mozart Zoom Q&A

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Join us for an enlightening Zoom Q&A with Howard Shelley and members of the LMP directly after the second Piano Explored concert (Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21) on Thursday 18 March. You’ll get some extra insights from Howard as well as a preview of the next concert in the series. Please note registrations via the website close at 1pm.

The Zoom link will be sent to all participants at 1:00pm on 18 March. In case you don’t get the link, please check your spam folder. If you wish to register after 1pm, then please email [email protected] for the link.

Live Concert: Spotlight on…Leia

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Mozart Magic Flute Overture
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major, Op.35
Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op.93

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

Join us for the magnificent final concert in the Spotlight On series, when LMP brings the music of three classical giants – Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky – to Fairfield Halls. The concert showcases the prodigious talents of 14-year-old violinist Leia Zhu, who is destined for a stellar career. She will bring all her virtuosic talent to one of the favourites of the violin repertoire, Tchaikovsky’s lyrical and expressive Violin Concerto in D. LMP will also perform Beethoven’s short, ebullient and somewhat experimental Eighth Symphony and the concert kicks off with Mozart’s cheerful Overture to his beloved opera The Magic Flute. Conductor Jonathan Bloxham will be in charge of proceedings; this will be a highlight of LMP’s autumn season!

As part of LMP’s 100k Challenge (to reach 100,000 children and young people through music in 2021) we are working with schools and music hubs across the UK to make our Spotlight concert films available to schools for a limited time, for free, along with specially curated ‘listening guides’ for different age groups.

If you would like your schools to be part of this initiative, please contact Tegan Eldridge for more information.

ONLINE CONCERT: Piano Explored – Mozart & Moscheles

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Mozart Piano Concerto No.6 in B-flat major, K.238
Moscheles Piano Concerto 1 in F major, Op.45

London Mozart Players
Howard Shelley Piano

Directing from the piano, Howard Shelley introduces a two-concerto concert that pairs a Mozart masterpiece with an unknown gem. Mozart’s beautifully expressive Piano Concerto No. 6, written when the composer was only 20, shows young Mozart at his finest and hints at the expressive intensity to come. Lively writing at the outset is followed by a refined and expressive slow movement reminiscent of the Andante of concerto no.21, before a finale packed with terpsichorean themes brings the concerto to an exuberant end. In the hands of the LMP and Howard Shelley, Mozart’s charming melodies will dance between the pillars of St John’s Smith Square’s stunning baroque interior. Moscheles may be a new name for many, but Mozart lovers will find much to admire in his 1819 piano concerto, which is packed with Mozartean grace and lyrical melody. Howard Shelley, an acclaimed exponent of repertoire which bridges the Classical and Romantic periods, will bring stylistic elegance and nimbleness to this delightful work, bringing the season to a lively end.

‘Shelley’s performances combine spirit and finesse’ Classic FM

Want to know more about the pieces. Download our Piano Explored brochure.

 

Having trouble buying or watching? Try our help and FAQs.

 

 

ONLINE CONCERT: Piano Explored – Hummel

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Hummel Piano Concerto No.4 in E, Op.110

London Mozart Players
Howard Shelley piano

Johann Nepomuk Hummel was one of the most talented pianist/composers of his day, and a musical ‘bridge’ between the Classical and Romantic eras. Hummel’s works are full of joie-de-vivre, their harmonic and lyrical variety showcasing his prodigious, virtuosic talent. If you are unfamiliar with Hummel, then the E major piano concerto is the perfect starting point, and Howard Shelley, a champion of this much-underrated composer, will bring all his consummate musicianship to the piece’s playful piano passagework. Take an hour with the London Mozart Players and Howard Shelley to judge Hummel’s genius for yourself, you will be convinced.

‘Howard Shelley proves a supremely eloquent advocate of the composer, with his refined, shapely phrasing, crystalline textures’ BBC Music Magazine

Want to know more about the pieces. Download our Piano Explored brochure.

Having trouble buying or watching? Try our help and FAQs.

 

 

ONLINE CONCERT: Piano Explored – Mozart

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Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467

London Mozart Players
Howard Shelley piano

In March 2021, our Piano Explored concert was dedicated to a real favourite of the classical repertoire. Mozart composed his twenty-first piano concerto in a hugely busy period of his life but the music is perfectly poised, and the concerto has the majesty and immensity of his greatest symphonies. The beautifully expressive slow movement, which in the 1960s experienced a burst of fame as the theme for art house film ‘Elvira Madigan’, verges on the operatic, with a quiet melody moving over a pulsating accompaniment. This concert also includes Howard Shelley’s enlightening insights into the piece, delivered before the LMP and the impeccably stylish Shelley perform this technically demanding and hugely popular masterpiece.

‘He is an artist of electric vitality and cultured exuberance’ Fanfare, USA

Want to know more about the pieces. Download our Piano Explored brochure.

Having trouble buying or watching? Try our help and FAQs.

 

 

ONLINE CONCERT: Piano Explored – Saint-Saëns & Mendelssohn

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Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.22
Mendelssohn Capriccio Brillant in B minor, Op.22

London Mozart Players
Simon Blendis leader
Howard Shelley piano

The spring 2021 season of Piano Explored opened with Saint-Saëns much-admired second piano concerto – a tour de force for any pianist. By turns tempestuous, flighty and lyrical, this concerto breaks convention by having each succeeding movement faster than the last in a structured accelerando, ending with an exhilarating conclusion. Berlioz described Saint-Saëns as ‘an absolutely shattering master pianist’, and in Howard Shelley we have our own master at work. In this lunchtime concert, Saint-Saëns is paired with Mendelssohn’s a charming one-movement Capriccio Brillant, which reveals the best in sophisticated pianistic art. The gentle melancholy of the Andante and the contrasting dizzying arpeggios, chromatic runs and octave leaps of the Allegro will allow Howard Shelley to demonstrate his virtuosic skills and profound musicality. Howard’s entertaining and informative introduction will be followed by a performance of both works by the LMP with Howard directing from the piano.

‘[An] aristocratic command of the glittering keyboard pyrotechnics.’ Daily Telegraph

Want to know more about the pieces. Download our Piano Explored brochure.

Having trouble buying or watching? Try our help and FAQs.

 

 

ONLINE concert: Four World Seasons

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Astor Piazzolla Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
Roxanna Panufnik Four World Seasons

Ruth Rogers director/soloist
London Mozart Players

 

The London Mozart Players, directed by leader Ruth Rogers, present two very different but equally exciting and invigorating works that celebrate the changing seasons.

2021 sees the centenary of Astor Piazzolla, the Argentine composer who revitalised the music of his homeland, particularly music inspired by the tango. Fiery, passionate, tense and driven by an endless supply of rhythmic energy, Piazzolla’s music transports us to the sweltering squares of Buenos Aires, none more so than his ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires’. As Vivaldi was inspired by spring, summer, autumn and winter, so is Piazzolla, but the seasons in Buenos Aires inspire a more sultry, slinky and seductive set of pieces that will raise all our temperatures!

Also inspired to present the changing year in music, LMP’s Associate Composer Roxanna Panufnik composed ‘Four World Seasons’ as a modern response to both Vivaldi and Piazzolla but mainly influenced by music from around the world. She makes the theme entirely her own, spiriting us away on an adventurous world tour. This virtuosic piece delivers bird song from a Japanese spring, introduces complex string settings representing a Northern Indian summer, takes us to the dizzy heights of autumn in Albania, and depicts a Himalayan winter complete with chiming Tibetan singing bowl.

The concert will be filmed under Covid guidelines for online release on 28 January and will be available to view on demand for 30 days.

This concert is part of St Martin in the Fields ‘Fresh Horizons’ 14-concert series. You can buy a Season Pass for £98 (over £40 discount).

Buy Tickets here.