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Music: Paul Patterson
Words: Roald Dahl

Polly Ives narrator
London Mozart Players

10.00am GMT

‘Wolves aren’t always as clever as they think they are…’. In a half-term musical treat for children of all ages, LMP’s Classical Club 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. Polly Ives narrates this hilarious twist on the fairy-tale classic, performing with LMP in the stunning Great Conservatory at Syon Park. 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.

Be at the Filming!

We will be filming this concert and The Three Little Pigs on Sunday 13^th September in the Great Conservatory at Syon Park. If you’d like to be in the audience for the filming (Covid-19 restrictions will be in place) then do come along. Just pay the entrance fee and make your way to the Great Conservatory in time for 12pm for Little Red Riding Hood and 3:30pm for Three Little Pigs (no extra charge for the concerts). Syon Park Ticket and location information can be found here: www.syonpark.co.uk/

Tickets

You can buy an individual ticket for this concert at £5 (€6/$7), or purchase as part of our 8-concert ‘Season Pass’ for £60 (€72/$80). A Season Pass includes extra content such as interviews and behind-the-scenes films, plus free concert programmes. 

 

About Classical Club

Classical Club is a brand-new series of eight classical music concerts, in partnership with Scala Radio.

 

Further Information

Narrator: Polly Ives

Polly enjoys a varied career as a concert presenter and narrator, workshop leader, trainer, teacher and cellist. As a children’s concert presenter, Polly performs regularly with Music in the Round and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and has worked with CBeebies, London Mozart Players and Royal Opera House among others. Polly is founder and director of Concerteenies, a live music series for babies, toddlers and their grown-ups in Sheffield and Derbyshire, at Greystones Backroom, Yellow Arch Studios, Music in the Round at the Crucible Theatre and in Castleton.

Polly is a highly experienced children’s workshop leader, with a focus on music supporting speech and language for children at elevated risk of delay. She has taught the cello and piano for many years and has coached with Sheffield Music Hub, Sheffield Music School, City of Sheffield Youth Orchestra and the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain and is Chair of Sheffield Young Singers.

Venue: The Great Conservatory, Syon Park

Syon House is the spectacular London home of the Duke of Northumberland. The house was built in the sixteenth century on the site of the Medieval Syon Abbey, and came to the family of the present owners in 1594. The exceptionally beautiful Great Conservatory, designed by Charles Fowler in the 1820s and completed in 1827, which stands in the grounds of Syon Park, was the first conservatory to be built from metal and glass on a large scale. The stunning yet delicate structure combines a neo-classical elevation on a Palladian model.

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Stravinsky The Soldier’s Tale

Simon Blendis leader
Tama Matheson narrator
London Mozart Players
William Vann conductor

3pm GMT

A theatrical work conceived by Igor Stravinsky and Swiss writer C.F. Ramuz, The Soldier’s Tale tells the story of a soldier trudging home, who trades his violin to the devil in return for a magic book which will bring him a fortune. Eventually realising that wealth is meaningless, the soldier deliberately loses a card game with the Devil to win back his fiddle. But the Devil is not so easily beaten…

Actor Tama Matheson narrates this Faustian story, while rhythms of ragtime, tango, waltz and a march jostle for position in Stravinsky’s devilishly original score, performed by an LMP septet of violin, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone and percussion. Written at the end of the First World War, when Stravinsky was recovering from the second wave of the Spanish flu (which delayed early performances of this work), The Soldier’s Tale is a parable for all cultures and times. This Classical Club performance will be broadcast first on Remembrance Sunday from the Royal Hospital Chelsea, to an audience of Chelsea Pensioners, and the concert will end with ‘The Last Post’ as a tribute to all veterans.

 

Tickets

You can buy individual tickets for concerts for £12 (€13/$15), children’s concerts £5 each (€6/$7), or an 8-concert ‘Season Pass’ for £60 (€72/$80). A Season Pass includes extra content such as interviews and behind-the-scenes films, plus free concert programmes.

 

About Classical Club

Classical Club is a brand-new series of eight classical music concerts, in partnership with Scala Radio.

 

 

Further Information

Narrator: Tama Matheson

Tama Matheson is a writer, director, and actor with a passion for combining the spoken word with music. In his career, Tama has always straddled the musical and theatrical worlds, and, for many years, cherished a desire to unify these two theatrical realms into a single creation. As such, he set up the company, Word and Music, in order to fulfil that desire.

Tama has directed opera and theatre all over the world. As an opera director, he has worked at the Sydney Opera House, Oper Graz, Houston Grand Opera, Melbourne Opera, Perth Opera, JACC Kuwait, and the Teatru Manoel in Malta. He has also collaborated with several orchestras, including Melbourne, Tasmanian, and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, the Brisbane Camerata, and the London Mozart Players.

Venue: The Royal Hospital Chelsea

The Royal Hospital Chelsea was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, who brought to life King Charles II’s vision of a home for veteran soldiers. Until the seventeenth century, the state made no provision for old and injured soldiers, and with the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1540s and beyond, there had been fewer religious houses to take on this duty of care. In 1681 Charles II issued a royal warrant authorising the building of the Royal Hospital in the Chelsea countryside (as it then was), and Wren was charged with the design and build. The first ‘Chelsea Pensioners’ were admitted in 1692, and there is still a full complement of Pensioners to this day, recognisable in their red uniforms, who have all served as ordinary soldiers in the Armed Forces at some point in their lives. Our concert takes place in The Wren Chapel, built between 1681 and 1687, a rare example of Wren’s pure ecclesiastical work. Director of Music William Vann takes the baton for this concert.

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Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 ‘Classical’ Op.25
Schumann Cello Concerto in A Major, Op.129 (soloist Maciej Kulakowski)

Ruth Rogers director
Maciej Kulakowski cello
London Mozart Players

7.00pm BST

Classical Club launches with 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 Schumann’s masterful Cello Concerto, performed by talented young cellist Maciej Kulakowski. A hugely romantic work, this gorgeous concerto is full of passionate melodies that soar against an unobtrusive orchestral accompaniment. Filmed before a socially-distancing audience at the stunning Church of St John the Evangelist in Upper Norwood – the London Mozart Players’ home venue and rightly famed for its music, this concert will be a real celebration of the best in classical music, and a truly thrilling reunion of players and audience. 

 

Tickets

You can buy individual tickets for concerts for £12 (€13/$15), children’s concerts £5 each (€6/$7), or an 8-concert ‘Season Pass’ for £60 (€72/$80). A Season Pass includes extra content such as interviews and behind-the-scenes films, plus free concert programmes. 

 

 

Concert snippet

Get a taste of the concert with this short preview.

 

About Classical Club

Classical Club is a brand-new series of eight classical music concerts, in partnership with Scala Radio.

 

Further Information

Soloist: Maciej Kulakowski 

We are delighted to welcome cellist Maciej Kulakowski as our soloist for this first Classical Club concert. Born in Gdansk, Maciej studies with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Kronberg Academy. In 2015, aged 19, Maciej won 1st Prize at the Lutoslawski International Cello Competition. He was a Laureate in the finals of the 2017 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels and a prize winner at the 2019 YCAT International Auditions at Wigmore Hall. Previous solo appearances include the Penderecki Festival, the Polish Chamber Philharmonic and Poznań Philharmonic Orchestras. Recitals and chamber music have taken Maciej around the world, including the Piatigorsky Cello Festival in Los Angeles, Beijing Super Cello Festival and Munich Rising Stars Festivals.   

 

About YCAT 

Founded in 1984, the Young Classical Artists Trust is a specialist charity that identifies, nurtures and supports musicians early in their careers and enables them to become self-supporting. As COVID-19 impacts on the livelihood and future of musicians around the world, the need to adapt has become more crucial than ever, and YCAT is working to provide the resources, insight and advice that young musicians need during this time. London Mozart Players are delighted to support YCAT rising stars through a showcase event in Classical Club. 

 

Venue: St John the Evangelist 

The stunning church of St John the Evangelist soars like a cathedral in the leafy suburb of Upper Norwood. A Grade II listed Gothic Revival church, designed by eminent English architect John Loughborough Pearson, it was built between 1878–1887. Music plays an important part in the life of St Johns; this is not just because it is the home of the London Mozart Players! The church is noted for the quality of its acoustics, and it is a sought-after recording space. The open design of the interior also lends itself to hosting concerts, with audiences of up to 500 people packing in to enjoy the delights of live classical music (pre-Covid of course). 

  

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SOLD OUT – we are operating a waiting list – see below.

LMP 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’, and we are proud to be following such esteemed soloists with two LMP chamber groups – a string trio led by Ruth Rogers (23 Sept) and an oboe quartet led by Simon Blendis (26 Sept).

Our exclusive evening just for LMP Friends, subscribers and supporters at the Café on Wednesday 23 September (Ruth’s String Trio) has now SOLD OUT. We are operating a waiting list. There are a few tickets available for Simon’s Oboe Quartet on Saturday 26 September. LMP Friends and Newsletter subscribers can enjoy priority booking until Tuesday 1 September when tickets will go on sale to the publi. Contact [email protected] for more information and to reserve your seats for 26th or go on the waiting list for 23rd.

To ensure each concert is delivered in line with COVID-19 guidelines, tickets are limited to just 25 people per concert. Tickets cost £100 per person and include a three-course meal and a glass of wine/prosecco alongside our 60-minute concert. We are also inviting an additional £20 donation to support us as we continue to find innovative ways to reach our audiences in the face of ongoing challenges brought on by the pandemic.

We are SO looking forward to welcoming you to these brilliant concerts!

 

String Trio: Ruth Rogers (violin), Judith Busbridge (viola), Sebastian Comberti (cello) 

Haydn Trio in G 
Beethoven C minor Op 9 
Dohnanyi Serenade  

 

These tickets can’t be booked online, so do contact [email protected] or the LMP office on 020 8686 1996 for further details.

Menus and information about the Fidelio Café can be found via their website.

GABRIEL FAURÉ: REQUIEM

New Poetry by Grahame Davies
I. Introitus et Kyrie
II. Offertorium
III. Sanctus
IV. Pie Jesu
V. Agnus Dei
VI. Libera me
VII. In Paradisum

The Gesualdo Six
Owain Park conductor
Simon Hogan organ
London Mozart Players

A virtual concert of music and readings for all affected by Covid-19. The Fauré Requiem with new readings by poet Grahame Davies commissioned for this event by JAM on the Marsh. More information via jamconcert.org