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Classical Concerts in London UK A selection of forthcoming live music |

Look ahead: October
November
December
January
February
March
| 3 September 2010 | |
| 6.30pm Schott Recital Room 48 Great Marlborough Street London W1F 7BB United Kingdom Details: Web site £8 / £5 concessions | Piano sonatas by John White Dave Smith, piano John White: Piano Sonatas nos. 136, 81, 71, 76, 78, 55, 65, 29, 111, 88, 89, 90, 127, 154, 137, 132, 109 + 135 |
| 7 September 2010 | |
| 7.30pm St Johns Wood Church Lords Roundabout London NW8 United Kingdom Details: Web site +44 (0)7980 516054 £10 (£8 concessions) | In Peascod Time Passamezzo: Eleanor Cramer, soprano, viol Christopher Goodwin, lute, theorbo, bass Peter Luke Kenny, baritone, actor Alison Kinder, viols, recorders Tamsin Lewis, violin, viols, alto 16th and 17th Century Music, Words and Song for Summer and the Harvest. Includes works by Greene, Purcell, Wilbye, Morley, Pilkington, Robinson and Gamble. Supported by REEP |
| 14 September 2010 | |
| 6pm St Clement Danes Strand London WC2R 1DH United Kingdom Details: Web site | Battle of Britain Young Composers Concert - world premières by twenty young composers |
| 17 September 2010 | |
| 7pm Bolivar Hall Warren Street London United Kingdom Details: Roberto Molina +44 (0)7825 179179 £12 | Va por Cuba! An evening of live Music and Poetry. A Recital featuring classical music from the Americas and poetry from Cuba. This, the third concert in the VA POR CUBA series, proves to be the best yet with a wide range of artists performing. Including Ahmed Dickinson, Eralys Fernandez, Roberto Molina, Amy Finegan, Lucia Marica and Diego Carneiro. Tickets can be purchased in advance to avoid disappointment at: http://eralyspiano.webeden.co.uk (£12) |
| 7.30pm St Martin-in-the-Fields Trafalgar Square London WC2N 4JJ United Kingdom Details: Web site | Vivaldi Four Seasons Michel Gershwin, violin LMA Ensemble John Landor, conductor Vivaldi: Sinfonia 'Alla Rustica' Pachelbel: Canon Bach: Dances from Suite No 3 Bach: Concerto for Two Violins in D minor Vivaldi: Four Seasons |
| 18 September 2010 | |
| 10.15am Cadogan Hall Sloane Terrace London SW1X 9DQ United Kingdom Details: Web site +44 (0)20 7730 4500 Children - £6; Adults - £8; Four for £22 | Southbank Sinfonia Family Concert Alasdair Malloy, presenter Southbank Sinfonia Stephen Bell, conductor The King of the Magical Kingdom of Far, Far Away and his Court Jester cordially invite you to accompany them to the Grand Ball, hosted by the Southbank Sinfonia. As guests arrive, we meet Beauty and the Beast, Robin Hood, The Empress of the Pagodas and Puss in Boots and hear some Tales of Narnia. The Ball commences with the Sleeping Beauty Waltz before strutting our stuff to the Shrek Dance Party. One child attending a Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea school can enter free with every adult ticket. |
| 19 September 2010 | |
| 3:30pm Chiswick Catholic Centre Dukes Avenue London W4 United Kingdom Details: Web site | Blenheim Concerts Gemma Rosefield, cello Simon Lepper, piano Beethoven: 12 Variations on a theme by Handel from Judas Maccabaeus, WoO 45 Brahms: Cello Sonata no. 2 in F major, Op.99 Barber: Sonata for cello and piano in C minor, Op.6 Cecilia McDowall: Falling Angels |
| 22 September 2010 | |
| 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Belvedere Road London SE1 8ST United Kingdom Details: Web site | London Philharmonic Orchestra - Mahler: Symphony No 3 London Philharmonic Orchestra open the 2010/11 season with Mahler's Symphony No. 3 |
| 23 September 2010 | |
| 7.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site +44 (0)7956 245 736 £12 (concessions £6, children £2) | The Zoffany Ensemble Manon Derome, violin Catherine Musker, viola Anthony Pleeth, cello Leon Bosch, double bass Michael Dussek, piano Schubert: Quintet in A major, 'The Trout' Other works by Schubert, and works by Rossini and Schumann The Ensemble’s core repertoire is classical and romantic chamber music. |
| 24 September 2010 | |
| 7.30pm St Martin-in-the-Fields Trafalgar Square London WC2N 4JJ United Kingdom Details: Web site +44 (0)20 7766 1100 £7, 10, 16, 20, 24 | Vivaldi Four Seasons and Gloria by Candlelight Brandenburg Baroque Soloists Medici Choir John Baird, conductor Persephone Gibbs, violin Vivaldi: Four Seasons Vivaldi: Gloria |
| 7.30pm Wigmore Hall Wigmore Street London W1U 2BP United Kingdom Details: Wigmore Hall Box Office Web site +44 (0)20 7935 2141 £18, 24, 28, 32 | JS Bach Forebears The Choir of the AAM The Academy of Ancient Music Richard Egarr, director and harpsichord Heinrich Bach: ' Ich danke dir, Gott' Johann Michael Bach: 'Liebster Jesu, hor mein Flehen' Anon: 'Es ist g'nug' H Bach: 'Sonata a 5' Johann Christoph Bach: 'Die Furcht des Herren' JC Bach: 'Ach, dass ucg Wassers gnug hatte' H Bach: 'Sonata a 5' JC Bach: 'Mein Frendin, du bist schon' |
| 9.30pm St Martin-in-the-Fields Trafalgar Square London WC2N 4JJ United Kingdom Details: Web site +44 (0)20 7766 1100 £18 unreserved. Ticket price includes a glass of wine or soft drink in the Cafe in the Crypt before the concert | Rachmaninov Vespers by Candlelight Twickenham Choral Society Christopher Herrick, conductor Rachmaninov: Vespers |
| 25 September 2010 | |
| 7.30pm St Martin-in-the-Fields Trafalgar Square London WC2N 4JJ United Kingdom Details: Web site | Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony LMA Orchestra John Landor, conductor Rossini: 'Overture' from Barber of Seville Mendelssohn: 'Scherzo', 'Nocturne' and 'Wedding March' from A Midsummer Night's Dream Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite Beethoven: Symphony No 6 in F 'Pastoral Symphony' Featuring LMA's 'Mini Masterclass', a short exploration of the music during the interval |
| 7.30pm St. John's Smith Square London SW1P 3HA United Kingdom Details: Web site +44 (0)20 7222 1061 £15 / £10 (concessions £13 / £8) | Barber, Dvorák, William Grant Still and Jennifer Higdon (2010 Pulitzer Prize winner) Serafin String Quartet: Kate Ransom, violin Timothy Schwarz, violin Ana Tsinadze, viola Lawrence Stomberg, cello Samuel Barber: String Quartet, Op 11 (with 'Adagio for Strings') Antonín Dvorák: 'American' Quartet in F, Op 96 William Grant Still: 'Danzas de Panama' Jennifer Higdon: 'Amazing Grace' The program represents an “American Tapestry” featuring Samuel Barber’s String Quartet, Op. 11, with the famous “Adagio for Strings,” in honor of one of America’s great composers’ centenary celebration in 2010; Antonín Dvorák’s “American” Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, written when the Czech-born composer worked in New York and vacationed in Iowa; William Grant Still’s “Danzas de Panama,” in recognition of Still’s distinction as the father of African-American composers; and 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Higdon’s “Amazing Grace.” |
| 26 September 2010 | |
| 8pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site +44 (0)7774 213 131 £12 (concessions £10) | Hilda Bronstein with Chutzpah! Hilda Bronstein, singer Yair Schleider, piano, accordion, and guitar Meg Hamilton, violin and viola Dave Shulman, clarinet Paul Moylon, double bass Ronen Kozokaro, percussion An uplifting musical evening of mellow songs for the soul, vibrant Klezmer and toe-tapping Yiddish Swing. Award-winning Yiddish singer Hilda Bronstein celebrates the launch of her latest CD with London’s newest Klezmer/Swing band Chutzpah! |
| 30 September 2010 | |
| 7.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site £10 (concessions £7.50) at the door | Sergei Podobedov Piano Recital Sergei Podobedov, piano Chopin: 24 Preludes, Op.28 and other works An acclaimed interpreter of Chopin's music, Sergei Podobedov has received rave reviews since his debut with orchestra at the age of 12 performing Chopin’s 2nd Piano Concerto. “With maximum enthusiasm, I laud Sergei Podobedov’s exhilarating pianism. Possessor of a nonpareil technique, he communicates the iridescent colours of the classical and romantic literature with keen perception of stylistic nuances.” (Robert Stevenson, contributor to The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians.) www.sergeipodobedov.com |
| 7.45pm St Saviour's, Pimlico Lupus Street London SW1V 3QW United Kingdom Details: Web site £10, concessions £8 | Songs of Belonging Canticum, chamber choir Mark Forkgen, conductor Simon Speare: Songs of Belonging The premiere of a community music theatre work for children, choir and audience. Composed by Simon Speare, one of our best-known young composers, it explores themes of refuge and asylum through the ages, through a series of songs linked by a narrator. From the Biblical Flight to Egypt to life in contemporary Britain, it draws on universal concerns of asylum seekers: the hopes and fears of those who seek a place of safety. |
| 1 October 2010 | |
| 7.30pm Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street London W1U 2BP United Kingdom £24, 22, 16, 12 | Festlicher Bach The King's Consort: Julie Cooper, soprano Rebecca Outram, soprano Robin Blaze, countertenor David Gould, countertenor Charles Daniels, tenor Mark Dobell, tenor Ben Davies, bass Philip Tebb, bass Robert King, conductor Bach: Concerto to Cantata BWV35 Bach, after Kerll: Sanctus in D major, BWV241 Bach: Sinfonia to Cantata BWV35 Bach: Lutheran Mass in G major, BWV236 Telemann: Ouverture 'Perpetuum mobile' Bach: Lutheran Mass in G minor, BWV235 Bach's glorious Lutheran Masses, dating from the late 1730s, are full of astonishing music, with joyous choruses and ravishing solos. With eight fine singers, an unbeatable instrumental line-up, and music by a composer central to TKC across 30 years, here is an unmissable concert. |
| 6 October 2010 | |
| 7.30pm Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street London W1U 2BP United Kingdom Details: Web site £10, 14, 18, 20 | Southbank Sinfonia Showcase Southbank Sinfonia Sacconi Quartet Elgar: Introduction and Allegro ‘This was densely inter-communicated chamber music, with Raphael Wallfisch relishing the work’s soaring lyricism and his duetting with many an orchestral soloist’ The Times on Southbank Sinfonia’s concert at Wigmore Hall in 2009 |
| 7 October 2010 | |
| 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road London SE1 8XX United Kingdom Details: Web site £49, 39, 29, 19, 12, 10 | A Night under the Stars Joan Rodgers, soprano Victoria Simmonds, mezzo-soprano Jesus Leon, tenor Changhan Lim, baritone Jack Liebeck, violin Orion Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Toby Purser, conductor Mozart: Overture; 'Non so piu' (The Marriage of Figaro) Rossini: ’Non piu mesta’ (La Cenerentola) Puccini: ‘Che gelida manina’ (La boheme) Massenet: Meditation (Thais) Dvorak: ‘Song to the Moon’ (Rusalka) Tchaikovsky: Polonaise and Tatiana’s Letter Scene (Eugene Onegin) Bizet: Prelude and Toreador Song (Carmen) Bizet: ‘Au fond du temple saint’ (The Pearl Fishers) Verdi: Hebrew Slaves chorus (Nabucco) In aid of The Passage-helping homeless people for 30 years Griff Rhys Jones hosts an evening of operatic hits. Soprano Joan Rodgers CBE leads a line up of exciting soloists. To buy concert tickets call The Passage on 020 7592 1856 or The Southbank Centre on 0844 847 9910 Or email tickets@passage.or.uk Pre concert and post concert gala reception tickets available from the Passage-see www.passage.co.uk Discounts are available if purchasing concert tickets with reception tickets Or mail The Passage, St Vincent’s centre, Carlisle Place, London SW1P 1NL |
| 8.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site £12 (Concessions £10) | Stan Tracey Trio Stan Tracey, piano Andrew Cleyndert, double bass Clark Tracey, drums One of the great figures of post-war jazz, Stan Tracey, now in his eighties, is as vigorous and dynamic as ever. He received standing ovations at this year’s Swanage Festival, and in August sold out one of Amsterdam’s top concert venues. Busier than ever, the trio has achieved a feeling of cohesion and group thought unique on the British scene. |
| 16 October 2010 | |
| 7.30pm St. John's Smith Square London SW1P United Kingdom Details: Web site £25, 20, 15 and concessions | St John Passion Mark Wilde, Evangelist Peter Harvey, Jesus Julia Doyle, soprano Robin Blaze, alto Nicholas Mulroy, tenor Colin Baldy, bass Mark Ford, conductor The Purcell Singers The Purcell Orchestra The Purcell Singers and Orchestra will be joined by an exceptional line-up of soloists to perform Bach's awe-inspiring St. John Passion. All proceeds of the concert will go to The Yellow Heart Trust to help those with unresolved trauma. |
| Shoreditch Church London United Kingdom Details: Web site | Frieze Music presents Baby Dee and The Elysian Quartet |
| 21 October 2010 | |
| 8.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site £9 (concessions £7.50) | Damon Brown Quintet Damon Brown, trumpet Yutaka Shiina, piano Art Themen, tenor saxophone Martin Zenker, double bass Troy Miller, drums Shiina is Japan’s premier modern jazz pianist. He was a member of the Elvin Jones’ Jazz Machine. His albums on Sony BMG have included great players like Nicholas Payton, Roy Hargrove and Christian McBride. This will be part of Damon’s fourth tour with him, and the inclusion of German bassist Michael Zenker adds to the band’s international flavour. Themen, of course, is simply one of our finest musicians. |
| 28 October 2010 | |
| 8.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site £9 (concessions £7.50) | Sarah Moule Sarah Moule, vocals Simon Wallace, piano Dave Green, double bass Paul Robinson, drums 'Awesome' was how Jazz UK responded to Sarah Moule’s 2009 Swanage Festival performance. 'Hauntingly gorgeous' was Jazz Times description of her latest collection of songs by the great London- based US lyricist Fran Landesman, someone who continues to create with Simon Wallace who is Sarah’s outstanding pianist and Music Director. Dave Green is generally acknowledged as one of our outstanding bassists, and Paul Robinson worked with the late Nina Simone for over fifteen years. Altogether, a class evening of vocal jazz is promised. |
| 30 October 2010 | |
| 7.30pm St Martin-in-the-Fields Trafalgar Square London WC2N 4JJ United Kingdom Details: Web site | Beethoven's Seventh Symphony Pavel Guerchovitch, violin LMA Orchestra John Landor, conductor Beethoven: Coriolan Overture Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor Beethoven: Symphony No 7 in A Featuring LMA's 'Mini Masterclass', a short exploration of the music during the interval. |
| 4 November 2010 | |
| 8.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site £9 (concessions £7.50) | Christian Brewer / Stan Sulzmann Quintet Christian Brewer, saxophone Stan Sulzmann, saxophone Andrea Pozza, piano Tom Farmer, double bass Shaney Forbes, drums The synthesis of these two wonderful saxophone players, coming from different generations and stylistic backgrounds, is a mouth-watering prospect. Sulzmann, a giant from the Wheeler/Surman/Taylor school, is one of the UK's most respected players, while Brewer, the younger of the two, is steeped in the bebop language of an earlier period. He plays regularly with Pozza, an Italian pianist who has been an important figure on the international jazz scene for the last twenty years, having worked with such outstanding figures as Enrico Rava, Chet Baker, Steve Grossman and many others. Shaney Forbes is believed by many to be one of the outstanding young drummers on the scene, a musician who loves to swing in the classic style of men like Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones. |
| 11 November 2010 | |
| 7.30pm Cadogan Hall Sloane Terrace London United Kingdom Details: Web site £30, 22, 15 | Remembrance & Revival Valentina Seferinova, piano Orion Symphony Orchestra Toby Purser, conductor Dorothy Howell: Piano Concerto Lilian Elkington: Out of the Mist Josef Holbrooke: Variations on 'The Girl I Left Behind Me' Ralph Vaughan Williams: Overture 'The Wasps' Ralph Vaughan Williams: Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus' Edward Elgar: In the South Famous and Forgotten Works by British Composers First professional performance for over 70 years of the following works: Dorothy Howell: Piano Concerto Lilian Elkington: Out of the Mist Josef Holbrooke: Variations on ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’ Dorothy Howell was a pupil at the Royal Academy of Music and gained recognition in 1919 when, at the age of 21, her symphonic poem Lamia was given its premičre at the Promenade Concerts by Sir Henry Wood - it was performed four more times that same season, and makes a welcome reappearance at this year’s Proms. Her piano concerto was praised by Havergal Brian. A notable concert pianist, Lilian Elkington studied both composition and piano under Granville Bantock. Her compositions were performed at Bournemouth and Harrogate in the early 1920s, but, after her marriage, she ceased writing music. We owe the discovery of Out of the Mist to the musicologist David Brown who came across the manuscript full score and orchestral parts in a box of sheet music in a secondhand bookshop in Worthing. Her only surviving orchestral work, Out of the Mist is a moving evocation of the arrival of the body of the Unknown Warrior. The scintillating and light-hearted Variations on ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’, surely a candidate for the last night of the Proms, is the second of three sets of orchestral variations produced by Josef Holbrooke, the others being on ‘Three Blind Mice’ and ‘Auld Lang Syne’ respectively. Holbrooke was the equal of Bantock or Vaughan Williams in his mastery of orchestration and this rare performance of one of his most attractive pieces will give audiences an opportunity to reassess this unjustly neglected composer. Also included is music by Vaughan Williams, the popular and tuneful Overture ‘The Wasps’ and Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus’, while Elgar’s glorious tone poem In the South concludes the concert. Concert in aid of the St Lazarus Charitable Trust for the relief of leprosy. |
| 18 November 2010 | |
| 7.45pm St Sophia's Cathedral Moscow Road, Bayswater London W2 4LQ United Kingdom Details: Web site £12, concessions £10 | Liturgy of St John Chrysostom Canticum, chamber choir Mark Forkgen, conductor Rachmaninov: Liturgy of St John Chrysostom Centenary performance of Rachmaninov's 1910 sacred choral work, performed in London's Greek Orthodox Cathedral |
| 8.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site £9 (concessions £7.50) | London Jazz Festival: In Deep Mark Lockheart, saxophone Liam Noble, piano Chris Laurence, double bass Mark Lockheart was voted ‘Musician of the Year’ in this year’s Parliamentary Jazz Awards and his original material on his In Deep album was one of the reasons for that accolade. In this concert Mark has promised a mix of some of that material together with some standard themes, and the prospect of the interplay between his haunting saxophone sound and the inventions of his two triple A-class companions promises an evening of outstanding chamber jazz. |
| 20 November 2010 | |
| 7.30pm St Martin-in-the-Fields Trafalgar Square London WC2N 4JJ United Kingdom Details: Web site | Beethoven's 5th Symphony LMA Orchestra John Landor, conductor Mozart: 'Overture' from The Marriage of Figaro Schubert: Symphony No 8, 'Unfinished' Beethoven: Ode to Joy Beethoven: Symphony No 5 in C minor Featuring LMA's 'Mini Masterclass', a short exploration of the music during the interval. |
| 21 November 2010 | |
| 7pm Stationers' Hall Ave Maria Lane London NN11 3TD United Kingdom Details: Box office Web site +44 (0)1327 360931 £25 (includes reception, interval champagne), dinner +£80 | Tallis Christmas Mass Fiori Musicali Choir Penelope Rapson, director Tallis: Lamentations Tallis: Magnificat à 4 Tallis: Missa Puer natus est Tallis stands supreme at the pinnacle of English choral music, and it is thought his Missa Puer natus est was composed for the combined chapel choirs of Queen Mary and King Philip of Spain. Based on Christmas plainchant, the mass is the most elaborate from mid-16th century England, and by far the grandest by Tallis himself. The St Ceciliatide celebrations at Stationers' Hall date from just after the Great Fire of London. Revived by Fiori Musicali to great acclaim, these events are amongst the City's best kept secrets. "A splendid entertainment is provided, and before it is always a performance of Music by the best voices and hands in Town . . . This Feast is one of the genteelest in the world." Reception 6.30 for 7pm concert. Optional candlelit dinner afterwards with fine Saint-Émilion wines. |
| 25 November 2010 | |
| 8.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site £9 (concessions £7.50) | Chris Allard / Brandon Allen Quintet Chris Allard, guitar Brandon Allen, saxophone Ross Stanley, piano Oli Hayhurst, double bass Nick Smalley, drums Guitarist Allard, who works regularly with Jacqui Dankworth and was a member of John Dankworth’s last Big Band, has won plaudits from no less than Pat Martino for his ‘pure’ jazz playing. He can also rough it up a little, in John Scofield mode, for the band’s bluesier, funkier grooves. This is a young band, bursting with energy, and in Australian saxophonist Allen it boasts one of the most exciting tenor players in London. |
| 2 December 2010 | |
| 8.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site £9 (concessions £7.50) | Michael Janisch: Purpose Built Michael Janisch, double bass Paul Booth, saxophone Jay Phelps, trumpet Jim Hart, vibes Andrew Bain, drums Michael Janisch is a magnificent US bassist who, since settling in London, has made a massive impact on the English and Scottish jazz scenes. His special presentations at Pizza Express have made a particular impact. If Purpose Built, an Anglo/US project, had not been released so late in 2009 it would almost certainly have made several ‘best of’ lists. Accessible, yet fiercely contemporary, this particular quintet will both challenge and delight. |
| 9 December 2010 | |
| 8.30pm Lauderdale House Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill London N6 5HG United Kingdom Details: Web site £9 (concessions £7.50) | Pete Churchill conducts the London Vocal Jazz Project The London Vocal Jazz Project Choir Nikki Iles, piano Steve Watts, double bass James Maddren, drums Pete Churchill, conductor In a career that has encompassed so much – pianist, singer, composer, arranger, educator - this must be one of Pete Churchill’s finest achievements. This 24-strong choir was on stage at Cleo Laine and John Dankworth’s last-ever concert together, as well as Bobby McFerrin at the Barbican earlier in the year. To say that they ‘knocked the audience out’ is an understatement, and to have them at Lauderdale House promises to be one of our most thrilling evenings ever. With material by the cream of British writers - Kenny Wheeler, John Warren, Stan Sulzmann and others, and probably something a little more seasonal as well, this one-off event is not to be missed. |