<img src='' title='Event Category: Concerts' alt='' id='templ_icon_' width='' height='' /> Event Category: Concerts

Sounds of India: Prabhat Rao

Prabhat Rao is a leading khayal vocalist based in London, recognised for his ability to communicate the depth of classical music to diverse audiences. He has performed at the Barbican, Southbank Centre and Edinburgh Fringe, and is currently pursuing doctoral research at King’s College London. For this special evening concert, he gathers an ensemble of vocalists and instrumentalists to explore the devotional traditions of Indian classical music.

Indian classical music has deep roots in spirituality—ragas were historically associated with specific times of day, seasons, and emotional states believed to align performer and listener with natural and cosmic rhythms. This extended programme draws on that heritage, featuring compositions whose lyrics address the divine alongside purely melodic explorations. The evening format allows for deeper raga development than lunchtime concerts permit, giving audiences the opportunity to experience how a raga unfolds over time—from its first tentative phrases through to its full elaboration.

Intesa Duo (voice and gamba)

Join Intesa – a self-accompanying voice and viola da gamba duo – on a journey to the Venetian island of San Lazzaro. For the past 300 years, this tiny island has been home to an Armenian monastery and a vital centre of cultural preservation, exchange, and scholarship. Voices of San Lazzaro explores Venice as both a hub of musical composition and publishing in the 17th century, and as a historic bridge between East and West. The programme includes works by Giulio Caccini and his daughters Settimia and Francesca, alongside Monteverdi, Lassus, and Strozzi, interwoven with traditional Armenian melodies, ancient chants, and excerpts from the Armenian Divine Liturgy.

Cyrill Ibrahim (piano)

This piano recital traces a journey from psychological intensity to clarity and resolve. The programme opens with the driving pulse of Philip Glass, before moving into the dramatic tension of Mozart’s A minor Sonata. At the heart of the concert stands Chopin’s Third Piano Sonata — a work of vast emotional scope that brings together intimacy, conflict, and architectural power. The recital concludes with Chopin’s “Heroic” Polonaise, transforming inward struggle into a statement of dignity and strength. Throughout the programme, brief spoken reflections offer insight into the music and its emotional landscape, inviting listeners to experience the concert not only as a sequence of works, but as a connected musical journey.

Great Sacred Music: Valentine’s Day

Singers from St Martin's Voices performing in a concert at the church. the singers are wearing black formal clothes and are holding music sheets.

Every Thursday at 1pm in the church, we present Great Sacred Music, our 35-minute lunchtime sequence of words and music. Led by St Martin’s Voices, directed by Andrew Earis, it explores, through song and readings, the great classical music of our religious heritage.

Great Sacred Music will be livestreamed on Youtube on @stmartin-in-the-fieldsmusic and our Facebook page each week.

The Spirit of St Martin’s campaign for supporting this season of Great Sacred Music.

https://www.youtube.com/@stmartin-in-the-fieldsmusic

ORA Singers: Spirit of Place

As part of its 10th Anniversary celebrations, ORA Singers & Suzi Digby OBE return to St Martin-in-the-Fields with a new programme – Spirit of Place – exploring themes of time, memory and how place shapes one’s identity.

The programme is built around three key works by a trio of our greatest living choral composers: The Lost Words by James Burton, setting the spell-poems of Robert MacFarlane, Five Childhood Lyrics by Sir John Rutter, and Kingdom of Mist – a major new commission by Gabriel Jackson taking its inspiration from The Fens.

The concert opens with another work by Jackson, his setting of To Morning by William Blake, which leads into a folksong from The Fens arranged by Michael Tippett. There are a series of choral folksong arrangements scattered throughout, alongside reflective gems such as Herbert Howell’s Even such is time and Samuel Barber’s little-known but gorgeous To be sung on the water.

Supported by Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund, held at The Prism Charitable Trust.