St Martin-in-the-Fields
Enjoy a stunning performance by violinist Miki Takahashi and the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of London of Vivaldi’s legendary masterpiece The Four Seasons, performed alongside other wonderful gems, including Pachelbel’s sublime Canon in D major and Mozart’s Divertimento No 3 in F major. All within the spectacular architecture of St Martin-in-the-Fields church.
Please note this performance will last for approximately 60 minutes without an interval.
Music is born from the world around us – shaped by the people we meet and the stories that stir our imaginations.
Commissioned by the legendary horn player Dennis Brain, Britten’s Serenade wasn’t just written for his performer – it was written with him. Britten and Brain’s personalities both shine through, showing off how the creative dialogue has been woven in, making it as much of a reflection of the performer as the composer himself.
The spirit of collaboration continues in the world premiere of Sirens by GRAMMY-nominated composer Anna Clyne. Dedicated to tonight’s horn soloist Ben Goldscheider, the music draws on the myth of the sirens who lured sailors to their doom with their irresistible voices. Working closely together, Anna and Ben pushed the boundaries of the horn to conjure the sirens’ hypotonic sound world; ethereal, beguiling and completely entrancing.
Adding to the drama of this concert is Mendelssohn’s fiery Symphony No.1, written early in the composer’s life and packed to the brim with energy.
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is a classical music favourite, vividly capturing nature’s drama from the freshness of spring to the crackle of a summer storm. But how would these seasons sound for a climate on the other side of the world?
Enter Astor Piazzolla – the revolutionary Argentinian composer who transformed the tango with his blend of classical and jazz influences. His Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, written 200 years after Vivaldi’s original, reflects the city’s urban charm, with sweeping melodies and vibrant bursts of those recognisable tango dance rhythms.
Piazzolla nods to Vivaldi in his piece, but not exactly where you might expect. Living on different continents, the two composers experienced the seasons in contrast – you might hear some piercing echoes of a Venetian winter seep into the sultry heat of a Buenos Aires summer.
To heighten your listening experience, specially commissioned, bespoke visuals will spill across the walls of St Martin’s, transporting you across the hemispheres as you’re immersed in the seasonal changes.
By the time they had mastered their craft, both Mozart and Haydn were ready to have a bit of fun.
Take Haydn’s Symphony No.89, affectionately nicknamed ‘The Hen’. Though the title wasn’t his own, it’s easy to hear why it stuck. The clucking violins and oboes evoke a whole farmyard of strutting and bobbing poultry. It’s a light-hearted moment from the man often called ‘The Father of the Symphony’.
Mozart, too, had a mischievous streak. Credited with shaping the piano concerto as we know it today, Mozart had the confidence to defy expectations in his music, like in his Piano Concerto No.23 where the final movement playfully pits piano and orchestra in a cheeky musical chase.
Also in this concert is music from Haydn and Mozart’s contemporaries; Marianna Martines – the first woman to write a symphony – and Boulogne.
Founded in 2010, the biennial Clare College, Cambridge Song Competition celebrates the best solo singing and piano duos at Cambridge University. Many of the former winners have gone on to become Young Artists at both Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera and are now working internationally as successful professional singers and musicians. The young winning duo of this year’s competition, Hugo Williamson and Daniel Blaze, (with Sarah Tynan on the jury) gave a recital celebrating song repertoire – one of the aims of the competition.
Hugo Williamson is in his final year studying music at Robinson College Cambridge, holding a choral scholarship with Gonville and Caius choir while being a current member of Genesis Sixteen. He has studied for two years within the Sir Arthur Bliss Lieder Scheme and has been a member of the University Chamber Choir. Recent recital highlights include Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge, Finzi’s A Young Man’s Exhortation alongside operatic roles such as The Madwoman in Britten’s Curlew River, Orpheus in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and Prologue/Peter Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Next year Hugo is excited to be joining the Voces8 Scholars programme.
Daniel Blaze is a third-year music student and Senior Organ Scholar at Clare. As Organ Scholar, he has played for two broadcast services and has accompanied the choir in venues in the Netherlands, the United States, and various locations in England. In addition to his organ scholarship, Daniel is an accomplished pianist, having accompanied many of the finest singers and instrumentalists in recitals around Cambridge, and winning a place on the prestigious University Lieder Scheme. An experienced singer, Daniel founded, directs, and sings with Lady Clare’s Consort, a Cambridge based ensemble specialising in renaissance music, as well as performing with the Cambridge University Chamber Choir and Clare College Chapel Choir – when he is not playing the organ!
Since their foundation in 1957, the Tiffin Choirs have worked extensively with the world’s greatest conductors, performed for the world’s finest musical institutions and recorded with the world’s leading musical ensembles. For this festive lunchtime concert, they’ll perform Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, a beloved and distinctive choral work from 1942 that sets an eclectic collection of medieval and early modern English poems.
The Tiffin Choirs are renowned for the breadth of their work, which spans symphonic, opera, choral and film music. This has recently included singing at the BBC Proms, with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, English National Opera, Opera Holland Park and the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia and London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras. The choir regularly records at Abbey Road Studios and performs at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Barbican.
Recent symphonic and opera highlights include a televised performance of Britten’s War Requiem from the BBC Proms with the LSO under Sir Antonio Pappano; several performances of Mahler’s Symphonies Nos 3 and 8 with the RPO and Vasily Petrenko, LSO under Michael Tilson Thomas and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel; John Adams’ On the transmigration of souls with the LPO and Vladimir Jurowski; Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades at the Royal Opera; La bohème with English National Opera and Music With Changing Parts with the Philip Glass Ensemble.
The choir has recorded most of the orchestral repertoire that includes children’s choirs, with notable releases including Mahler’s Eighth Symphony under Klaus Tennstedt (EMI), which was nominated for a Grammy Award; an album with the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh; Handel’s Samson with the Dunedin Consort and John Butt; and an appearance on Madonna’s 2019 album, Madame X.
The choir’s 60th-anniversary concert in 2017 was broadcast on Classic FM, and in 2023 Tiffin became the first state school choir to broadcast Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3. The choir recorded for the soundtrack for The Hobbit and music for the BBC comedy drama Fleabag, appeared on set in the films Philomena and Batman and performed in Titanic Live! with James Horner.
Join St Martin’s Emerging Artists for a festive lunchtime concert filled with Christmas music for unaccompanied voices spanning several centuries.
From Vaughan Williams’ “This is the Truth” and Bach’s “O Little One Sweet” to the classics “Silent Night” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” this performance is the perfect way to celebrate the start of the festive season.
Programme
Weir Drop Down Ye Heavens From Above
Audience carol: Once in Royal David’s City
Es Ist Ein Ros
Kerensa Briggs A Tender Shoot
Chavarria Adam Lay y Bounden
Audience carol: In the Bleak Midwinter
McDowall The Magi
Cornelius Three Kings
Gritton Follow That Star
Audience carol: We Three Kings
Lucy Walker The Angels Song
Silent Night arr. Lindner
Bullard Sweet Babe sang She
Audience carol: O Come All Ye Faithful
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Step into a recital of captivating music with violinist Emmanuel Coppey and pianist Sofia Sacco. Their programme promises a journey through masterworks, from the intricate beauty of Bach’s Sonata in C minor and the charm of Rachmaninov’s Morceaux de Salon, to the profound depths of Shostakovich’s Violin and Piano Sonata. Prepare for an hour of wonderful music.
Bach’s Goldberg Variations is a delightful and impressive collection of 30 variations on a simple aria. Originally written for harpsichord, it’s a true showcase of Bach’s genius, filled with clever twists and playful creativity. Each variation has its own unique style—some are lively and cheerful, while others are more introspective or elegant. Composed for the harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, Goldberg Variations is a joyful, captivating work that continues to charm listeners with its inventiveness and beauty, offering something new with every listen.
American pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu has been praised as “one of the most exciting pianists of our time… a deep thinker, thoroughly in command” (The Arts Desk). Recently winning BBC Music Magazine’s 2024 Newcomer Award, he is establishing an international reputation as a fearless and probing interpreter of a wide array of music.
George has appeared across the Americas and Europe, appearing at major venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, Konzerthaus Berlin, Kennedy Center, St Martin-in-the Fields, the Southbank Centre, and Kings Place. As concerto soloist he has performed with National Symphony Orchestra (USA), Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, amongst others. A frequent solo recitalist and chamber musician, George is a founding member of Trio Zimbalist.
George’s debut solo album, MIRRORS, was released with Platoon Classical to international acclaim, winning BBC Music Magazine’s 2024 Newcomer Award.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, George studied with Jonathan Biss and Meng-Chieh Liu at the Curtis Institute of Music, and then with Christopher Elton and Joanna MacGregor at the Royal Academy of Music.
This programme reflects the core of Connaught Brass: reshaping and breathing new life into the brass quintet tradition through new commissions and bold arrangements, blended with a deep respect for the genre’s roots and heritage.
It features a brand-new commission by Dani Howard, supported by the City Music Foundation, Vaughan Williams Foundation and Kirckman Concert Society, and is preceded by the Baroque sound world of Rameau’s majestic and opulent opera Dardanus, arranged by long-term collaborator William Foster. The concert closes with Victor Ewald’s Quintet No. 4 – an epic, yet often overlooked, four-movement work from one of the founding voices of the brass quintet genre.
Together, these pieces speak to Connaught’s ongoing mission – to expand the quintet repertoire, collaborate with leading musical voices and bring fresh energy to brass chamber music.
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