Join one of Europe’s finest chamber ensembles on their Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos UK Tour as they travel the length and breadth of the country performing two hallmarks of the baroque era: JS Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos nos 4 and 5.
London Concertante was founded in 1991 and has gone on to garner an outstanding international reputation. Alongside regular series of concerts at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Southwark Cathedral, the ensemble also performs across the length and breadth of the UK. International tours have taken them to the USA, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, and they will be touring to Italy and again to Spain later in the year. Their numerous recordings receive regular airplay on global radio stations, and has helped to secure their position at the forefront of Classical performers in the UK.
The Brandenburg concertos are iconic works for their groundbreaking use of instrument combinations and musical development that ultimately changed the course of music history. While Brandenburg Concerto No 4 features bursts of dazzling technical difficulty from the violinist, Brandenburg Concerto No 5 has often been referred to as the first harpsichord concerto ever written, with a particularly exciting and immensely virtuosic passage of solo writing at the end of the first movement, featuring a rapid succession of twists and turns that require the most gifted of performers to master. Handel’s luxurious Concerto Grosso compliments these works by Bach magnificently, with a sumptuous, although remarkably short, opening slow movement that leads onto a daringly simple melody before returning to a sublimely expansive middle movement. The other two pieces in the evenings programme present the contrasting characters of Mozart, with the enigmatic and playful outer movements of the Divertimento in D and a more introvert, wistful flute melody in the middle movement of the Flute Quartet with an inspired accompaniment of plucked strings.
If you don’t consider yourself ‘in the know’ about Mozart, Beethoven, or Bach, fear not, this is the orchestra for you. The London Concertante boasts a remarkable audience record in which an impressive 50% of spectators are first time classical concert goers! The London Concertante has its audience laughing at jokes, gasping at virtuosity, moved by gorgeous string playing, and leaving with a smile on their faces.
“Beautiful music. Amazing experience.” – A happy audience member! (March 2017)
“beautiful... [the] experience was fantastic... simply magical.” – Another happy audience member! (September 2017)
“They play with tone as soft as velvet, bow strokes that really sing and a Romanticist's wide volume range” – Evening Standard