*The concert is generously sponsored by the John Ireland Trust*
The Chamber Ensemble of London close our Autumn season in an opulent musical night from Baroque to Britten, ideal in the run-up to the Christmas holiday season. Led by violinist Peter Fisher, the ensemble features handpicked players from some of London's leading orchestras and chamber ensembles, and their programmes combine music spanning the past and present of classical music.
The Chamber Ensemble of London - up to 14 string players - is directed by the violinist Peter Fisher, amongst a handful of the world's finest musicians as The Times noted following a Royal Albert Hall concert in 2005.
The Ensemble has given dozens of classical concerts at St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James's Piccadilly and the Purcell Room. For many years it was associated with the Wavendon Festival run by Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine, which meant it also played light music and jazz as well as the standard baroque and classical repertoire. Versatile programming, often using special arrangements and new music, has led to engagements with the London Film Museum in County Hall, the Banqueting House and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Chamber Ensemble of London has also played for several music societies and at festivals outside London.
Pre-concert recital | Musicians from the Royal College of Music, 5:30pm in the Main Hall
The past and present collide in this pre-concert recital by selected ensembles from the Royal College of Music. The chirping grace notes of Haydn's String Quartet in C lend the piece's nickname 'The Bird', while American composer Kevin Puts' Lento Assai takes inspiration from the slow movement of Beethoven's final quartet.
Kevin Puts Lento Assai
Haydn Quartet in C Op.33 No.3 'The Bird'