Lunchtime Concert - Royal Air Force Salon Orchestra

Royal Air Force Salon Orchestra presents 'An Hour with Fred Hartley'

In the first of its ‘Palm Court Sessions’, The Royal Air Force Salon Orchestra presents an hour of music composed and arranged by Fred Hartley. Enjoy the elegant sounds of strings and piano in this rare and exclusive programme of light music, from traditional airs and waltzes, to popular songs of the 1930s.

Fred Hartley was a pianist, composer and arranger of light music and was appointed as Head of BBC Light Music in the 1940s.

The RAF Salon Orchestra is a seven-piece strings and piano ensemble that performs for Royal, state and ceremonial occasions across the UK and around the world. The Orchestra’s roots are traceable to 1937 when a number of London’s finest string players were recruited for the RAF Symphony Orchestra which found eminence in the war years. As national service came to an end, the Symphony Orchestra was significantly reduced and the Salon Orchestra as it is today was established in 1949. Today, this versatile ensemble performs in a variety of settings from intimate formal dinners to prestigious concert venues with some of the biggest names in the music industry.

(The Orchestra plays by permission of the Air Force Board of the Defence Council)