CITY MUSIC SOCIETY
Lunchtime Concerts
Thursdays at 1.05 pm at St Bartholomew the Great,
West Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE


We look forward to welcoming audiences to our concerts
in St Bartholomew the Great
.

This Notice contains important information about our concerts and the Covid-related measures that will be in place. If you intend to attend a concert, it is important that you observe and adhere to these measures.

Note: The following arrangements were in place at the time of posting of this page but may be subject to change according to Government regulations at the time of the concerts.

 
Doors open at 12.30pm.
We respectfully ask you NOT to attend if:
you or anyone in your household are experiencing any symptoms of Covid-19 (raised temperature, new persistent cough, headache, runny nose, sore throat, breathlessness or loss of/change to your sense of taste or smell)
you have in the last 14 days been contacted by NHS Test and Trace as a 'close contact' to someone experiencing COVID-19
you have visited any country outside the UK in the last 14 days and been required by the UK authorities to quarantine on return.
 
In addition we ask you to:

wear a face covering at all times in the church (unless you are exempt)
sanitise your hands on arrival
maintain social distancing from others who are not in your household
follow one-way signs and indications from our stewards
keep your belongings to a minimum and with you at all times
notify us by email to leslie.east1@btopenworld.com if you develop Covid-19 symptoms or test positive
within 7 days of the concert.
 
We will continue to review the situation and adapt these measures where necessary to respond to any changes in Government guidance.

 



Printed programmes
Printed programmes will be available at the concerts. These will not have been touched by hand before being given to you.
 

Admission to all lunchtime concerts is Free.

The City Music Society Young Artists Series celebrates the amazing talent of musicians performing and studying in the UK.

Many of our artists are major prize winners, emerging from the UK's leading conservatoires, while some of the concerts mark the role of The Worshipful Company of Musicians in supporting and encouraging outstanding young musicians as they begin their careers.


One of the striking features of the City Music Society’s Autumn series is the mixture of ancient and modern music represented particularly in the two concerts featuring winners of The Musicians’ Company’s New Elizabethan Award. In other concerts – 25th September, 20th November – living composers, particularly young composers, have their attractive and approachable works showcased alongside iconic pieces by British masters – Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Finzi. And there is our usual core of major works by composers of the 18th and 19th centuries – Bach, Mussorgsky, Debussy, Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven. So much to enjoy! And entrance is free! But you can show your appreciation by donating at the end of each concert.

A collection is made at the end of each Young Artists concert to help finance future City Music Society Young Artists concerts.

Seats cannot be guaranteed after 1.00pm.

Limited standing is permitted at the discretion of the Society.

Latecomers are only admitted during a suitable pause in the programme.

All programmes are subject to change at short notice.

The City Music Society reserves the right to refuse admission.

Please note that City Music Society concerts are not suitable for children under the age of 8 and the Society reserves the right to refuse entry to children under that age.


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18th September 2025
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS CONCERT WILL TAKE PLACE IN ST GILES CRIPPLEGATE, FORE STREET, BARBICAN EC2Y 8DA

The Musicians’ Company Consort
Adrian Butterfield director

 wcom.org.uk
Supported by The Worshipful Company of Musicians

   
J S Bach
Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht BWV 105
J S Bach
Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan BWV 99

Bach composed BWV 105 in July 1723 for the ninth Sunday after Trinity. It was one of the first he wrote in Leipzig and is based on one of Martin Luther’s penitential psalms, speaking of mankind’s need to forswear earthly pleasures to survive before God’s judgement. BWV 99 followed a year later for the 15th Sunday after Trinity on 17th September 1724 so very appropriate for this concert. The Musicians’ Company’s traditional Bach cantata concert features outstanding soloists and instrumentalists from the Royal College of Music.
Supported by The Worshipful Company of Musicians

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25h September 2025

The Choir of Royal Holloway
Rupert Gough conductor


The Choir
   
Night and Day
Holst
Nunc Dimittis
Oliver Tarney
Kyrie & Stars (from Lux Stellarum)
Eleanor Daley
grandmother moon 
Stuart Beatch
When sleep is nigh
Eric Whitacre
Sleep
Eric Whitacre
I thank you God for this most amazing day
John David (arr. Peter Knight)
You are the new day
Finzi
My spirit sang all day


The Choir of Royal Holloway College has developed a formidable reputation under its director Rupert Gough for its ambitious and innovative programming. The 20 choral scholars that constitute the college’s Chapel Choir undertake a busy schedule of services alongside frequent concerts, tours and recordings. Given that the choir’s personnel is renewed by one-third every year, it maintains a remarkably consistent high standard, whether tackling major works by the likes of Monteverdi and Mozart or exploring the works of living composers like James MacMillan and Paul Mealor. Their musical journey takes the audience from an evening canticle through starry nights and sleep and ending with dawn and Finzi’s setting of Robert Bridge’s rapturous declaration of the joy wrought by love.


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2nd October 2025

Londinium Consort
Emanuele Addis lute and cittern
Rachel Allen soprano
Otto Hashmi recorder and Ecorder

Özgür Kaya viola da gamba
Mikołaj Piszczorowicz viola da gamba

Londinium
Further information about Londinium Consort
   
Crossing Path

Otto Hashmi

Introduction

Ben Finlay/John Dowland

Can she excuse my wrongs?

Dowland

O sweet woods

Dowland

The King of Denmark’s Galliard

Brade

Scottish Dance

Traditional, arr. Delyth Field

Death and the Lady

Johnson

Oh, Let us Howl

Owen Spafford

Threshold

Emanuele Addis/Rachel Allen

Renaissance

Founded in 2022 the Londinium Consort were joint winners of The Musicians’ Company’s 2024 New Elizabethan Award. Taking their name from the ancient Roman city of London, the versatile members of the ensemble use their combination of voice, lute, viols and recorder/electronics to blend an innovative repertoire melding contemporary composition with Elizabethan songs. From stories of relationships, exile and immigration to the sounds of commuting in the city, historical lines are blurred as these ideas appear in both their modern and historical contexts.

Supported by The Musicians’ Company
The Musicians Company

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9th October 2025

Kira Frolu  piano

Kira Frolu
 
Enescu
Mélodie, Mazurk mélancolique and Burlesque from Suite No.3 Op.18
Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition

Kira Frolu is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and winner of several awards, including scholarships from the Leverhulme Trust, the Countess of Munster Trust and Help Musicians UK. Born in Romania, Kira has won several prizes in competitions in Cyprus, Spain, Ukraine and her home country. Recent performances include a recital at the Petworth Festival. She plays music by her compatriot, Georges Enescu (1881-1955), composer, pianist, violinist, teacher and statesman (a member of the Romanian Senate between 1939 and 1948).
Supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute
RomanianCI
 
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16th October 2025

Delphine Trio
Magdalenna Krstevska clarinet
Jobine Siekman cello
Roelof Temmingh piano

Delhine Trio
 
     
Beethoven
Adagio - Allegro con brio (from Trio Op.38)
 
Nørgård
Spell
 
Kahn
Serenade Op.73
 
Daniel Schnyder
A Friday Night in August
 
     

The Delphine Trio brings together three young musicians from opposite ends of the globe – Australia, Netherlands and South Africa. Founded in 2020 the Trio released their debut album Adrift with Dutch label TRPTK in 2024 and were winners of the 2025 Royal Over-Seas League Competition in the Mixed Ensembles category. With a passion for diverse repertoire, they explore music from classical and Romantic composers alongside contemporary originals by the likes of Per Nørgård and Daniel Schnyder.


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23rd October 2025
Mabelle Park violin
Craig White piano

Park_White

Mabelle Park's website | Craig White's website
 
Debussy
Sonata
Wagner (arr. Fazil Say)
Prelude from ‘Tristan and Isolde’
Elgar
Violin Sonata Op.82
 
A German-born violinist whose family hail from South Korea, Mabelle Young-Eun Park won the Musicians’ Company’s 2025 Prince’s Prize, the premier award for the Company’s young musicians. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, Mabelle has extensive experience as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player and has won several prizes both as a soloist and as a member of her quartet. She was the winner of the 2025 Royal Over-Seas League Strings Prize. She plays two of the most significant works for violin from the beginning of the 20th century, written only one year apart.

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30th October 2025

Irena Radić piano


Irena Radic
   

Madeleine Dring

Prelude & Toccata

Chopin

Sonata No.3 in B minor Op.58

Selected as the Musicians’ Company’s Constant & Kit Lambert Junior Fellow for 2024/25 at the Royal College of Music, Irena Radić has performed in a wide variety of venues and won numerous prizes. Her particular interest in the music of Madeleine Dring (1923-77) led to Irena curating a series of concerts of the composer’s music in 2023, while recent highlights include a sell-out recital in Bath featuring Rachmaninoff’s Ten Preludes Op.23 on the magnificent Steinway that was selected and used by the composer himself in the 1930s for his tour of the UK. In her programmes she shares a diverse range of music with audiences, from renowned masterpieces to intriguing lesser-known gems.


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6th November 2025

Isla String Quartet
Mio Takahashi violin
Kynan Walker violin
Sofia Gomez Alberto viola
Danushka Edirisinghe cello

Isla Strings
   

Mozart

Quartet No.15 in D minor K421

Beethoven

Quartet No.9 in C Op.59 No.3 (Razumovsky)


Formed in 2023 and comprising former students of the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, the Isla String Quartet was selected as the Tillet Trust Debut Artists for 2025. They won the RAM Nina Drucker String Quartet Prize in 2024 and have played concerts in Calne, Aldeburgh and south-west France. As part of their Tillet Trust award they will be embarking on a nationwide tour this autumn.

   
Today’s artists are sponsored by The Tillett Trust as part of its DEBUT programme.
Tillett Trust


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13th November 2025

Georgi Dimitrov guitar

Dimitrov

Dowland

A Fancy P.5

Henze

Ophelia (Royal Winter Music IV)

Dowland

A Fancy P.1a

Henze

Romeo and Juliet (Royal Winter Music II)

Dowland

La mia Barbara

Henze

Touchstone, Audrey and William (Royal Winter Music V)

Dowland

Forlorn hope fancy P.2

Henze

Oberon (Royal Winter Music VI)

Joint winner of the 2024 Musicians’ Company New Elizabethan Award, Georgi Dimitrov presents a programme that imaginatively combines and contrasts the music of two masters representing the two golden eras of Elizabethan music. Based on Shakespearean characters Hans Werner Henze’s Royal Winter Music explores themes of tragedy, deviousness, true love and loneliness while John Dowland’s Renaissance fancies mirror the Henze’s sentiments. Georgi began his studies in Bulgaria, completing an undergraduate degree in Austria before studying on the Masters course at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2022 he won the inaugural European Bach Guitar Prize and in 2024 became the first classical guitarist to perform at the Leipzig BachFest.
Supported by The Musicians’ Company
The Musicians Company

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20th November 2025

Trinity Laban String Ensemble
Holtág String Quartet

Nic Pendlebury conductor

Nic Pendlebury
   

Elgar

Introduction and Allegro Op.47

Anna Clyne

Stride
Nisa Akday
New work
Vaughan Williams
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
   
Two of the most significant and well-loved works for string orchestra written by British composers in the 20th century provide the core of the Trinity Laban Conservatoire’s premier string ensemble’s programme. Both Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia contain prominent roles for a string quartet, here taken by the Conservatoire’s outstanding postgraduate quartet, the Holtág String Quartet. Complimenting these iconic masterpieces the Ensemble plays a new work by Trinity Laban student Nisa Akday, commissioned specially for the Ensemble.
 
 
City Music Society concerts resume on Thursday 22nd January 2026 at 1.05pm at
St Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE.
 
 

22nd January 2026
Trio Havisham

Magdalena Riedl violin
Seth Collin cello
Zany Denyer piano

Trio Havisham

 
Dvorak
Trio No.3 in F minor Op.65
 
Winners of the 2025 Ivan Sutton Chamber Music Prize, Trio Havisham, founded by Zany Denyer and Magdalena Riedl in 2019, with Seth Collin joining in 2024, return to our series sooner than expected to recognise this award. Their performances have been described as having ‘real flair while never losing that sense of balance’. They enjoy a diverse concert activity across the UK, and were awarded The Musicians’ Company Maisie Lewis Concerts Award in 2023.
 
 
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For further information about these concerts please contact
Leslie.East1@btopenworld.com

Latest update: 08 August 2025