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.
 

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.


As always, the great composers feature prominently in our artists’ programmes – Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms - but the young musicians who perform for us are often keen to explore less well-known or unusual repertoire. In this series there is a notable attention drawn to female composers, two from the 19th century (Clara Schumann and Mélanie Bonis), one a member of the famous Les Six group (Germaine Tailleferre) and the Afro-American flutist and composer Valerie Coleman.

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 January 2024

Ormonde Ensemble
Cara Houghton flute
Helena Mackie oboe
Alec Ross horn
Bruce Parris bassoon 
Isaac Prince clarinet 
Jasmin Allpress piano

 Ormonde Ensemble

   
Valerie Coleman
Umoja
Mélanie Bonis
Scènes de la forêt
Bozza
Trois Pièces Pour Une Musique de Nuit
Mozart
Quintet in E flat for Piano and Winds, K. 452

Comprising postgraduates from the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, the Ormonde Ensemble have a particular passion for seeking out and performing lesser-known works whilst combining them in programmes containing some of the outstanding works of the wind quintet repertoire. Alongside Mozart’s Quintet for four winds and piano the ensemble features works by two female composers, contrasting the late Romantic French atmosphere of Mel Bonis with American Valerie Colman’s rich-textured and accessible Umoja, a Swahili word meaning striving for unity.

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25th January 2024

Rebecca Leung piano

Rebecca Leung piano
   
Bartók
Out of Doors Sz. 81, BB 89 
Scriabin
Sonata No.4 in F sharp Op.30
Brahms
Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op.24


The winner of the Musicians’ Company Harriet Cohen Bach prize in 2022, Rebecca Leung started her musical training at the age of four, entering the Junior programme at the Royal Academy of Music when only nine. The winner of several prizes in international competitions Rebecca has continued her studies in Graz, Austria, and has made appearances at the Wigmore Hall, the South Bank Centre and abroad in Germany, Croatia and Italy.


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1st February 2024

Trio Casella
Violetta Suvini violin
Gabriel Francis-Dehqani cello
Luke Maguire piano


Winners of The Ivan Sutton Award 2023
   

Beethoven

Allegretto for Piano Trio in B flat WoO.39

Tailleferre

Piano Trio
Shostakovich
Piano Trio No.2 in E minor Op.67

The Trio Casella won the 2023 Ivan Sutton Award with a scintillating performance of Shostakovich’s second Piano Trio, a remarkable tribute to a close friend who died suddenly in 1943. In contrast Germaine Tailleferre’s lovely impressionistic trio reveals a much-underestimated talent.



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8th February 2024

Elena Fischer-Dieskau piano

Elena Fischer-Dieskau piano
 
Mélanie Bonis
Femmes de légende (Women of legend)
Clara Schumann
Variations on a theme by R. Schumann Op.20
Rachmaninov
Moments-musicaux Nos. 3 and 4

The German-French pianist Elena Fischer-Dieskau is consistently praised for her intensely captivating stage presence, provoking great enthusiasm each time she performs. After studies in Hannover and Baltimore (the latter with the legendary pianist Leon Fleisher), Elena has developed an international career, playing in prestigious venues around the world as well as appearing in the film Tout est pardonne and teaching at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh. Her passion for works by female composers is mirrored in her choice of outstanding works by Mel Bonis and Clara Schumann.

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15th February 2024

Affinity Quartet
Josephine Chung violin
Nicholas Waters violin
Ruby Shirres viola
Mee Na Lojewski cello

Affinity Quartet
Haydn
Quartet in C Op.76 No.3 (The Emperor)
Brahms
Quartet in B flat Op.67

Earning acclaim as the first Australian string quartet to win major prizes in four international string quartet competitions, the Affinity Quartet celebrates its name - a liking or sympathy for someone or something based on finding shared characteristics – through the synergy of its four members. Following their first visit to St Bartholomew’s in 2022, when they won Third Prize in the Wigmore Hall International Competition, their welcome return brings Haydn’s homage to his homeland with its famous variations on the Austrian national anthem.


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22nd February 2024
Please note that there is no concert on this date but see ‘The Musicians’ Company Concert’ below for details of the Company’s concert on this day at Wigmore Hall.


The Musicians’ Company Concert

Thursday 22nd February 2024 at 1.00pm

Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP
A Musicians’ Company and Concordia Foundation Artists’ Fund concert


Emma Roberts mezzo soprano
Alex Norton piano
Charles Tam piano

Featuring two exceptional young artists, Emma Roberts, an award winner at the 2022 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, and Charles Tam, a finalist in the 2022 Hong Kong International Competition.

Music will include songs by Fauré, Schumann, Sibelius and Poulenc, and piano works by Messiaen and Liszt.

Promoted by The Musicians’ Company. The concert is approximately 90 minutes in duration including an interval.

Tickets £18 (Concessions £16): available from the Wigmore Hall website at
www.wigmore-hall.org.uk


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29th February 2024

Sabine Sergejeva violin
Craig White piano

Sabine Sergejeva violin
photo:Foppe Shut

Poulenc

Violin Sonata FP 119

Brahms

Violin Sonata in A Op.100

Ysaÿe

Mazurka No.2 Op.10

A recipient of The Musicians’ Company silver medal, the Latvian violinist Sabine Sergejeva has pursued her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the class of Professor David Takeno. Already an experienced recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musicians, Sabine has been a member of Gidon Kremer’s superb chamber orchestra, Kremerata Baltica since 2020. A highly-acclaimed chamber musician and coach, Craig White also conducts and acts as official accompanist to several competitions.


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7th March 2024

RCM Wind Ensemble
Marie Lloyd
director

RCM Wind Ensemble

Jonathan Dove

Figures in the Garden

Mozart

Serenade in C minor K388


For its annual visit the Royal College of Music’s Wind Ensemble brings a most delightful ‘serenade’ by the leading British composer Jonathan Dove. Written for Glyndebourne Opera’s Mozart bicentenary celebrations in 1991, Figures in the Garden was designed to precede The Marriage of Figaro and draws on famous tunes from the opera.



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14th March 2024

Daniel Higham Quartet
Daniel Higham trombone
Will Barry piano
Will Cleasby drums
Lorenzo Morabito bass


Daniel Higham trombone

Winner of the Musicians’ Company Young Jazz Musician Award in 2021, trombonist Daniel Higham studied at the Royal Academy of Music after earlier studies at the Purcell School. He is currently a member of Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra, the Kansas Smitty’s House Band and Clark Tracey’s Sextet. Alongside this he pursues a varied career recording for artists such as Jamie Cullum. Daniel’s quartet will perform a mix of standard jazz numbers and original compositions.

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21st March 2024

Alex Hocknull French horn
Elena Toledo
violin
Joachim Lim piano

Alex Hocknull French horn
Photo: Chris Chistodoulou
   

Brahms

Trio in E flat Op.40
Alex Hocknull won the Biddy Baxter and John Hosier Music Trust scholarship for 2023 from The Musicians’ Company to enable him to complete his studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Written in response to the death of his mother in 1865, Brahms’ Horn Trio mixes happy and fun memories of his parent in the Scherzo with the more sombre music of the surrounding movements, including one the composer’s most impassioned and heartfelt Adagios.
 
City Music Society concerts resume on Thursday 19th September 2024 at 1.05pm
at St Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE.
 

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For further information about these concerts please contact
Leslie.East1@btopenworld.com

Latest update: 27 December 2023