Izabela Stocka

MAGNIFICAT | THE AYLESBURY SINFONIA
2024-03-23 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/Zurich) | St. Mary’s Church, St.Mary's Square, Aylesbury, HP20 2JJ, United Kingdom
Musical Magnificats by Bach, Vivaldi, Purcell, Walmisley, Dupre & Arvo Part.
In cooperation with The Aylesbury Choral Society.

LUMOS LIVE CONCERTS | ED SHEERAN TRIBUTE
2024-03-09 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Zurich) | St.Mary’s Church, Portsmouth, Fratton Rd, Portsmouth, PO1 5PA, United Kingdom
An Ed Sheeran Candlelight Experience In Portsmouth🕯️Saturday 9th March

Lumos Live brings you enchanting concert experiences paying homage to world famous artists. We’ve partnered with spectacular locations & churches across the UK to deliver a concert experience that is nothing short of magical ✨
🌍A percentage of our profits will be donated to a different charity each month!
Key Information : PLEASE READ
📅 Saturday 9th March
📍 St Mary’s Church, Portsmouth
⏰ 60 Min Concert (Please Arrive 20mins Before The Concert Starts)
🪑 Seating Is First Come First Serve To Your Allocated Zones (Gold, Silver, Bronze)
8+ This event is for eight year olds & above

FOLLOW US – For Key News & Information

Type Of Performance
The performance at this event will be a String Trio🎻
List Of Songs🎵
Perfect
Photograph
Shape of you
Shivers
Bad habits
The Joker and the Queen
Thinking out loud
The A team
Galway girl
Afterglow
Supermarket flowers
Castle on the hill
I don’t care

LUMOS LIVE CONCERTS | ED SHEERAN TRIBUTE
2024-03-02 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Zurich) | St. Mary’s Church, Reigate, Chart Ln, Reigate, RH2 7RN, United Kingdom
An Ed Sheeran Candlelight Experience In Reigate🕯️Saturday 2nd March

Lumos Live brings you enchanting concert experiences paying homage to world famous artists. We’ve partnered with spectacular locations & churches across the UK to deliver a concert experience that is nothing short of magical ✨

🌍A percentage of our profits will be donated to a different charity each month!
Key Information : PLEASE READ
📅 Saturday 2nd March
📍 St Mary’s Church, Reigate
⏰ 60 Min Concert (Please Arrive 20mins Before The Concert Starts)
🪑 Seating Is First Come First Serve To Your Allocated Zones (Gold, Silver, Bronze)
8+ This event is for eight year olds & above

FOLLOW US – For Key News & Information

Type Of Performance
The performance at this event will be a String Trio🎻
List Of Songs🎵
Perfect
Photograph
Shape of you
Shivers
Bad habits
The Joker and the Queen
Thinking out loud
The A team
Galway girl
Afterglow
Supermarket flowers
Castle on the hill
I don’t care

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO | ENSEMBLE ORQUESTA OPERA ACADEMY
2024-02-21 19:00 - 2024-02-24 21:30 (Europe/Zurich) | The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, London, NW8 8EH, United Kingdom
Ensemble Orquesta Opera Academy brings renowed W.A Mozart’s Opera – ‘Marriage of Figaro’ to The Cockpit, London.
Tickets available via the link below:

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY - JOALI BEING MALDIVES
2023-12-31 18:30 - 2024-01-01 01:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Joali Being Maldives, Raa Atoll, Bodufushi Island, Maldives
THE GREATEST MYSTERY
NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION

On the last night of the year, celebrate transformation by the ever-coming, ever-going waves. Feel the vital energies of the ocean unfold through the evening, inspired by marine myths and marvels.
Glowing lights and stirring melodies, whirling dancers and sprightly acrobats…it promises to be a night to remember. Our shared tabletop dinner is filled with lively, nourishing flavours that pay homage to the vibrancy of underwater life.

WINTER SECRET GARDEN | CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR SHOW
2023-12-16 18:30 - 22:30, 2023-12-14 18:30 - 22:30, 2023-12-09 18:30 - 22:30, 2023-12-08 18:30 - 22:30, 2023-12-02 18:30 - 22:30 (Europe/Zurich) | Willen Lake, Milton Keynes, Brickhill Street, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DS, United Kingdom
Tis’ the season to shimmer and sparkle… enter our magical world of snow-clad firs and frosted willows in a forest full of decadence and enchantment.

Head to our secret bar for a glass of prosecco or a classy cocktail, the vibe here is exclusive, festive and glamorous. Relax with the laid-back soundtrack and admire the dazzling and magical aerial performances. Alternatively, make your way to the ice bar where the atmosphere is cool and the music is pumping, grab a cold beer whilst admiring the exciting performers and mesmerising acrobatics.

LUMOS LIVE | Christmas Candlelight Experience
2023-11-25 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Zurich) | All Saints Hertford, Queens Road, Hertford, SG13 8AY, United Kingdom
A Christmas Candlelight Experience In Hertford🕯️Saturday 25th November

Lumos Live brings you enchanting concert experiences paying homage to world famous artists. We’ve partnered with spectacular locations & churches across the UK to deliver a concert experience that is nothing short of magical ✨
🌍 A Percentage Of Our Profits Are Donated To Charities From Every Event

Key Information : PLEASE READ
📅 Saturday 25th November
📍 All Saints Church, Hertford
⏰ 60 Min Concert (Please Arrive 20mins Before The Concert Starts)
🪑 Seating Is First Come First Serve To Your Allocated Zones (Gold, Silver, Bronze)
8+ This event is for eight year olds & above

LUMOS LIVE | ABBA
2023-11-18 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Windsor Parish Church of St John the Baptist, High Street, Windsor, SL4 1LT, United Kingdom
Lumos Live brings you enchanting concert experiences paying homage to world famous artists. We’ve partnered with spectacular locations & churches across the UK to deliver a concert experience that is nothing short of magical ✨
🌍 A Percentage Of Our Profits Are Donated To Charities From Every Event

Key Information : PLEASE READ
📅 Saturday 18th November
📍 Windsor Parish Church, Windsor
⏰ 60 Min Concert (Please Arrive 20mins Before The Concert Starts)
🪑 Seating Is First Come First Serve To Your Allocated Zones (Gold, Silver, Bronze)
8+ This event is for eight year olds & above

FOLLOW US – For Key News & Information

Type Of Performance
The performance at this event will be a String Trio🎻
List Of Songs🎵
Mamma Mia
Dancing queen
I do I do I do
Take a chance on me
Waterloo
One of us
Slipping through my fingers
Chiquita
Thank you for the music
The winner takes it all
Lay all your love on me
Summer night city

CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA OF LONDON | JOHN WILLIAMS & HANS ZIMMER
2023-11-17 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/Zurich) | Litchfield Cathedral, The Close, Litchfield, WS13 7LD, United Kingdom
The ‘Tribute to John Williams and Hans Zimmer’ tour is an unmissable musical performance including the scores from the most epic movies from the last 50 years. It’s a mesmerising production extravaganza, featuring immersive lighting and special FX matched with a stunning concert orchestra.

CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA OF LONDON | JOHN WILLIAMS & HANS ZIMMER (PREMIERE)
2023-11-13 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/Zurich) | Litchfield Cathedral, The Close, Litchfield, WS13 7LD, United Kingdom

LUMOS LIVE | ABBA
2023-11-11 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Zurich) | All Saints Church Maidstone, Mill St, Maidstone, ME15 6YE, United Kingdom
Lumos Live brings you enchanting concert experiences paying homage to world famous artists. We’ve partnered with spectacular locations & churches across the UK to deliver a concert experience that is nothing short of magical ✨
🌍 A Percentage Of Our Profits Are Donated To Charities From Every Event

Key Information : PLEASE READ
📅 Saturday 11th November
📍 All Saints Church, Maidstone
⏰ 60 Min Concert (Please Arrive 20mins Before The Concert Starts)
🪑 Seating Is First Come First Serve To Your Allocated Zones (Gold, Silver, Bronze)
8+ This event is for eight year olds & above

Izabela Stocka & Hanzhi Zhang: Ysaye, Debussy, Brahms, Ravel | LUNCHTIME RECITAL
2023-11-10 12:30 - 13:30 (Europe/Zurich) | Brighton Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UF, United Kingdom
Polish violinist Izabela Stocka and pianist Hanzhi Zhang perform sonatas by Eugène Ysaye, Debussy and Brahms, and Ravel’s rhapsodic Tzigane.

JULIAN LIGHT OPERATIC SOCIETY | IOLANTHE
2023-10-19 19:30 - 2023-10-21 21:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Ealing Questors Theatre, 12 Mattock Lane, London, W5 5BQ, United Kingdom
Iolanthe is world’s famous operetta written by Artur Sullivan.
It tells the story of a group of strange and mysterious sprites that hide their fugitives at the bottom of streams and use their magic to manipulate governments and threaten death to all who disobey their laws.

HASTINGS PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA | BRAHMS AND BEETHOVEN
2023-10-18 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/Zurich) | White Rock Theatre, White Rock, Hastings, TN34 1JX, United Kingdom
Internationally acclaimed violinist Natalia Lomeiko and conductor Yuri Zhislin join Marcio da Silva to launch the HPO’s 8th Season. This concert explores the clear link between the music of Beethoven and Brahms with three masterpieces.
The second movement of the symphony has widely appeared in popular culture, including in films such as The Kings Speech and X-Man: Apocalypse.
Read more about the performance on the HPO website.

LUMOS LIVE | COLDPLAY
2023-10-13 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Zurich) | St. Nicholas Church, Newbury, W Mills, Newbury, RG14 5HG, United Kingdom

VIVALDI 4 SEASONS | CANDLELIGHT CONCERT
2023-10-07 19:00 - 22:00 (Europe/Zurich) | St.David’s Church, Exeter, Queen's Terrace, Exeter, EX4 4HR, United Kingdom
Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in Exeter. Get your tickets now to discover the music of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at St David’s Church under the gentle glow of candlelight.

Izabela Stocka & Hanzhi Zhang: Bach, Brahms, Ravel | LUNCHTIME RECITAL
2023-09-15 13:00 - 14:00 (Europe/Zurich) | St.Bride’s Church, London, Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 8AU, United Kingdom

Kammarmusikens Vänner | Stockholm Music Academy Festival Orchestra | Beethoven 8
2023-08-19 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Valhallavägen 105, Stockholm, 115 51, Sweden
Orkesterkonsert 8. i Kungasalen

International Summer Academy of Music | Moravia (MASTERCLASSES)
2023-07-30 08:00 - 2023-08-13 17:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Pałac Morawa, Morawa 1, Jaroszów, 58-120, Poland
Every year, the International Summer Academy of Music is organized in the International Meeting Center Morawa, during which musically talented young people from Poland, Ukraine and Germany practice and play concerts under the supervision of excellent teachers. During the Academy, the International Violin Competition for the “Hedwig Prize”, prepared for talented young violinists. Every year, talented young people from Poland, Germany and Ukraine take part in it, and the jury consists of experienced professors and teachers. As part of the competition, members of the Jury organize workshops during which young musicians have the opportunity to meet the professors and ask them questions.
The culmination of the project is the Final Concert, which always takes place in the Palace in Moravia. The final concert has been gathering a large audience in Morawa for years and is highly appreciated.
The project is co-financed by the Polish-German Youth Cooperation and the Sanddorf-Stiftung Foundation.

Tribute to Ed Sheeran by Candlelight | with String Infusion
2023-07-29 18:30 - 22:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Glaziers Hall London, 9 Montague Close, London, SE1 9DD, United Kingdom

Tribute to Coldplay by Candlelight | with String Infusion
2023-07-28 20:30 - 21:30 (Europe/Zurich) | Ushaw House, Woodland Road, Durham, DH7 9RH, United Kingdom
Experience live classical music like never before at Ushaw on Friday 28 July 2023.
Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring location of Ushaw.
Get your tickets to discover the music of Coldplay performing all of the hits including ‘Speed of Sound’, ‘Fix You’ and ‘Paradise’. These performances will take you on a melodic journey by candlelight.
Having already welcomed more than 3 million attendees in more than 100 cities around the world, we’re delighted to be the designated venue for Candlelight in Durham.

Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra | Brahms, Williams and Sibelius
2023-07-05 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | White Rock Theatre, White Rock, Hastings, TN34 1JX, United Kingdom
HPO is delighted to be performing once again at the White Rock Theatre, where they are the orchestra in residence.
For this summer concert they welcome the renowned international pianist Stephanie Gurga as soloist for the rarely performed Vaughan Williams Piano Concerto. The programme also includes Sibelius’ uplifting Symphony No. 2 and two of Brahms’ most well-known Hungarian Dances.
Hungarian Dances No 1 and No 5. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
The Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes, completed in 1879. They are among Brahms’s most popular works and were the most profitable for him.
In 1850 Brahms met the Hungarian violinist Ede Remenyi and accompanied him in several recitals over the next few years. This was his introduction to ‘gypsy-style’ music such as the csardas, which was later to prove the foundation of his two sets of Hungarian Dances (published 1869 and 1880). Only numbers 11, 14 and 16 of these dances are entirely original compositions.
Nos 1 and 5 are the best-known of the dances. No 5 (Allegro – Vivace) is based on ‘Bártfai emlék’ (Memories of Bártfa) by Hungarian composer Béla Kéler, which Brahms mistakenly thought was a traditional folksong. A footnote on the Ludwig-Masters’ edition of a modern orchestration of Hungarian Dance No.1 (Allegro molto) states: ‘The material for this dance is believed to have come from the Divine Csárdás (ca. 1850) of Hungarian composer and conductor Miska Borzó.’
Piano Concerto in C major. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
The Piano Concerto in C is a concertante work composed by Vaughan Williams in two stages – movements 1 and 2 in 1926 and movement 3 between 1930 and 1931. During the intervening years, the composer began work on his Fourth Symphony and completed Job: A Masque for Dancing. The concerto shares some thematic characteristics with these works, as well as some of their drama and turbulence.
The three movements are: I. Toccata: Allegro moderato – Largamente – Cadenza. II. Romanza: Lento. III. Fuga chromatica con Finale alla Tedesca.
The first movement of the concerto begins with driving, energetic music from the soloist set against a threatening, rising theme in the orchestra. A faster, more scherzo-like idea, shared out equally between piano and orchestra, soon contrasts against the opening music. These two blocks of music alternate, forming the basis of the entire movement. It is as though the traditional dialogue between soloist and orchestra has been supplanted by a more generalised dialogue of musical types. At the movement’s climax, a brief and thunderous piano solo is joined by the full orchestra. However, the orchestra suddenly cuts off to leave the piano musing alone in a short lyrical cadenza. This leads without a break into the slow movement.
The Romanza is more delicate, providing the listener with hints of Vaughan Williams’s previous studies with Maurice Ravel. In this Vaughan Williams here quoted the theme from the Epilogue of the third movement of Arnold Bax’s Symphony No. 3.
Again, without a pause from the previous music, the closing movement begins with a fugue that is linked to a waltz finale by flights of virtuosity from the piano soloist. It closes with the ensemble repeating themes from the first two movements, and then abruptly closes.
The work was premiered on 1 February 1933 by Harriet Cohen with the BBC Symphony Orchestra directed by Sir Adrian Boult. The Finale was edited shortly thereafter, and the work was published in 1936. The concerto was not well received at first, being considered unrewarding to the soloist. Though the piece provides ample opportunity for virtuosity in all movements, Vaughan Williams treated the piano as a percussion instrument, with the texture at times impenetrably thick.
While the concerto was rated highly by some Vaughan Williams took the advice of well-meaning friends and colleagues and reworked the piece into a Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, adding more texture to the piano parts.
Symphony No 2 in D major. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Sibelius began to compose his Symphony No. 2 whilst he was staying in Italy in 1901 shortly after the successful premiere of the popular Finlandia. He finished it in 1902 in Finland. Sibelius noted that he ‘admired [the symphony’s] severity of style and the profound logic that created an inner connection between all the motifs’ but also said that ‘My second symphony is a confession of the soul’.
The symphony was premiered in March 1902, with the composer conducting. After three sold-out performances, Sibelius made some revisions; the revised version was given its first performance in 1903. While critics were divided following the symphony’s premiere, the public generally admired the piece as its grandiose finale was connected by some with the struggle for Finland’s independence – it was even popularly dubbed the ‘Symphony of Independence’, as it was written at a time of Russian sanctions on Finnish language and culture. Sibelius’s reaction to this has been widely debated; some claim that he had not intended any patriotic message and that the symphony was only identified by others as a nationalist composition, while others believe that he wrote the piece with an independent Finland in mind.
The symphony is written in four movements:
I. Allegretto – Poco allegro – Tranquillo, ma poco a poco ravvivando il tempo all’allegro – Poco largamente – Tempo I – Poco allegro.
II. Tempo andante, ma rubato – Poco allegro – Molto largamente – Andante sostenuto – Andante con moto ed energico – Allegro – Poco largamente – Molto largamente – Andante sostenuto – Andante con moto ed energico – Andante – Pesante
III. Vivacissimo – Lento e soave – Tempo primo – Lento e soave – (attacca)
IV. Finale: Allegro moderato – Moderato assai – Meno moderato e poco a poco ravvivando il tempo – Tempo I – Largamente e pesante – Poco largamente – Molto largamente (in D major)
First movement: The work grows almost organically out of a rising three-note motif heard at the opening of the work, first unstable and pastoral, then appearing in many guises throughout the entire symphony (and indeed forming the basis for most of the material), including forming the dramatic theme of the finale. More phrases are invisibly introduced, although very much related, creating a jigsaw puzzle-like effect. It is only at the climax of the movement that the full theme is heard.

Second movement: From his villa in Italy, Sibelius wrote: “Don Juan. I was sitting in the dark in my castle when a stranger entered. I asked who he could be again and again – but there was no answer. I tried to make him laugh but he remained silent. At last, the stranger began to sing – then Don Juan knew who it was. It was death.” On the same piece of paper, he wrote the bassoon theme for the first part of the second movement, out of which stems a pizzicato string ‘walking bass.’ Two months later, he drafted the second theme, with a note reading ‘Christus,’ perhaps symbolizing the death and resurrection of the movement, or even of Finland. It has been suggested that the movement is almost ‘a broken-hearted protest against all the injustice that threatens at the present time to deprive the sun of its light and our flowers of their scent.’ The movement culminates with a towering, brassy theme, following by an ethereal, mist-like motif in the divided strings.
Third movement: An angry, restless scherzo with machine-gun figures in the strings is blistering and fast giving a sense of frenetic preparation. It is followed by a slow trio section, featuring a lyrical oboe solo accompanied by the clarinets and horns. After a trumpet blast, the scherzo is played again. The trio section returns at the end of the movement as it bridges to the final movement.
Finale: Without pause, the final movement begins gloriously with colossal, loud, regal, and triumphant themes, often drawn from the first movement of the symphony. The transitional material from between the last two movements is brought back a second time so the victory of the major key can be appreciated again. This movement, develops towards a triumphant conclusion, perhaps intended to rouse in the listener a picture of lighter and confident prospects for the future.

London Camerata | Best of Classical [PREMIERE]
2023-07-01 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Zurich) | All Saints Church Ryde, Queen's Road, Ryde, Isle of Wight, PO33 3BG, United Kingdom
Enjoy the world’s most favourite operas, ballets and film music performed by the London Camerata ensemble immersed in starlight. Be prepared for Music from the Four Seasons, Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Carmen, Magic Flute, Schindler’s List, Requiem for a Dream and many more!

Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra | Etchingham Music Festival
2023-06-28 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | Etchingham Church, Etchingham, TN19 7AW, United Kingdom
We are delighted to be back in Etchingham, by kind invitation of the Etchingham Music Festival, as part of our declared aim to ‘take to the road’ to share our high-quality offering with local towns and villages.
Our violin soloist for this concert is HPO’s distinguished concert master Emil Chakalov.
The Holberg Suite Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
The Holberg Suite, Op. 40, is a suite of five movements based on 18th-century dance forms. It was written by Grieg in 1884 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Dano-Norwegian poet and playwright Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754).

The suite was initially composed for piano, but a year after it was written, Grieg changed his mind and orchestrated it for string orchestra. Grieg aimed to echo as much of the music that was popular in Holberg’s time, making it an early attempt at neoclassicism.
Holberg had put Scandinavia on the map in the theatrical circle. His comedic theatre works were dubbed ‘the Molière of the North.’ Norway, too, wanted to ride on Holberg’s success, as for some time the dramatist had lived in Bergen – Grieg’s hometown. So, when the bicentenary of Holberg’s birth had come around, the city of Bergen wanted to celebrate. Despite the dark and stormy winter, a festival was put on in December of that year. Grieg, who at this point was one of Europe’s most popular composers – was enlisted from the beginning to write a cantata for male voices to be performed outdoors around the new Holberg monument that was being erected in the central marketplace. Grieg was also asked to write another work to be performed in the concert hall. The cantata, which was performed in terrible weather, was soon forgotten. However, the dance suite became popular.
Originally entitled ‘From Holberg’s Time’, the Baroque-inspired dance suite became one of the composer’s most popular works. Grieg initially dismissed the piece, calling it ‘a perruque piece’ – after the 18th century powdered wigs. Despite this, the string orchestra version we know today is still widely performed around the world.
The movements of the suite are I. Praeludium – Allegro vivace; II. Sarabande – Andante; III. Gavotte – Allegretto; IV. Air – Andante religioso; V. Rigaudon – Allegro con brio.
The music
The Holberg Suite is a work of playfulness, gentility and historically informed practices. As with all Baroque suites, the work begins with a Praeludium – its Prelude.

I. Praeludium
In a toccata style, the flow of the opening prelude is exciting and joyous in character. The rushing scales cascade through the spritely opening and energetic figures flow throughout the movement.

II – Sarabande
Known as a slow and stately dance in 3/4 the Sarabande is gentle in character. The gentility woven throughout this slow and flowing movement highlights Grieg’s effective melodic writing. As the texture begins to thicken and become more sonorous, Grieg writes a glorious counter melody for the cellos.

III – Gavotte
A moderate-tempo dance, the Gavotte is charming in character. Originating from France, the contrasting dance – the musette, was originally danced with a bagpipe accompaniment. Although there are no bagpipes present, Grieg does try to emulate the characteristics of the instrument by employing drones in the lower strings to create that effect.

IV – Air
The fourth movement is not a dance, but an elegiac song. Echoing past works such as J. S. Bach’s Air on the G String, this fourth movement is sorrowful, but intensely beautiful. The only movement to be in a minor key, the poignant lyricism from Grieg shines through the tonality.

V – Rigaudon
The vivacious character of this dance makes for an ideal finale. Featuring soloists around the orchestra, the cheerful character of this movement is joyful, but polished in style. This movement encapsulates Grieg’s love for folk tunes and rustic composition, yet all within the polished elements of a baroque dance.

The Four Seasons Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
The Four Seasons are a series of four violin concertos possibly composed between 1718-1720 when Vivaldi was the court chapel master in Mantua. Inspired by landscape paintings by Italian artist Marco Ricci, they were a revolution in musical conception: in them Vivaldi represented flowing creeks, singing birds (of different species, each specifically characterized), a shepherd and his barking dog, buzzing flies, storms, drunken dancers, hunting parties from both the hunters’ and the prey’s point of view, frozen landscapes, and warm winter fires.

Unusual for the period, Vivaldi published the concerti with twelve accompanying sonnets (possibly written by the composer himself) that elucidated what it was in the spirit of each season that his music was intended to evoke. The concerti therefore stand as one of the earliest and most detailed examples of what would come to be called programme music – music with a narrative element. Vivaldi took great pains to relate his music to the texts of the poems, translating the poetic lines directly into the music on the page.

Spring (La primavera)
I. Allegro II. Largo e pianissimo sempre III. Allegro pastorale
Spring starts with the clarity and crispness of a typical spring day, accompanied by the choirs of birds and streams. It is invaded by a sudden thunderstorm, but the singing birds soon regain dominance. The movement ends with a lively country dance, with inhabitants celebrating the return of fauna and flora after a harsh winter.
Summer (L’estate).
I. Allegro non molto II. Adagio e piano – Presto e forte III. Presto
Summer offers a slow start, portraying the weather as too hot for any movement. The air is almost at a standstill, the birds chirping away lazily until a breeze gathers up, whipping the warning of an imminent storm. The most striking moment is served in the third movement, as a hailstorm mercilessly rains down, offering a perfect contrast.

Autumn (L’autunno)
I. Allegro II. Adagio molto III. Allegro
Autumn makes a return to the clarity of Spring, with similar musical themes in the first movement. The country- folk rejoice once again, celebrating the harvest by drinking wine. The tempo drops significantly, in parallel to the peaceful sleep that engulfs the people. The final movement illustrates a ‘hunt,’ taking us back to a 14th-century Italian genre, ‘Caccia’ – where songs were used to glorify hunts using counterpoint.

Winter (L’inverno)
I. Allegro non molto II. Largo III. Allegro
The opening movement resembles a shivering person, stamping his feet in rhythm to stay warm. The middle movement portrays the pleasure of getting warm inside in front of a crackling fire. The final movement suggests people outdoors walking down icy paths, while those inside feel the chill finding its way inside.

Marylebone Music Festival | Elgar Serenade with Sue Perkins
2023-06-25 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Manchester Square Gardens, 9 Manchester Square, London, W1U 3PL, United Kingdom
Serenade for String Orchestra in E minor Op.20 by Edward Elgar performed by the Orion Orchestra with Sue Perkins Conducting.
Free Event

Marylebone Music Festival | A Night at the Opera
2023-06-24 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Zurich) | Manchester Square Gardens, 9 Manchester Square, London, W1U 3PL, United Kingdom
Join us 7pm 24th June in Manchester Square Gardens, which is a beautiful private garden in the heart of London’s Marylebone Village. The Orion Symphony Orchestra conducted by Toby Purser will perform the greatest music from the Opera repertoire, sung by Soloists from the Royal Opera House you can enjoy beautiful Overtures, Arias, Duets and Quartets by Puccini, Mozart, Bizet, Verdi, Donezetti and many more, while in the magical setting of Manchester Square Gardens in front of the Wallace Collection Art Gallery.
After ‘A Night at the Opera’ continue the evenings festivities by joint us in the Wallace Collection Restaurant for the Marylebone Music Festival Banquet, which includes a three course dinner with wine.
Ellie Laugharne – Soprano
Clare Presland – Mezzo-Soprano
Jesus Leon – Tenor
Jacobo Ochoa – Baritone
Orion Symphony Orchestra
Toby Purser – Conductor
