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Proms 2023 Evening Concerts

Photo: Sim Canetty-Clarke
Evening

Sunday

2 July 2023

7.30 PM

St Jude-on-the-Hill
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Last Night of the Proms

London Mozart Players


Simon Blendis leader

Aki Blendis violin

Jaren Ziegler viola

Doors Open 6.45 PM

Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings in C major

Mendelssohn String Symphony no 10 in B minor

Mozart Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major


Last Night favourites Loch Lomond, Danny Boy, Cwm Rhondda, Jerusalem

The Last Night of the Proms at St Jude's is always special, and this year is no exception. Come hear Tchaikovsky's popular, evergreen 'Serenade.' It is a heartfelt piece, now considered one of the late Romantic era's definitive compositions. Mendelssohn's String symphony no 10 was composed when he was only 13 years old. An example of his genius, it has entranced concert goers for decades. Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante is arguably his geatest violin concerto. Written when he was 23 years old, it is a masterpiece and one of his most beautiful works.


The London Mozart Players, one of the world’s finest chamber ensembles, is dedicated to harnessing the passions and talents of its musicians so that audiences can revel in the joy of world-class performance. Its pioneering approach to music-making marks the orchestra as a leader in terms of outreach, education and diversity, dedicated to reaching new audiences with classical music.


Featuring tonight are Aki Blendis, who was a string finalist in the BBC Young Musician 2022 competition, and Jaren Ziegler who won the 2022 string final - the first violist to do so.


Link to artist's own website: https://www.londonmozartplayers.com

Supported by Brent Cross Town

photo: Frank Noon
Fantasia Orchestra
Evening

Saturday

24 June 2023

7.30 PM

St Jude-on-the-Hill
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Jennifer Pike
Photo: Arno
Fantasia Orchestra

Tom Fetherstonhaugh conductor, Jennifer Pike violin

Doors Open 6.45 PM

Beethoven Coriolan Overture

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor

Silvestrov Hymn-2001

Beethoven Symphony no 8

Tom Fetherstonhaugh, who BBC Radio 3 described as a 'spark to watch' conducts the highly acclaimed Fantasia Orchestra with soloist Jennifer Pike (violin) in a programme comprising Beethoven’s tragic Coriolan Overture, which depicts the ultimate conflict between war and peace; Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, the piece that launched Pike’s career when she became the youngest-ever winner of the Young Musician of the Year competition; Ukrainian composer, Valentin Silvestrov’s heart-wrenching Hymn-2001; and the utterly compelling Beethoven Symphony no 8, one of the shortest and most experimental symphonies that he composed.


Link to artist's own website:https://www.fantasiaorchestra.com

Supported by the John S Cohen Foundation

Peter Long
Evening

Sunday

25 June 2023

7.30 PM

St Jude-on-the-Hill
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Jazz Planets

Holst reimagined through the music of Ellington


Peter Long, musical director of Ronnie Scott's, piano

Doors Open 6.45 PM

Jazz Planets: A tribute to Gustav Holst and Duke Ellington

Ellington’s greatest hits from: Caravan, It Don’t Mean A Thing, Satin Doll, Sophisticated Lady, Take The A Train, Mood Indigo, In A Mellow Tone

Peter Long, musical director at Ronnie Scott’s, leads a 16 piece orchestra in Jazz Planets as well as Ellington's greatest hits. 


Peter was inspired to create this innovative piece in which he marries Holst's dramatic musical portraits of the heavens with the style and conventions of big band jazz. He formed his band from London-based musicians with individual sounds similar to the original Ellington sidemen, like Cat Anderson, Cootie Williams, Joe Nanton, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney, creating an authentic yet original virtuosic style. The results are amazingly truthful to the original Duke Ellington Orchestra sound.


Recording from attist's previous work: https://youtu.be/biiGUylPim8


Link to artist's website: https://www.plong.co.uk/the-jazz-planets/

Supported by the Diana and Allan Morgenthau Trust

Metropolis
Evening

Monday

26 June 2023

7.00 PM

St Jude-on-the-Hill
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Ben Palmer
Photo: Arthur Kondrats
Metropolis

Metropolis (1927) Film accompanied by Covent Garden Sinfonia, Ben Palmer conductor

Doors Open 6.15 PM

UK Première of this arrangement by Ben Palmer 


Fritz Lang director, Gottfried Huppertz composer

Ben Palmer arranger


Film will be shown with English subtitles

Set in a futuristic urban dystopia, Fritz Lang's German Expressionist silent film Metropolis is widely regarded as one of the most entertaining and influential sci-fi movies of all time. Made with an extraordinary budget of five million Reichsmarks, the film was shot over 310 days, with 36,000 extras and 200,000 costumes. Ephraim Katz in The Macmillan International Film Encyclopedia called Metropolis ‘A futuristic, visually completing allegorical look at relations between capital and labor in a Big Brother society ruled by robots, antagonism and fear’. This performance will be the UK première of a new edition of Gottfried Huppertz's richly romantic original 1927 score, arranged and conducted by Ben Palmer, one of the world's leading silent film conductors.


Recording from artist's previous work: https://youtu.be/2i9T-A_gJ94

Armonico Consort
Evening

Tuesday

27 June 2023

7.30 PM

St Jude-on-the-Hill
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Christopher Monks
Opera Night with Armonico Consort


Christopher Monks conductor

Eloise Irving and Hannah Fraser-Mackenzie sopranos

William Towers countertenor and alto

Ben Thapa tenor

Alex Jones bass

Doors Open 6.45 PM

Giovanni Pergolesi Stabat Mater with Eloise Irving soprano and William Towers countertenor

Henry Purcell Dido and Aeneas with Eloise Irving soprano, William Towers alto, Hannah Fraser-Mackenzie soprano, Ben Thapa tenor and Alex Jones bass


Armonico Consort is renowned for its inspiring concerts and imaginative education programme. 

Tonight’s programme features Giovanni Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Pergolesi’s Stabat mater is a transcendently beautiful and deeply personal musical meditation on suffering and redemption, written by the 26-year-old composer as he himself lay dying. Dido and Aeneas, performed at St Jude's with minimal staging, is a Baroque operatic treat populated by witches, drunken sailors and spurned lovers. The aria known as Dido's Lament is arguably the saddest piece of music ever written. It is an outpouring of melancholic beauty possibly unsurpassed in all opera. It is played annually at the Cenotaph during the National Service of Rememberance and inspired Annie Lennox to record a version.


Link to the artist's own website: https://www.armonico.org.uk

Supported by the Edwards Family Foundation

Sitkovetsky Trio
Evening

Wednesday

28 June 2023

7.30 PM

St Jude-on-the-Hill
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The Sitkovetsky Trio

Alexander Sitkovetsky violin

Wu Qian piano

Isang Enders cello

Doors Open 6.45 PM

Shostakovich Piano Trio no 2 in E minor

Sam Perkin Freakshow

Beethoven Allegretto for Piano Trio in B flat major

Mendelssohn Piano Trio no 2 in C minor

Come hear Shostakovich’s haunting Piano Trio no 2, inspired by the tragedies of the Second World War. According to eye-witness accounts, the audience was stunned by the power and daring of the work.‘The music left a devastating impression. People cried openly.’ 


Contemporary composer Sam Perkin's Freakshow, was inspired by the 1916 camp that became known as the ‘University of Revolution’ because leading figures such as Irish revolutionary Michael Collins were imprisoned there.


Beethoven's Allegretto for Piano Trio was composed in 1812 for a ten-year-old and the beautiful, lyrical Mendelssohn Piano Trio embodies all the finest qualities of Mendelssohn's immaculate art, full of bountiful melodies, finesse and easy virtuosity.


Chambers Award Winners of the prestigious BBC Music Magazine Awards 2022, the Sitkovetsky Trio’s thoughtful and committed approach has brought the ensemble critical acclaim.


Recording from artist's previous work:https://youtu.be/Ex5lPOGSMVs


Link to the artist's own website: http://sitkovetskytrio.com


This concert is dedicated to the memory of Madeleine Melling, our Proms colleague and previous chair of the Music Planning Committee. We warmly welcome members of Madeleine's family who will be in attendance at this evening's concert. 

Supported by George Meyer

Paul Hoskins
Evening

Thursday

29 June 2023

7.30 PM

St Jude-on-the-Hill
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Chloe Harrison, James Gilchrist
The Purcell School String Orchestra

Paul Hoskins conductor

James Gilchrist tenor

Chloe Harrison French horn

Doors Open 6.45 PM

Elgar Serenade for Strings in E minor

Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings

Mahler Adagietto from Symphony no 5 in C sharp minor

Beethoven Symphony no 2 in D major

Elgar described the Serenade for Strings as one of his personal favourites. Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, is a glorious setting of six English poems that Britten completed in 1943. It is meditative and melancholic, with the songs framed by a solo horn. Mahler’s Adagietto is love song to his wife Alma - its enduring popularity owes much to Visconti’s film Death in Venice. Beethoven’s second symphony was composed when the fear of Napoleon loomed over Europe but still generates and maintains a cheerful enthusiasm – it is full of energy and musical jokes.


James Gilchrist's extensive concert repertoire has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world. 


The Purcell School holds the UNESCO Mozart Gold Medal, which recognises its unique contribution to music, education and international culture.


Recording from artist's previous work: http://YouTube.be/RxVLGfdRq0U


Link to artist's own website: https://www.purcell-school.org

Supported by the Jacqueline and Michael Gee Charitable Trust

Evening

Friday

30 June 2023

7.30 PM

St Jude-on-the-Hill
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A Night in Vienna

The Pico Players

Leo Geyer conductor

Doors Open 6.45 PM

Johann Strauss - Overture from Die Fledermaus

Johann Strauss - Arias & Duets from Die Fledermaus

Johann Strauss - Blue Danube Waltz

Kodály - Summer Evening
Enescu -
Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major

Die Fledermaus is an utterly farcical operetta whose accessibility made it a sure-fire hit, beginning with its overture that is packed full of tunes from start to finish. The Blue Danube Waltz is probably the most famous waltz ever written; Strauss’s publisher is said to have received so many orders for the score that he supposedly had over a million copies printed.  Summer Evening is an affectional folk-style pastoral sound-scape and the Romanian Rhapsody provides tunes with a spontaneous air and a frenzied finale.


The Times described Leo Geyer's music as 'imaginative and beautifully shaped'. Founded in 2014, the Pico Players is a dynamic and exciting orchestra that has performed numerous sell-out concerts. 


Recording from artist's previous work: https://www.thepicoplayers.org/video


Supported by Explore Learning

Eilish Byrne-Whelehan
Evening

Saturday

1 July 2023

6.00 PM

Refreshment Tent
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Eilish Byrne-Whelehan and Friends

Irish Traditional Music

Refreshment tent

Eilish Byrne-Whelehan fiddle

Sean Nevin button accordion

Maurice Judge guitar

Tap your feet to an hour’s rendition of traditional Irish music, led by Eilish Byrne-Whelehan, Musical Director of Feith an Cheoil School of Irish Traditional Music in London and musical director of The London Celtic Youth Orchestra. 


Link to artist's information: https://youtu.be/YEnODJ_AeAU

Emma Kershaw
Evening

Saturday

1 July 2023

7.30 PM

St Jude-on-the-Hill
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Katie Birtill
Broadway and All that Jazz

Featuring Emma Kershaw vocals and Katie Birtill vocals 

with Clive Dunstall, Charlie Pyne and Matthew Senior

Doors Open 6.45 PM

Music from My Fair Lady, Cabaret, Funny Girl, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, Oliver and many more.


Broadway and All That Jazz is a celebration of iconic showstopping Broadway hits, some with a fresh jazz twist. This uplifting celebration features two West End stars Emma Kershaw and Katie Birtill singing everyone’s favourites, including All That Jazz, Cabaret, Wouldn’t it be Loverly, Don’t Rain on my Parade, I Feel Pretty, Too Darn Hot, Send in the Clowns and many more.


Recording from artist's previous work: Emma Kershaw - https://youtu.be/OC6E1o1Kha4

Recording from artist's previous work: Katie Birtill - https://youtu.be/5jjuW2pNmCA


Link to artist's own website:  Emma Kershaw - https://www.emmakershaw.com

Link to artist's own website:  Katie Birtill - https://www.katiebirtill.com

Supported by Godfrey and Barr

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